What are the benefits of using vendor records in Alma?
Answer
Vendors are not only necessary for purchasing workflow (every order must be associated with a vendor), but they also:
- Provide a single access point for contact information for each vendor
- Allow tracking of electronic usage statistics
- Allow tracking of electronic licenses
- Allow the storage of electronic access information (such as user interface username and passwords) in one central location
If ordering is minimal, a library might choose to have a single vendor record to use for all physical item orders. If a library is not interested in tracking purchase costs, this might be a "Gift" vendor (see AWG-5 Policy).
Libraries that want to be able to better keep track of electronic resource use and cost management without the use of spreadsheets will want to create vendors to correspond with their electronic resource use providers.
Documentation: