For acquisitions teams, fund and ledger questions often come up when decisions need to be made quickly. Which funds need attention? How much funding remains in a ledger? Where might allocations need adjustment?

Alma AI Assistant for Acquisitions Funds & Ledgers is designed to help staff get to those answers faster. Built into Alma, it lets users ask questions in natural language, retrieve relevant acquisitions information and continue their work without moving through multiple screens or systems.
The easiest way to see how it works is to watch the new on-demand demo. Watch it now!

What if you could simply ask Alma?

Acquisitions teams routinely work through questions such as:

• Which funds have the highest remaining balances?
• Which funds require attention?
• How much funding is available in a particular ledger?
• Where might allocations need adjustment?

Finding those answers often requires navigating multiple screens, reports or records before a decision can be made. Alma AI Assistant gives staff a more direct way to interact with acquisitions data. They can ask questions in everyday language and receive information within Alma, where the work is already happening.

Rather than spending time locating information, librarians can focus on evaluating it and deciding what to do next.

A practical approach to AI adoption
That measured approach reflects findings from the Academic AI Impact study, conducted by Emerging Strategy on behalf of Clarivate. Libraries reported the strongest results when AI was introduced gradually, focused on high-friction activities and used to support rather than replace professional judgment.
Alma AI Assistant applies that principle directly to acquisitions work by meeting staff inside the system they already use.

Faster access to operational information
Acquisitions work depends on having accurate information available when decisions need to be made.

Whether reviewing budgets, allocations or fund balances, staff often need to move quickly between questions and actions.

Alma AI Assistant enables users to retrieve information through natural language interactions, reducing the effort required to locate relevant data and helping staff reach decisions more efficiently.

From information to action
Finding information is only part of the process.

What matters is what happens next.

The new Alma AI Assistant is designed to help staff continue through the workflow after receiving an answer. For example, a question about fund balances can lead directly into review, validation and the next acquisition decision inside Alma.

That is where conversational AI can be most useful: not as a substitute for expertise, but as a way to remove friction from routine work so staff can spend more time applying it.

Librarians remain in control
One of the clearest messages from the research is that AI does not remove the need for professional oversight.

Interview participants consistently reported that AI changed operational constraints but did not change accountability, governance or the need for review. Human judgment remained essential throughout every workflow examined.

Librarians review and approve actions, maintaining full control over decisions and outcomes. The assistant supports the workflow, but responsibility remains with library staff.
For many institutions, that balance is essential. It allows libraries to explore practical AI while preserving the expertise, standards and governance that define their work.

Why watch the on-demand demo?
Reading about conversational AI is one thing. Seeing it used in an acquisitions workflow is another. Our new on-demand demo shows Alma AI Assistant for Funds & Ledgers in action and demonstrates how staff can:

• Ask operational questions in natural language
• Access acquisitions and fund information more efficiently
• Move from answers to review and next steps within Alma
• Work within familiar Alma experiences
• Explore a measured approach to AI adoption
• Maintain full oversight of decisions and action

Whether your library is actively evaluating AI or simply exploring what these tools can offer, the demo provides a practical look at how conversational AI can support acquisitions work today. Watch the on-demand demo and see how Alma AI Assistant can help simplify acquisitions and fund management workflows.