Search Limits

Search limits are created by administrators and used in Searching by patrons to limit search results by one or more search criteria. Unlike facets, which are used to limit search results by a broad category, search limits can narrow search results by more specific simple or complex criteria, and can refine search results according to the search profile of the patron, or the room in which the patron is searching. The following list shows a few scenarios in which search limits would be more useful than facets.

  • A patron may decide to limit the search results to include only the first edition of books by using the First Edition limit that the library has made available for patron use in Searching.
  • A library may wish to vary the search limits displayed to patrons by search profile, such as displaying only a few optional search limits to patrons with juvenile reader profiles, and displaying many more optional search limits for patrons with senior citizen reader profiles.
  • The administrator may want to automatically limit the search results for patrons searching with a profile that is focused on beginning readers to include only materials with reading levels 1 and 2.
  • An administrator may set up optional search limits to help patrons searching a medical insurance information room to find medical materials that belong to a certain library, were published after 2005, and are available in English or Spanish.

You can create new search limits, or edit or delete existing search limits. You may add, edit, or remove a search limit from a search profile or room.

If you add a search limit or edit a search limit expression, or if you add, edit, or remove a search limit from a profile or room, you must re-index your data and refresh the Discovery administrator database metadata cache in the Admin console. Until you do these tasks, your changes to search limits are not reflected in Searching. For more information about refreshing the Discovery metadata search cache, see Refreshing the search cache.

A search limit only affects searches of the Discovery search targets. Searches of federated search targets are never restricted by search limits.

A search limit is created by an administrator. The administrator can either make the search limit available to patrons for them to select it in Searching, or enforce the search limit on all searches by certain search profiles or within a certain room.

  • When you make a search limit available to one or more search profiles or rooms, patrons have the option of selecting the search limit in Searching or in those rooms to refine their search results. This type of limit is called an optional search limit.

  • When you enforce a search limit for selected search profiles or rooms, the enforced search limit is not shown to the patron. All searches by particular search profiles or in specific rooms will be limited before the search results are presented to the patrons. This type of search limit is called an enforced search limit.

    Note: If patrons limit their search results by selecting a particular optional search limit, or the administrator automatically applies a search limit by search profile or room, and the search results contain no items that match the search limit criteria, Searching displays no search results.

This section explains these topics: