Display Logic

Owned by Stacy Magedanz
Last updated: Feb 25, 2020 by Dolly Lopez (Unlicensed)
3 min read
Reviewed and Revised by ERM Committee 

This page covers Display Logic only as it applies to General Electronic Services and Full Text Services. 

Step-by-step guide

You must have configuration privileges in Alma to complete this process.

  1. In Alma, go to Configuration > Fulfillment > Display Logic Rules. Click Add Rule to create a new rule.
  2. Not all fields in the form are required! You may ignore the "users" option, for example.
  3. Under Hide Service, choose either General Electronic Service (for services you have defined) or Full Text (for subscription databases/ecollections). 
    1. For a GES: under with, choose Service.
    2. Under with value, choose the name of your GES
    3. For Full Text: under with, choose either Interface or Electronic Collection.  
    4. Under with value, choose the name of your interface or ecollection. You can only choose Interfaces or Ecollections that are active in your IZ; no NZ resources will appear on the list.
  4. In general, Interface is the more flexible option:
    1. Choosing an Interface allows you to impact multiple ecollections. For example, specifying EBSCOhost interface will affect all databases you have on that platform, even if those databases are only active in the NZ.
    2. You can have an active Interface in your IZ even if you do not have an active Ecollection from that platform in your IZ. 
      1. In your Alma Vendors, any vendor you set as an Access Provider must include an Interface Name. These Interfaces are available for Display Logic!
  5. Rules are constructed negatively. That is, they are basically phrased as "Do not display X if Y exists." There is no option to construct a positive rule like "Display X if Y is true." You can only construct enough negative rules to exclude every option but the result you want.

Important points

  • Order matters. Rules listed first are applied first. 
  • Rules are immediately effective once you add them (Add or Add and Close). Because the CSUs effectually lack a sandbox, you cannot test your rules anything other than live!
  • You can deactivate a rule without deleting it by toggling its Active button to off. 
  • If the name of a service, interface, or ecollection changes, then you must update any Display Logic Rules that use the old name!

Use Case: Prevent duplication of full text databases in the services menu

This rule prevents multiple EBSCOhost databases from being listed in the online services menu when all of them offer the same full-text resource. (Other interfaces where this may be relevant include ProQuest and JSTOR.)

Text of the rule is: Hide service Full Text with Interface = EBSCOhost if exists service Full Text with Interface = EBSCOhost

Use Case: Prevent display of one GES when a different one is available

Example: I have a GES that gives the user an option to search for free ERIC documents when the item has an ERIC ED accession number. In such a case, I do not want ILLiad to appear, because it may generate unnecessary ILL article requests.

Text of the rule is: Hide service General Electronic Service with Service = ILLIAD_JOURNALS if exists service General Electronic Service with Service = ERIC

Display Logic Rules cannot be considered in isolation from the General Electronic Service Availability Rules!