Rules for Suppression
The Rules for Suppression file contains the logical rules that determine whether a record is suppressed from display in the public catalog in WebPAC and the Z39.50 Server. The Rules for Suppression file can contain rules for bibliographic, item, checkin, course, order, authority, program, and section records.
To prevent the requesting of titles that have been suppressed from display, make certain that all entries in the Rules for Suppression file also appear in the Rules for Requesting file.
A maximum of 30 rules can be entered into the file. However, only one rule (single or multiple line) for each record type can be entered in the file. Therefore, the maximum number of rules in a file used by a site equals the number of record types on the site's system.
Do not enter blank lines when editing the requestrl file. Each line in the file must begin with v, q, ^, or #.
Inn-Reach Central sites should contact Innovative for changes to the Rules for Suppression file. Suppression on an INN-Reach Central site is determined by contributing local systems. Contact Innovative if you have questions.
Existing Codes and Suppression Rules
If you add a code to your suppression rules that already exists in records, you must remove the code from those records and re-add it for the suppression rule to take effect.
Data Elements
The rules are read from the beginning of the file, continuing to the end. As the system reads each rule, if any of the associated records meets the conditions in that rule (that is, the rule "tests true"), then the record is suppressed. If all rules in the Rules for Suppression file "test false" for all associated records, the record displays in the public catalog.
In this file, there can be only one rule (single or multiple line) for each record type.
The structure of a rule line is:
q|b| |31||=|n||Suppress pub display of bib rec if bcode3=n | | | | | | || | | | | | | | || `--- Comment | | | | | | |`--- Target2 | | | | | | `--- Target1 | | | | | `--- Operation Type | | | | `--- Rule | | | `--- Fixflds Line# | | `--- Variable Tag | `--- Record Type `--- Logic Operator
Logic Operator
Contains a single character that controls the grouping of adjacent lines into one rule.
Possible values are:
| Element Value |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| ^ | The condition on this line is ANDed with the condition on the following line. |
| v | The condition on this line is ORed with the condition on the following line. |
| q | Denotes the last line of the rule (i.e., quit). |
Record Type
The type of record to which the rule applies. All condition lines for a given rule must contain the same record type, which can be one of the following:
| Element Value |
Record Type |
|---|---|
| b | bibliographic |
| i | item |
| c | checkin |
| o | order (see Automatic Suppression of On Order Messages below for more information on suppression of order records) |
| r | course |
| a | authority |
| e | resource |
| l | license |
| g | program |
| s | section |
Regarding Patron Records
In a special project to find duplicate patrons, patron records can also be included in the Rules for Suppression file. However, including patron records should be done only for this purpose and only for as long as the clean up process is run. After the clean up of duplicate patrons is complete, rules referring to patron records should be removed from the Rules for Suppression file. (See Cataloging Clean-up Projects on CSDirect.)
Variable Tag
Innovative does not recommend suppressing records based on variable-length field tags.
Fixflds Line#
Used for testing fixed-length fields only. Specifies the line number of the fixed-length field in the fixed-length fields file. You can find the number of a particular fixed-length field by viewing the list displayed in the Long names for fixed length fields file. Note that for each fixed-length field that can contain a suppression code, this code must also be entered into the appropriate Fixed-Length Codes table.
Suppression of a record based on a fixed-length field is enabled only when the record is actually edited and the changes are written to the database. If you add such a suppression rule, existing database records that already contain the suppression value in the fixed-length field will not be suppressed. If existing database records contain the suppression value, place the records in a review file, change the value of the suppression field to a different value using rapid update or global update, and change them back after suppression is set up. This will trigger the suppression flag for the affected records.
Since the system only turns on suppression when the record is written to the database, you should only base fixed-length field suppression on fields that are updated during cataloging and not those that are updated by the system. Suppression CANNOT be made on any circulation attribute, only on a cataloging attribute. In other words, do not suppress based on values such as Loan Rule, Item Status, etc.
NOTE
Innovative does not recommend suppressing a record based on the LOCATION fixed-length field.
Rule
This element is NULL or BLANK.
Operation Type
Logic that the data in the specified tag must meet for the rule to suppress the record. This defines the relationship that must exist between the data in the specified field in the tested record and the value(s) in the Target1 and Target2 elements that follow. Possible values are:
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| = | Equal to |
| g | Greater than or equal to |
| > | Greater than |
| < | Less than |
| l | Less than or equal to |
| ~ | Not equal to |
| w | Between |
| h | Has |
| e | Exists |
| n | Does not exist |
For all operation types other than w (between), the value against which to test the field is contained in the Target1 element. For the w operation type, the field's value must be between the values in the Target1 and Target2 elements.
Target1
Value against which to test the field. If this element is NULL, then the record is suppressed if the field in the Fixflds Line# element does not exist in the tested record. Wildcards are not supported.
For testing LINK REC fields, this value is the number of occurrences of the field that the tested record must contain to suppress the record. A value of '0' means that the tested record must contain NO occurrences of the field.
Target2
Used with the w (between) operator only to specify the second value for the Fixflds Line#. This element is NULL for other operators. Wildcards are not supported.
Comment
The system ignores any text in this element. This is used to enter comments into the rule line.
Editing the Rules for Suppression File
- In the Select file drop-down menu in the ASAA function, choose Rules for Suppression and then Select.
- See About the Rule Files for information on editing rule files.
- Enter your changes.
Before saving changes to the Rules for Suppression file, review Tips for Editing Rule Files to make sure your changes are correctly formatted and error-free.
- Choose OK.
- Select the Save tool to save your changes.
The system automatically restarts all WebPAC servers running on your Innovative machine(s) after you save your changes.
Annotated Examples
Single Line Rule
Suppress display of bibliographic records whose BCODE3 field contains the value 'n':
q|b| |31||=|n||Suppress pub display of Bib rec if bcode3=n
| Data Element | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Logic Operation | q | Last line of rule |
| Record Type | b | Test the bibliographic record |
| Variable Tag | BLANK | Unused for this rule |
| Fixflds Line# | 31 | Test fixed-length field 31 (BCODE3) |
| Rule | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Operation Type | = | Field must equal the value in the Target1 element to suppress the record |
| Target1 | n | Value that will suppress the record |
| Target2 | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Comment | ..... | Comment—Does not display to the user |
Multiple Line Rule
Suppress display of bibliographic records whose BCODE3 field contains either the value 'n' or 'c':
v|b| |31||=|n||Suppress pub display of Bib rec if bcode3=n
q|b| |31||=|c||Suppress pub display of Bib rec if bcode3=c
Line One
| Data Element | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Logic Operation | v | OR this line with the next line |
| Record Type | b | Test the bibliographic record |
| Variable Tag | BLANK | Unused for this rule |
| Fixflds Line# | 31 | Test fixed-length field 31 (BCODE3) |
| Rule | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Operation Type | = | Field must equal the value in the Target1 element to suppress the record |
| Target1 | n | Value that will suppress the record |
| Target2 | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Comment | ..... | Comment—Does not display to the user |
Line Two
| Data Element | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Logic Operation | q | Last line of rule |
| Record Type | b | Test the bibliographic record |
| Variable Tag | BLANK | Unused for this rule |
| Fixflds Line# | 31 | Test fixed-length field 31 (BCODE3) |
| Rule | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Operation Type | = | Field must equal the value in the Target1 element to suppress the record |
| Target1 | c | Value that will suppress the record |
| Target2 | NULL | Unused for this rule |
| Comment | ..... | Comment—Does not display to the user |
Additional Examples
q|i| |60||=|n||Suppress pub display of Item rec if icode2=n
q|o| |8||=|n||Suppress pub display of Order rec if code3=n
q|c| |36||=|n||Suppress pub display of Checkin rec if scode1=n
Automatic Suppression of On Order Messages
Besides creating record-specific rules in the Rules for Suppression file ("manual" suppression), you can set up automatic suppression of order records in WebPAC by using the SHOWOREC Web option.
"Manual" suppression is used when the library wants to suppress order records from display under all circumstances. In this case, the cataloger must insert a suppression value in a specific field to ensure that the order record will not display.
"Automatic" suppression is used when the library wants to display updated information about the order status during the ordering and receiving process. In this case, as staff update the order during the acquisition cycle, the order display in WebPAC automatically updates itself based on the options listed above.