[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Inconsistent search results

Thu May 26 11:29:28 EDT 2011

For #1 - I see this in the staff client in 1.4 and 1.6. I have not had an
opportunity to report it as an problem. I'm seeing some other inconsistent
results in the OPAC. Searching for keyword cataloging (no filtering) in
the local branch I retrieve 1691 results. When I sort  by title, the
returns drop to 134. When I return to advanced search and filter by books
and nonfiction, sort on relevance, I get 1240. When I sort by title from
the result screen, I get 134. 

For the subject searches, I also get inconsistent results, but since
subject searching differs in 1.6, I don't know that what I am seeing is
relevant to what you see. (I really think your branch needs to beef up its
animals living in space collection)

For #4 - It is my understanding that the number of results is an estimate
of the returns and may or may not reflect the actual number of titles in
the results. As it was explained to me, estimation of results is tied to
the use of superpages to aggregate and retrieve results in Evergreen
searching (at least in the PINES database).

Elaine 

J. Elaine Hardy

PINES Bibliographic Projects and Metadata Manager

Georgia Public Library Service,

A Unit of the University System of Georgia

1800 Century Place, Suite 150

Atlanta, Ga. 30345-4304

404.235-7128

404.235-7201, fax

 <mailto:ehardy at georgialibraries.org> ehardy at georgialibraries.org

 <http://www.georgialibraries.org> www.georgialibraries.org

 <http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/>
http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/

From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
[mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of
Kathy Lussier
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 2:02 PM
To: 'Evergreen Discussion Group'
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Inconsistent search results

 Hi all,

We have noticed some interesting behavior with search results. This may be
a little difficult to explain, but I'm wondering if any of these issues
are bugs that can be fixed or if the behavior is there by design. If it's
by design, I would be interested in getting further explanation on what is
happening behind the scenes.

I'm looking at a 2.1 system, but I've noticed this behavior in other 2.0
catalogs as well.

1. If I conduct a search for solar system from the advanced search screen,
limit the search to my branch, and then apply a search filter for books
and non-fiction, I get 53 search results. In the search bar along the top
of the screen, the branch limiter has been carried over, but the format is
set to all formats. If the patron then clicks to limit the search to
available items or chooses to sort the results by publication date, it
looks like the system is executing the search using the parameters
contained in that search bar. Since the non-fiction and book limiters were
not carried over to the search bar, these limiters are no longer part of
the search. Therefore, if a user chooses to simply change the sort on
those results, they are suddenly dealing with 73 results that include
non-print and fiction material.

2. Doing the same search that I conducted in the above example, I see from
my facet list that there are 14 titles with the geographic subject of
"solar system." If I click on that facet, once again, the system appears
to be executing the search using parameters contained in the search bar.
The resulting list has 18 titles instead of the 14 titles that I was
expecting. These new results contain non-print and fiction material.

3. After limiting my search with a facet, I then click on the advanced
search button to conduct a new search. I notice that ft=
subject|geographic[Solar system] has carried over to the URL for this
page. I click the Reset Form button and then do a search for dogs. In this
case, I get no search results because the solar system geographic subject
facet has carried over to this search. (This library must not have any
books on dogs living in outer space.) There is no indication letting the
user know the solar system facet has been applied to this search. So, in
the first two examples, I'm in a situation where I want search limiters to
stick, but they are not sticking. In this case, I have a limiter that just
won't go away. There are only two ways I've found to get the facet to
unstick: either by conducting a new search from the basic search page or
by removing the parameters from the URL.

4. Even when I'm not applying a limiter to my search, I sometimes get an
inconsistent number of search results depending on the way the list is
sorted. This inconsistency is most likely to happen with a larger result
set. If I do a search for solar system from the basic search of our demo
system, I get 69  results -
http://egdemo.mvlcstaff.org/opac/en-US/skin/klussier/xml/rresult.xml?rt=ke
yword
<http://egdemo.mvlcstaff.org/opac/en-US/skin/klussier/xml/rresult.xml?rt=k
eyword&tp=keyword&t=solar%20system&ft=&l=4&d=2&f>
&tp=keyword&t=solar%20system&ft=&l=4&d=2&f=. The result set then ranges
anywhere from 67 to 72 depending on which sort option I select. Sorting by
title A to Z gives me 70 results and sorting by title Z to A gives me 67
results.

Any thoughts on on this?

Thanks!

Kathy Lussier

-------------------------------------------------------------

Kathy Lussier

Project Coordinator

Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative

(508) 756-0172

(508) 755-3721 (fax)

klussier at masslnc.org

IM: kmlussier (AOL & Yahoo)

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

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