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Recommendation

From a user experience perspective, Discovery Operations finds that enabling the Exclude eBooks from CDI Results setting enhances the overall discovery experience. However, the advantages and disadvantages of this feature may vary depending on individual campus collections and configurations. Therefore, Discovery encourages each campus to review the pros and cons outlined below and make decisions based on the specific user needs of each campus.

Impact of Change

Background

When an eBook is present in both Alma and CDI electronic collections, users may encounter duplicate eBook records. The presence of duplicate eBook records not only creates visual clutter, but also hinders users’ ability to find, identify, and select resources effectively, which are the core objectives of a library catalog and discovery interface.

In November 2021, Ex Libris introduced the capability to exclude eBooks from CDI search results. This feature holds potential implications for eBook collections managed in the NZ and influences cataloging prioritization decisions (both at SCP and locally). The Go Live Discovery group advised campuses against enabling "Exclude eBooks from CDI Results" until the group had sufficient time for further investigation and discussion.

When the Discovery OST resumed reviewing this option, we encountered challenges related to the unpredictable interaction between Primo VE features. This unpredictability stems from several factors, including inadequate documentation and the unpredictable effects of the Network Zone on individual Institution Zones.

The below screenshots show the configuration of the Exclude CDI eBooks setting for a search profile.

Exclude CDI eBooks turned on:

Open

Exclude CDI eBooks turned off:

Open

Advantages and Disadvantages

Settings that may Impact Exclude eBooks from CDI Results behavior

Understanding how some search configuration features interact and how they’re supposed to work alongside other settings is difficult. Testing is further complicated by the differences between sandbox and production environments. Even with the existing documentation as a guide, search results don’t always act the way we expect them to when we adjust these options. Due to these challenges, we’ve struggled to identify which configurations might lead to issues with this setting. To really understand the impact and pain points of this feature, we need to see how the settings impact real users conducting actual searches across different setups, not just in a controlled environment. Additional data on unsuccessful or undesirable search results would allow us to identify how the setting actually impacts results and allow us to test solutions and workarounds effectively.

Situations and Settings that may impact results:

• FRBR/Dedup

• If any individual electronic collections has Option 1 (Do not show as Full Text available in CDI even if active in Alma) selected

• Filter by Availability

• Record metadata including whether the CDI rtype for a record is set to eBook

• Network Zone records

• Records from other campuses via the Discovery Network

Alternative Options

• This setting Filter CDI eBooks (Option 2), has several advantages over Option 1

  • For NZ resources, it does not require that all campuses agree on whether or not the resource should be excluded from CDI.

  • Does not exclude chapter-level results which users are now used to seeing.

Suggested Testing Strategies

Testing Setup

We recommend testing in production Primo/Alma environments to ensure access to current data.

Exclude eBooks is a search profile setting. To better understand how this setting interacts with the related Filter By Availability (FBA) setting, we recommend setting up a total of four search profiles with the following configuration:

1. FBA and Filter CDI eBooks both ON

2. FBA ON, Filter CDI eBooks OFF

3. FBA OFF, Filter CDI eBooks ON

4. FBA and Filter CDI eBooks both OFF

At a minimum, set up one new search profile matching your institution’s current configuration for FBA and additionally turning on Filter CDI eBooks. Use this profile alongside your currently active CDI search profile in testing.

Configuration Steps in Alma

1. Search Profile setup: Discovery → Search Profiles

   1. Click “Add a Search Profile”

   2. Give the new profile a unique code and display name

   3. Add search scopes matching the current CDI blended search profile. On the CDI search scope, use the checkboxes to select whether FBA and Exclude CDI eBooks are enabled. The screenshot below shows an example the appropriate scopes added, and with Exclude CDI eBooks and FBA both enabled.

   4. Save the new search profile.

2. View setup: Discovery → Configure Views

   1. Copy your current main Primo view by using the ellipsis button on the right and selecting “Duplicate”. Give the new view a unique code.

   2. Use the ellipsis menu on the new view and select “Edit”. In the new view, select the tab “Search Profile Slots”.

   3. Click “Add a Slot”. Give the slot a unique code and name (the name will be visible to users in the new view). In the section “Select Search Profiles for Slot”, use the toggles on the left to enable ONE of the search scopes created in step 1. Save the new slot. The screenshot below shows the setup for a search profile slot with FBA and Filter CDI eBooks both enabled.

   4. Repeat step 2c for each search profile being tested. You may wish to disable (via the toggles on the Search Profile Slots tab of the view) any scopes that aren’t relevant to this testing, such as local holdings or course reserves.

Types of Electronic Resources to Test

eBooks where a collection is activated but we only license some of the eBooks

• Known CDI resource

• Book packages where you own/lease some but not all of the portfolios

• NZ example: YBP/eBrary DDA Purchased (Ebook Central Perpetual, DDA and Subscription Titles) (NZ Collection Id 61468395140006531; CZ Id 614330000000000002)

  • As of 5/2024, the NZ had 665 portfolios of 2,799,024 activated for UCB; UCD; UCI; UCLA; UCM; UCR; UCSB; UCSC; UCSD. Examples of NZ Owned titles:

    • Debt to society : accounting for life under capitalism /

    • 15 sports myths and why they're wrong /

  • Systemwide, we have 676,692 portfolios activated (see Excel spreadsheet for full list).

    • UCSC: A border within national identity, cultural plurality, and wilderness /

    • UCM: Skating to spelling success /

Collections that all campuses within the NZ have access to.

• NZ example: JSTOR Books Open Access (NZ Collection ID: 61419440380006531; CZ ID: 614330000000000094)

  • As of 5/2024, the NZ had 10,921 portfolios activated in the sandbox for all campuses. Examples of NZ owned titles:

    • Archives, Access and Artificial Intelligence

    • Imagining unequals, imagining equals : concepts of equality in history and law

Testing Caveats

• If you’re testing in the sandbox, remember to compare against sandbox results. Production and sandbox environments sometimes have different configurations and different electronic collections activated which may impact comparisons between the two. For example, collections added in production since the last sandbox refresh will not be in the sandbox.

• Examine surprising results for insufficient or incorrect metadata. For example, if duplicates still exist, it may be because Primo VE can’t tell that the duplicates are the same resource.

Additional Information

• Initial Phase 4 decision page: DISC (Go Live) Do Not Enable "Exclude eBooks from CDI Results" Feature in Primo VE

• Additional Discovery discussion and testing

Ex Libris Documentation

• Primo VE 2021 Release Notes

• eBooks in Discovery (Option 2)

• Exclude CDI eBooks

• Resource Types in CDI

Action Log