Alma Tips

These instructions are ONLY for creating a Community Patron completely UNAFFILIATED with NOVA. DO NOT use this for a graduate, former student, or new student whose SIS records haven’t yet made it into Alma.

Required Role: Circulation Desk Operator or Manager OR Circulation Desk Operator – Limited (student workers)

1. Search for previous patron record in Patron Identification; select Fulfillment from the side navigation and choose Manage Patron Services from the menu.  In the search box, you can enter their name in either order, First Name first, or Last Name first. If no record is found, create a new community record.

2. Click on green Register New User link in the upper right screen.

5. Enter the Mandatory and Recommended Information. 

Mandatory Information: 

• First name
• Last Name
• Primary Identifier: Delete the Alma generated number
• User Group: Community
• Campus: NVCC
• Expiration Date: One year from creation date
• Purge Date: One year from expiration date (per VCCS system office)
• Keep the default - Patron has institutional record: No
• Email Address: Include Email type - Personal (All communication with community patrons/potential students should be sent to their personal email address until they have enrolled and registered for a course.) 
• Address: Include Address type (home, work, etc.)
• Scan Patron Barcode* in the Primary Identifier field.

* Scanning the Barcode early without all the mandatory information will generate red warning boxes.

Recommended Information:

• Phone number: Include Phone type

6. Click on the green Update User link in the upper right screen.

7. To add the Barcode as an Identifier, click on the linked barcode number in the ID field to view user details.

8. Alma defaults to the Identifiers tab. To add a new identifier (i.e. Barcode), click Add Identifier on the right hand side of the screen.

9. A drop-down menu will open and default to Barcode. Enter number in Value box. Click Add and Close.