Setting up Portfolio > Configuring the search result display > Sorting search results with the same relevance percentage

Sorting search results with the same relevance score

When a user does a search, SirsiDynix Portfolio returns a relevance score for each search result and displays each result in order from highest to lowest relevance. Results found in the Title and Author fields are weighted to be more relevant than results in other fields. An exact match in the Title or Author fields will result in the highest score in a result set. A match in any other field will result in a lower relevance score. (For more information about Relevance, see Fields: Add/Edit/Copy Profile.)

It is possible for search results to have the same relevance score, but highly unlikely. SirsiDynix Portfolio truncates the relevance score to four decimal places when displaying it in the results list. Therefore, two results may look as though they have the same score, but they are actually differentiated at a lower decimal place in the score. If two scores are identical, the display order for these results is determined by the Relevance Sort search field.

The Relevance Sort field uses publication date values, sequencing them numerically from greatest to smallest. These consist of only the year portion (for example, 2007). For records that have multiple publication dates, the greatest publication date is used. For example, if a serials publication with issues published from 1993-2005 is searched, 2005 will be used as the value for sorting. If a search result does not have a publication date (for example, a Library Favorites URL or a PDF document), the Relevance Sort field assigns it a value by default.

The following table lists the default values for delivered source sites:

Source Sites

Default Value for Relevance Sort Field

SD_ILS

10

SD_ASSET

9

SD_CONTENT

8

SD_LIB_FAVS

7

SD_PDF

6

If you do not specify a Relevance Sort default value for a source site, the default value is automatically 0.

When the Relevance Sort field is applied to Discovery search sources, it sorts search results of the same relevance score in the following order:

Results from ILS records with a publication date, beginning with the most recent

Results from ILS records with no publication date

Results from the asset repository

Results from Rooms Content

Results from Library Favorites

Results from PDF records

Any results from other source sites (in no particular order)

Basic setup for Relevance Sort

You can configure new search source sites to display using relevance sort.

Any time you change the Relevance Sort default value for a Discovery source site, you must re-index the search source data. (For more information about indexing, see Fields: Manage Search Source Tasks .)

To set up a new Discovery search source site to display using Relevance Sort

These steps assume you have already added a new Discovery search source and source site. (For details, see Fields: Add/Edit Discovery Search Sources and Fields: Add/Edit Discovery Source Site .)

“Relevance Sort Field = [your numeric value]” will appear in the Defaults box.

For more information on assigning Search Fields Defaults, see Fields: Add/Edit Discovery Source Site .

Important: You must re-index modified search sources before changes to default values will take effect. (For more information about indexing, see Fields: Manage Search Source Tasks .)

Changing the Relevance Sort order

You can change the default values for the Relevance Sort search field to configure the sort order for search results with the same relevance score. For example, you can choose to sort and display results from Library Favorites before results from Rooms Content, so that search results would be displayed in the following order:

Results from ILS records with a publication date, beginning with the most recent
Results from ILS records with no publication date (Relevance Search Field =10)
Results from Library Favorites (Relevance Search Field =9)
Results from Rooms Content (Relevance Search Field =8)
Results from PDF records (Relevance Search Field =7)
Any results from other source sites (in no particular order)

To change the default sort order for search results with the same relevance score

For example, if you want to sort and display Library Favorites results before Rooms Content results, you will change the SD_LIB_FAVS Relevance Sort default value from 8 to 9. You will also change the SD_CONTENT Relevance Sort default value from 9 to 8. (For more information on how to change Search Field Default values, see Fields: Add/Edit Discovery Source Site .)

Important: You must re-index modified search sources before changes to default values will take effect. (For more information about indexing, see Fields: Manage Search Source Tasks .)

Forcing search results to the top of the list

You can choose to sort search results from a non-ILS source site before anything else. For example, if you choose to sort Rooms Content first, then search results with the same relevance score would be displayed in the following order:

Results from Rooms Content
Results from ILS records with a publication date, beginning with the most recent (or the greatest numeric value)
Results from ILS records with no publication date
Results from Library Favorites
Results from PDF records
Any results from other source sites (in no particular order)

To sort search results from non-ILS source sites first

For More information on how to change Search Field Default values, see Fields: Add/Edit Discovery Source Site .

Important: You must re-index modified search sources before changes to default values will take effect. (For more information about indexing, see Fields: Manage Search Source Tasks .)

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