By (Web)hook or by Crook: Making Alma work for Oxford

The University of Oxford libraries migrated from Aleph to Alma in August 2023, leaving behind a system very highly tailored to our very specific challenges and requirements. To make Alma work in the Oxford environment we have relied heavily on webhooks to mimic Aleph functionality and enhance staff workflows, both during migration and following launch: at time of writing, we have 7 different webhook-based solutions in use – covering user management, requesting, blocks, and loans – with more in the pipeline.

This presentation will explain the challenges we faced, how we addressed them using webhooks, our development of a plugin-based server to accelerate development and safely handle subscription overlap, and finally offer some general insight on how this powerful feature can allow institutions to quickly and easily tailor Alma to local requirements (however esoteric they may be).