Keyword searching in Koha

[Jane Cothron]

Hi all--

     Pam Fodness/Waldport discovered that keyword searches which include diacritical or orther special characters are not working properly in Koha.  I will have to try out some of the advance searches.  What this means is that copying and pasting text as a title search may not come up with the right title--if this happens, try typing in the search text.  Plain text should work. 

    I have been wondering about what we want in a library system.  I know that we want circulation and the ability to place holds (including multiple holds on a single title).  I know that I want search software that can handle multiple character sets--diacritical marks, for instance. What else?  This is just something I've been wondering about, so thanks in advance for any ideas. I appreciate it.

Best--

Jane

Jane Cothron

Cataloger

Lincoln County Library District

P.O. Box 2027

Newport, Oregon 97365

541-265-3066 (phone & fax)

jcot...@lincolncolibrarydist.org

[Library Tech 1]

Jane,

 

I would be interested in probabilistic catalog search for patrons (maybe for staff too). I don’t know how many times someone has concluded that an item is not in the collection due to a typo/slightly misremembered title/the fact that Jeffery Deaver spells his own name wrong, &c. I feel like most people don’t expect strict Boolean matching rules these days, and they don’t like getting 0 results for “Steven King” when Google has taught us—for better or worse—that the “computer should know what I meant.”

 

Thanks,

 

Harrison Baker

Assistant Library Director

Operations Manager

173 N.W. 7th Street

City of Toledo, Oregon 97391

toledo...@cityoftoledo.org

541-336-3132 ext. 7200

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[Jane Cothron]

Thanks, Harrison--

    That's a good start.

Jane

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[Deborah Trusty]

Hi Jane,

In answer to your question, I am with Harrison.  I’d like a more suggestion-oriented search capability.

Deborah

 

On a related note, I was searching for The Nation (periodical) to look at circulation stats and found that the first item in the search is The Nation but only the subscription at OCCC.  Toledo’s doesn’t even show up 4 or 5 pages in. Andrea suggested we add the term periodical to and that brought it  all up but no patron is every going to think to add the word periodical to the title of a magazine of newspaper...is there a way to fix that?

Deborah

 

From: staff-linco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:staff-linco...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jane Cothron
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 2:48 PM
To: staff-linco...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [LC-AllStaff] Keyword searching in Koha

 

Hi all--

--

[Jane Cothron]

HI Deborah--

    I don't know of a way to fix this and I will have to see if any answers pop up.  Frustrating, isn't it?

Jane

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/staff-lincoln-libraries/02589700b9444595ab4eefce658ff753%40cot-mail.Toledo.loc.

[Deborah Trusty]

HI Jane,

Thanks for the quick response.  Yes, it is frustrating.  I guess the silver lining is that most folks here are just going to browse the magazine section and see it and pick it up or not.  They are probably not going to enter it into a search on KOHA.  But thanks for letting me know it is just a system limitation, and I should chill out J

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[Jane Cothron]

Ah--no.  Please don't just chill out.  I really would like to know what's wanted, what works, and what does not work with the library automation system.  So, thank you for letting me know.  I do like the idea of including a fuzzy search function, but I don't think that would help with common single word title searches.  It's a bit clunky, but in the OPAC, you can expand the item types and click on MAGAZINE.  This brings The Nation records up, but the keyword search generates a bunch of extra hits that are not what was wanted.  It's just messy.

Jane

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[Deborah Trusty]

Heard

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[Lillian Curanzy]

I don't mean to insert myself into the discussion but I love discovery problems (when we can solve them, that is). It looks like Deborah came across the record for The Nation from 2015 first. Are all periodical records based on publication year? I can see why it would be easier for the user who is searching for a particular issue by year, rather than sifting through the entire run. Deborah, how familiar are your users with the left panel navigation? Limiting by holding libraries for this instance returns the right records, I think...

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/staff-lincoln-libraries/15ba2514831e4b578f213509da2b08a3%40cot-mail.Toledo.loc.

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Lillian Curanzy

Lincoln County Library District

P.O. Box 2027

1247 NW Grove #2

Newport, OR 97366
(541) 265-3066

[Deborah Trusty]

Hi Lillian,

Our users are somewhat familiar with limiting their searches, but the majority of folks in a small public library depend mostly on asking the front desk for help. I did try limiting the search but still did not come across it as fast as I thought I might. Thanks for your suggestion and thoughts.

Deborah

 

From: staff-linco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:staff-linco...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Lillian Curanzy
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2019 2:18 PM
To: staff-linco...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [LC-AllStaff] Keyword searching in Koha

 

I don't mean to insert myself into the discussion but I love discovery problems (when we can solve them, that is). It looks like Deborah came across the record for The Nation from 2015 first. Are all periodical records based on publication year? I can see why it would be easier for the user who is searching for a particular issue by year, rather than sifting through the entire run. Deborah, how familiar are your users with the left panel navigation? Limiting by holding libraries for this instance returns the right records, I think...

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/staff-lincoln-libraries/15ba2514831e4b578f213509da2b08a3%40cot-mail.Toledo.loc.

 

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Lillian Curanzy

Lincoln County Library District

P.O. Box 2027

1247 NW Grove #2

Newport, OR 97366
(541) 265-3066

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