Advanced Searching in Koha
Koha has a built-in 'Advanced Search' option which allows staff and patrons to build a search using search terms, item types, shelving locations, publication date, availability, location, and more!
Staff Advanced Search
If a staff member was looking for a Stephen King novel, and ran a search with Stephen King as the search term within the Advanced Search, once the results are populated, Koha will give an 'Edit Search' option for the search to be further refined.
System Preferences
numSearchResults
This system preference allows staff to set a number of results per page in the staff client. The default is 20. This can be set to any desired increment, however, for the best performance, we suggest keeping this number under 100.
numSearchResultsDropdown
This system preference allows staff to show a results per page dropdown on the staff client search results. The default is set to "Don’t show". When set to ‘Show’ this system preference will make a drop-down menu appear in the search results allowing the user to choose how many results they want to see per page. The numSearchResults will determine what the default value is.
OPAC Advanced Search
Finding a title in the OPAC shouldn't be a mystery. Leave the sleuthing for Sherlock by utilizing the Advanced Search feature. The location of this feature is dependent on the unique customization of your OPAC but it is usually hovering somewhere around the General Search Bar at the top of your site. By using Advanced Search in your query, it gives you, and your patrons, the power to focus and expedite looking for an item. Below is an example of the Advanced Search location on our partner's Hollis Social Library website.
Once you have clicked on Advanced Search, you can select from filters, like "Title" and "Author" to further define your search. In this search query, we have entered "fables" in the Title field and "klein" into the Author field.
Scrolling down, you will find even more ways to limit your search in the Item Types section. This is the perfect place to modify if the item may be available in multiple formats, like DVD and Audio Book.
Here is an example of a popular title that comes in several different formats. Using the Advanced Search feature, we put "harry potter" in the Title filter and selected Book as the Item Type. The search removed all the other formats and only left us with the texts that related to Harry Potter.
Advanced Search can help patrons find exactly what they're looking for in a lot less time. Playing around with this feature is also a great way to discover other books by the same author and explore new parts of the collection patrons may have not stumbled upon. We hope this helps you and your patrons the next time you use your library's catalog.
Customize the OPAC Advanced Search
There are three system preferences that drive the options in the Advanced Search on the OPAC.
- OpacAdvancedSearchTypes
- This system preference allows libraries to customize which options, item types, shelving locations and/or collection codes appear on the advanced search as well as in what order. If a library would like all options they would add this into the text box: itemtypes|loc|ccode
- OpacAdvSearchMoreOptions
- The settings in this preference will determine which search fields will show when the patron is using the ‘More options’ mode on the advanced search page.
- OpacAdvSearchOptions
- The settings in this preference will determine which search fields will show when the patron is using the ‘Fewer options’ mode on the advanced search page.
For these two options, a user can choose to have fewer options or more options when viewing this page. But the library can change this to have fewer options if they would like to alter the search options for patrons.
Languages
For libraries with a collection of material written in different languages, there is a specific dropdown in the Advanced Search on the OPAC that will allow your patrons to search by the language of the material. This dropdown is very long and not helpful to patrons if your library does not actually have material written in all the languages.
Here is an example of what Koha by default will show in the drop-down in the OPAC under language:
Tthere is a global system preference called Advancedsearchlanguages. The languages available in your library can be entered and separated by a pipe delimiter in this system preference. Here is the link to the list of languages and the abbreviated version to use:
For example, if your library had material in Spanish, French, and Russian, the system preference would be entered like this :
spa|fre|rus
Once your system preferences are saved and updated, the patron can use the advanced search feature in the OPAC and only see the languages your library has.
Notes: Koha will look at the 008 fields in the item’s marc record to find the language. For more information see the Library of Congress website.
System Preferences
OPACnumSearchResults
This system preference allows staff to set a number of results per page in the OPAC. The default is 20. This can be set to any desired increment, however, for the best performance, we suggest keeping this number under 100.
OPACnumSearchResultsDropdown
This system preference allows staff to show a results per page dropdown on the OPAC search results. The default is set to "Don’t show". When set to ‘Show’ this system preference will make a drop-down menu appear in the search results allowing the user to choose how many results they want to see per page. The OPACnumSearchResults will determine what the default value is.
Saved Searches
Staff can create saved searches to be used on the staff interface, the OPAC, or both!
System Preference
To allow for staff (with the correct permissions) to create Saved Searches, the system preference, SavedSearchFilters, must be set to enabled. This will not be turned on by default. Once this has been turned on, staff with the correct permissions can perform a search and then save this search. A search can be made in the top search bar or through the advanced search.
The advanced search choice would allow staff to really dig down into the most specific search, for example, a search for all Large Print Item Type books published in the last 2 years. Once that search has been performed, there will be an option to "Save Search as Filter"
Once this has been clicked, Koha will give staff a few options in a pop-up modal box:
Options include allowing this search to be used only on the staff interface or the OPAC. Also, a search can be created from this pop-up or an existing search can be replaced with a new search filter.
Permission
For staff to be able to create Saved Searches as a FIlter, they will need the permission, manage_search_filters, under the Administration section of permissions.
Search Filters
Any saved searches created will live in Search Filters. This option can be found in the Administration module.
A search can be edited, a filter can be edited and the saved search itself can be deleted. For example, if a search was originally created for the OPAC, but then a library wanted to include the staff interface for this search, this can be done through the 'edit filter' option. If a search itself needs to be changed, this can be done via the 'edit search' option.
Tutorial Video
Browse Selected Records
When doing a search in the staff client, the option "Browse Selected Records" may get lost in the sea of other options. If a staff member chooses a few records from this screen and then clicks on "Browse Selected Records", they will be pleasantly surprised with the option to look at all these records without having to do the original search!
There is a box available to the left of the full display of the record, that will allow you to arrow through the results that were chosen! "Browse Results" will bring the user back to the original search.
How Do I Make Subject Links Search the Whole Subject in the Catalog?
Like many things in Koha, a system preference determines what happens when you click on a subject tracing from a record. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, let's use this Magic Tree House record as an example.
The system preference TraceSubjectSubdivisions determines what happens when you click one of those subject headings. If TraceSubjectSubdivisions is set to "Don't include subdivisions for searches generated by clicking on subject tracings," then clicking on the subject "Ireland -- History -- 19th century -- fiction" is only going to search "Ireland," or the topical term in subfield a of the subject tag.
If the expected behavior is to generate a search on the full subject and its subdivisions, TraceSubjectSubdivisions should be set to "Include subdivisions for searches generated by clicking on subject tracings," which will search all the subdivisions. Instead of searching only for "Ireland," the search becomes a subject search for "Ireland" AND "History" AND "19th century" AND "fiction."
This setting applies to searches in both the staff client and the OPAC.
Why Does My Item Availability Look Wrong in Search Results?
If a record has a large number of items on it (more than 20), as may be common in large systems who purchase popular materials based on holds ratio or circulate devices like hotspots, Koha may not be consulting all the items on the record for the preview of availability in search results.
How many items Koha checks for status in search results is controlled by the MaxSearchResultsItemsPerRecordStatusCheck system preference. As a default for our smaller library partners, we typically set that number to 20, meaning Koha checks the status of the first 20 items on the record and returns whether they are available or not. That number can be raised for larger libraries or libraries that have records that typically have higher numbers of items on them. For some of our largest consortium partners, we have raised that system preference value to check the first 250 items, which provides a better snapshot of availability without noticeably slowing down searching.
If a library has record holdings large enough that MaxSearchResultsItemsPerRecordStatusCheck needs to be raised, its partner system preference maxItemsInSearchResults should also be adjusted. This setting controls number of items to show per bibliographic record in search results, so a partner with a MaxSearchResultsItemsPerRecordStatusCheck setting of 250 may have a maxItemsInSearchResults of double that number.
Of course, many libraries will probably fall somewhere between these two values, so these preferences can be adjusted to numbers that better reflect the upper bounds of items per record for an individual library.
How are Koha Search Result Facets Built?
In Koha, the facets that populate on the left of search results in the staff client and OPAC get built from the records in those results with a combination of information like branches holdings are available at and shelving locations, but also authors, subjects, places in those results, and series information. Here's a sample of facets generated from a keyword search for "historical romance":
Sometimes those results can be confusing, especially if they don't populate with shelving locations or item types that might be expected in a general keyword search. Those facets are not built off of every possible search result; a system preference, maxRecordsForFacets, determines how many of the first results are consulted to build that facet list in order to use resources efficiently. This system preference pertains to the Zebra Indexer. If you have the system preference SearchEngine set to Elastic search this preference will be ignored.
By default, we tend to set that value at 50 for our partners, meaning that the facets are built based on the first 50 records returned in a search (and may change as results are reordered). For larger multi-branch and consortium partners, we will sometimes raise that number to 100 if needed, and we've found that typically returns enough facets for staff and users to find what they're looking for.
Can Search Result Facets be Reordered?
Libraries with Elastic Search enabled can re-order search result facet orders. These facets, displayed on the lefthand side in OPAC and staff client searches, are built out of the first X number of search results, where X is set in the maxRecordsForFacets system preference. These facet categories include things like holding branches, item types, subjects, series information, and collection codes.
These facets can be reordered from the staff client without putting in a ticket or reindexing the site. This is done through Administration -> Search engine configuration (ElasticSearch) ->Bibliographic Records tab, scrolling down to the bottom of the search field mapping.
From here, facets can be turned off or rearranged. For example, a single-site library may choose to only display home OR holding branch instead of two different, identical facet lists. Or a library that carries a lot of series fiction may want that facet to be higher in the list than subject, while an academic library may want author and subject at the very top of the list. The order can be rearranged via drag and drop, and once changes are saved, they are effective immediately.
What Does 'Limit to Currently Available Items' in Search Facets Actually Mean?
Ask ten different libraries what "Available" means, and many will probably have differing answers. As far as Koha's searching is concerned, "Available" means that on a given record, there is at least one item that is not checked out. This is a fairly narrow definition of availability that does not touch things like not for loan statuses or being on hold and waiting for other patrons, which can be confusing to users. While a number of bugs in the Koha community seek to make that definition of "Available" more configurable, one small clarity change is coming in 23.11, relabeling that text to "Showing only records with available items," courtesy of Bug 34721.
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