The Search Results List - Searching Module

This is the second section of the searching module of the Alma Overviews course. The video is at the top of the page, followed by the script.

In this video, you'll review:

Basic Search

Let’s run through a basic search to begin looking at the results list.

1. First, I'll choose Physical Titles as my search type, so that I get bib records as my results.
2. Next, I'll choose Title as my criteria, so that I can use the title of the item as my search terms.
3. I'm looking for bib records for Getting to Yes, so I type that in. You can see that Alma is suggesting previous ways that I’ve searched for this title.
4. Next, I click search or hit the enter key to search.

Once you search for something, Alma will present your results list in a very familiar layout: there will be the search at the top with the results underneath, facets on the left, and some options to sort.

First, see that Alma displays your search terms here, and if you were using Boolean logic, it would include the Boolean logic terms so you can review exactly how it searched for these results. This can help you learn more about how Alma performs search over time.

Facets

Next, note the facets or limits on the left. The facets will always be relevant to the search type you chose. Select a facet by clicking on it. I’ll choose Book, I’ll choose English, and I will choose books published since 2002.

Note that I can remove any facet by clicking on the X next to it. What’s great is that you can add three facets and then remove the first without affecting #2 & 3, which saves a lot of time. You don’t have to back out in the way that you put them on. I’m going to also remove my publication year facet.

Sorting

Next, we’ll look at sorting.

• Some results list have one sort (like Physical Titles) and others have two levels of sorting. Here, you can sort first for instance by Title or Creator in ascending or descending alphabetical order, and then by Publication Date in the second sort in ascending year order, and this will give you a roughly chronological list of editions or works. If you scroll down and look at the different titles: Becoming a Fundraiser in 1992 and Becoming a Fundraiser in 2000.
• The Rank sort at the top of the list equals relevancy. It's the system trying to guess what you want based on what you've searched for. It will display direct matches first and then indirect or partial matches. This is where including an article in your search could be helpful, if you wanted information on, say, The Doors as opposed to just doors.
• Other sort options will depend on what search type you've chosen, such as sorting by column headers in Invoice results, or in a few types, there may be facets and no sorting options, as in Order Lines.
• Finally, know that Sort is "sticky." Alma will remember and reuse the last sort you used for each Search Type, useful if you always want your results in call number order, for instance.

Number of Results per Page

I’m going to quickly scroll down to the bottom of the search page to show off a relatively new feature in the bottom right corner. This is the Results per Page feature, and this lets you choose how many results to display on a single page. Just use the slider at the bottom to slide right and left to make your choice. Notice, however, that one says Faster and one says Slower. If you choose to have fewer results on a page, the page will load more quickly. If you choose to have more results on a page, the page will load more slowly.

The Search Results

Now, there’s the main contents of the search results list, and these are the records your search has found. In the results list, you get a snapshot of information about that record, you get some Other Details or related information, and you get options or actions you can take on that record right here from the results list.

The snapshot and related information and options will all differ depending on the search type you've chosen.

Remember that in this example, we searched for Physical Titles, so my results are a list of bibliographic records. So, I have:

• Some brief publishing information
• I have a language; I potentially have subjects, if there are subjects available; there are the ISBN or ISSN; I have the system number or MMSID; I have any Orders or Requests that might have been placed on that record.
• I also, for physical materials, get a snapshot of Holdings and Items and their availability to patrons. There is a double caret here that will expand or compress that information.
• Look to see if all the holdings and items are displayed. For instance, this one says that it is only displaying 5 of 11 total holdings and 10 of 18 total items. If you want to see the full list of Holdings or Items, use the links down below the snapshot to see the full list of holdings or full list of items.
• Again, the Other Details shows related records, including any Completed Requests – and that is a clickable number that will take you to the request information – or a list of Courses that have that item or title on them as course reserves. Again, if you click through, you’ll get to a list of 15 courses.

Now, if I perform the same search but instead of searching for Titles (or bibliographic records) I search for Item records, and I search again by the Title and the title of Getting to Yes, watch what happens to the list of results and what’s displayed. One thing, I have many more items than I did bibliographic records. And, what information is displayed has changed dramatically:

• Now, I have that brief publishing information
• Now, I also have barcode and owning library and status.
• If it were checked out, I would have the due date or on-hold expiration date.
• I also get a call number, and call number type, and item policy, and the material information.
• If I scroll down to find an item that is Not in Place, the Status and Process Types together show you what the current status of an item is.
• If the item is in place on the shelf, it will just say Item in Place.
• If it’s not in place on the shelf, for whatever reason, the status will read Item not in place and then there will be a Process Type which will tell you why the item is not in place.
• It might be on Loan, it might be In Transit, or it might be in some kind of Acquisitions or other work order.
• For some process types like Loan, that word will be a clickable link and if you click on it, you'll see additional information about that Loan including the patron it’s out to.
• For Item records, the Other Details include related records and some very basic circulation information: number of loans, year to date loans, and a last loan date. And again, we get these completed requests and courses, with the link to be able to see the entire list.