Refactoring Alma: Simplifying Circulation Settings in the Alma Integrated Library System (ILS)

Refactoring is the process of restructuring existing code, in order to make the code easier to maintain, without changing the behavior of the software. Georgia Southern University is the product of a consolidation of two separate universities in 2017. Before consolidation, each predecessor university had its own cataloging practices and software settings in the integrated library system (ILS) / library services platform (LSP). While the machine-readable cataloging (MARC) standard focuses on discovery, and descriptive search blended well to support discovery, settings related to circulation were in discord following the merger. Three busy checkout desks each had different localized behaviors and requested additional behaviors to be built out without centrally standardizing. Complexity stemming from non-unified metadata and settings plus customizations implemented over time for multiple checkout desks had ballooned to make for circulation settings which were overly baroque, difficult to meaningfully edit when a change to circulation practices was needed, and which were layered and complex to such a degree that local standards could not be explained to employees creating and editing library metadata. This resulted in frequent frustration with how circulation worked, difficulty knowing what was or wasn’t a software bug, and inability to quickly fix problems once problems were identified or to make requested changes. During 2024, the Georgia Southern University Libraries (University Libraries) undertook a comprehensive settings clean up in Alma centered around software settings related to circulation. This article describes step-by-step how the University Libraries streamlined and simplified software settings in the Alma ILS, in order to make the software explainable and easier to manage, and all without impacting three busy checkout desks during the change process. Through refactoring, the University Libraries achieved more easily maintainable and explainable software settings, with minimal disruption to day-to-day operations along the way.