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Updates are coming to the library search experience.

May 9, 2023

Change

In order to provide the best tools for our patrons and take advantage of the latest technologies, the BYU library search has been updated. The new search allows patrons to select whether they are looking for an item in the library or online. The default choice is set to find items in the library.

The In the Library search will search for physical items that are in the library.
The Available Online search will include all electronic items that the library has access to including ebooks, streaming media, scanned images, articles, journals, and more.


Improvements

Here is a list of additional improvements that are coming to search in this first iteration:

  1. It will be easier to find items that are in the library.
  2. Clicking between the two tabs, In the Library and Available Online, will preserve the search terms, making it easy to see what is available in each search.
  3. Improved handling of Boolean, term modifiers, and wildcard operators.
  4. Improvements to the Advanced search:
    1. The Advanced search options are more prominent.
    2. The Advanced search options are optimized to the search tab and underlying metadata.
    3. The Advanced search includes multi-select dropdowns for resource type, collections and languages.
  5. Improved visibility of selected filters.
  6. The filter groups now have a search bar when there are 10 or more parent items. Groups are listed with the first 5 items with the most results, followed by the rest alphabetical.
  7. Improved pagination visibility and navigation.
  8. The options button is divided into two distinct functions: sort and settings.
  9. New display options in Settings will include three levels of detail: Titles only, Brief (the default setting), and Detailed.

Known Limitations

As this is the first step to building a new search system, there are a few issues we are aware of and we are continuing to improve. They include:

  • Because some of the filters are different between the two tabs, most filters will not transfer when you move between the two tabs. However, the selected filters are retained in the tab and when you return to the tab you will see them.
  • Links on the library website that provide pre-filtered search terms may return unexpected results. We have tried to catch all of these but please use the green Feedback button to alert us of any we may have missed.
  • In the Available Online search, when a specific database or journal is selected as a filter, the other options disappear.

Feedback

Your feedback is invaluable to us as we strive to improve the search. Please use the green Feedback button on the search page for any feedback you want to share with us.

Looking Forward

This is the first of many changes to come to the library search experience. Future changes to the search experience will be gradually applied. Please be watching for additional information about future changes.