CDI Mapping and Configuration

The Central Discovery Index (CDI) This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. is managed by Ex Libris and is used to make chapter and article level content discoverable in Primo VE (OneSearch), in addition to the book and journal level records provided directly from Alma.

Depending on your institution's CDI settings, users will be able to discover CDI content for resources that the library subscribes to as well as non-subscribed content (useful for facilitating CSU+ requests).

Libraries are free to determine their desired CDI settings and can make changes in the IZ and NZ (for shared electronic collections) accordingly at any time. The table at the bottom of this document presents suggestions on how to configure CDI to achieve the desired discovery results in Primo VE.  

Also see:

• Activating Collections for CDI by Collection Type for Discovery This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. for ExLibris' documentation.
• CDI Collection List for Alma Customers This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
• CDI Tips/Tricks This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.

In addition to CDI search activation settings, Primo VE search profiles  This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.can be used to further refine the discoverability of CDI content. Many libraries have Primo VE configured so that users only see CDI records for content they have access to in a default filtered search. To see CDI records for content the library does NOT subscribe to (assuming this content has been activated for search according to the chart below), users would need to expand their search results. Allowing users to discover these records is very useful for facilitating CSU+ requests. In comparison, some libraries have their default search profiles configured so that all CDI content that has been activated for search, whether it is subscribed to or not, appears in one main default unfiltered search (no need to expand to see more results). 

See the following pages for more information:

• Recommendation: CSU+ as Default Search Profile (discussed in the context of CSU+ (Rapido) and the Global Title Index, but still applicable to CDI).
• Primo VE search profiles and scopes This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.  (ExLibris Documentation)

CDI settings are controlled on an individual collection basis from the CDI tab in the Electronic Collection Editor in Alma.

The CDI tab contains a number of fields, both descriptive and editable. Some of the descriptive fields are helpful for determining how to set the editable settings, while others help determine whether you have set up your settings correctly. A list of the descriptive fields can be found here. This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. In addition to the fields listed in the Ex Libris documentation, note that the CDI Collection ID (DB ID) can be used to determine whether CDI records are appearing in Primo correctly (see here).

The editable fields differ between different types of CDI collections (Link in Record vs Link Resolver), but are drawn from the below fields:

• CDI Search activation status: Whether CDI records for the collection are active for discovery. Available options: Active, Not Active. (By default, CDI content will appear for any Alma portfolio that is activated, regardless of whether this setting is set to Active or Not Active).
• We subscribe to only some titles in this collection: Whether your institution subscribes to all titles in the collection or not. This controls whether CDI records in PrimoVE are marked as “Full-Text Available” for all the portfolios in a collection or just the active portfolios in a collection (ie, are CDI records only discoverable for portfolios that are activated (Yes), or are CDI records discoverable for the whole collection regardless of portfolio activation (No)). Available options: Yes, No
• CDI-only full text activation: Whether full text should only be determined by CDI activation, rather than portfolio activation. This only appears for Link in Record collections. Available options: Checked, Unchecked
  • WARNING: Checking this option for new collections with active portfolios in your IZ will prompt with a warning that checking it will deactivate all portfolios for the collection. There are collections that had this option checked previously that have been grandfathered in, and this does not occur in the NZ, but use this option with caution with collections that have portfolios.
• Do not show as Full Text available in CDI even if active in Alma: Suppresses CDI full text available visibility in PrimoVE even if the portfolio is active in Alma (unless the CDI record is also present in another collection that does not have this setting checked). This setting does NOT stop CDI records from appearing in PrimoVE for activated portfolios, it just marks the records as not being “Full-Text Available.” This setting is not used (ie, is left Unchecked) in all scenarios in the below table. Available options: Checked, Unchecked

Below is a table showing how to use the descriptive fields of a CDI collection to determine how to set the editable fields.

Libraries must manage CDI activations for their campus in both their IZ and the NZ. If you do not have access to edit the CDI settings in the NZ, contact the CO Electronic Resources Manager to request it.

Setting "CDI Search Activation" to Yes, allows records for non-subscribed content to be discoverable in Primo VE. This is generally recommended to make it easier for users to find and request what they need through CSU+ when it is not available locally. Libraries are also encouraged to use their Search Profile configurations to help control when CDI records for non-subscribed content appear, rather than not allowing them to be discoverable at all.