The order of search results - Keyword Indexes

Unfortunately, our library catalog isn't able to sort by relevancy. Instead, keyword search results show the newest resources first. For instance, if you do a Title Keyword search for Harry Potter, the catalog shows books such as The unofficial Harry Potter vocabulary builder and Political issues in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series before the actual Harry Potter books. This is because these other books also have the words "Harry Potter" in the title and are newer than the books from the Harry Potter series.

While publication date is the default sort for keyword indexes, the catalog also has the ability to sort by author, title, and media. The Author sort orders results by the author's last name. The Media sort attempts to order the search results by showing books first, followed by electronic resources, large print books, audio books, and videos. To change the default sort for a basic search, click the drop down menu labeled Sort by on the right side of the screen, choose the way you wish to sort, and click the arrow to re-order your results.

Quirk Alert: If you are using the Advanced Search, you must click Refine Search to change your sort order. If you forget and use the Sort by drop down menu on the same screen as your results, it will forget all the limits you specified on the advanced screen and change your results.