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    Esploro
    Ex Libris Knowledge Center

    Managing Search Queries and Sets

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    Overview

    The roles required to manage search queries and sets depends on the content type of the set you are managing:
    • For user sets, one of the following roles is required:
      • User Manager
      • User Administrator
    • To manage a research asset set:
      • Research Asset Manager
    • To manage a researcher set:
      • Researcher Manager
    • To remove records from sets created by others, you must have the Repository Manager role.
    Sets are collections of records in Esploro. They can be created manually, as a list built up item by item by the user (itemized set), or dynamically, in which case the set is a saved search query whose results are determined each time the search is run (logical set). Sets do not have a size limit.
    Sets may be used for publishing metadata in bulk, moving a group of records, or to run jobs. For information on running jobs on defined sets, see Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets.
    See Searching, Creating Sets, and Basic Navigation for a video showing how to work with sets.
    Sets are managed on the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets).
    There are two kinds of sets:
    • Itemized se    ts – static sets of individual items called members that are manually selected or uploaded by the staff member (see Creating Itemized Sets),
    • Logical sets – are the results of a saved search query, and are created dynamically each time the search is run (see Creating Logical Sets).
    Sets can be created from several content types. Your ability to create a set of a certain content type depends on your permissions, as described in the Permissions section above.
    • User sets
    • Researcher sets (similar to user sets)
    • Research asset sets
    manage_sets.png
    Manage Sets Page
    The tabs on the Manage Sets page are as follows:
    • My Sets – Your saved search queries, both private and public
    • Public Sets – All users' saved queries that are not marked private
    • All Sets – All queries
    • The All Sets tab is available only to a Repository Manager. This role is also required in order to edit public sets.
    • Itemized sets may include references to deleted records. Deleted records do not appear in repository searches or in normalization jobs. Using itemized sets, you can perform operations on deleted records.
    • There are no limits on the number of records that can be included in a set.
    The columns are as follows.
    Manage Sets Page Columns
    Column Name Description
    Active Whether the set can be selected when running a manual job.
    Name The set name
    Type Whether the set is logical or itemized
    Content Type The type of items in the set
    Content Origin The origin of the items in the set
    Created by (Public Sets and All Sets tabs) The name of the user who created the set
    Creation Date The date and time the set was created
    The actions menu includes the following actions:
    Actions Menu Options - Logical Set
    Action Description
    Edit Modify the set parameters; see Editing Logical Sets.
    Results Run the saved search query and display the results; see Viewing Results of Logical Sets.
    Duplicate Copy a set. The duplicated set is added to the Manage Sets page with the words Copy of added as a prefix to the set name.
    Itemize Convert a logical set to an itemized set. Select Confirm in the Confirmation Message dialog box; see Converting Logical Sets to Itemized Sets.
    Combine Sets Create a new set based on the members of two existing sets; see Combining Sets.
    Delete Delete a set. Select Confirm in the Confirmation Message dialog box.
    You can delete only sets that you created. A Repository Manager can delete any set.
    Actions Menu Options - Itemized Set
    Action Description
    Edit Modify the set parameters; see Editing Itemized Sets.
    Members Display the members (results) of the saved set; see Viewing Members (Itemized Sets Only).
    Duplicate Copy a set. The duplicated set is added to the Manage Sets page with the words Copy of added as a prefix to the set name.
    Combine Sets Create a new set based on the members of two existing sets; see Combining Sets.
    Delete Delete a set. Select Confirm in the Confirmation Message dialog box.
    You can delete only sets that you created. A Repository Manager can delete any set.

    Itemized Sets

    Itemized sets are created manually by the user. Below are instructions for working with itemized sets.

    Creating Itemized Sets

    An itemized sets is a static collection of individual records in the repository. Itemized sets are created on the Manage Sets page. 
    To create an itemized set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), select Add Set > Itemized. The Set Details page opens.
      Set_Details_Page_for_Itemized_Sets_06_TC.png
      Set Details Page for Itemized Sets
    2. Enter the set details in the respective fields. Set name is a mandatory field and must be unique.
      The set name cannot contain special characters (for example: &, #, $, %).
    3. The options that are available for Set content type depend on your permissions as described at the top of this page. 
    4. By default, the set is designated as a Private (Yes) set. This means that the set is only available to you. If you select No, the set becomes a public set and is available to all other users.
    5. By default, the Status is set to Active. Optionally, select Inactive. Inactive sets cannot be selected by users when running a manual job.
    6. Add records to a set using one of the following methods:
      • Upload a file
        Select a file in the Add Contents from File to Set section that contains the identifiers.
        Do not select Add Members to Set since this has no functionality when adding records to the set by uploading a file.
        The imported file must be a text file (.txt or .csv) or Excel file (.xls or .xlsx) and have the correct header at the top of the column for the data to be read. All other information in the file is disregarded. If the Excel file has more than one column, it utilizes the first column of data that has a valid header type. See the table below for acceptable header types.
        Header Types
        Content Type Header
        Research Assets
        • MMS ID
        Researchers

        • ORCID

        • INSI

        • Scopus

        • ResearcherID

        • arXiv

        • ERA

        • Pivot

        • Pubmed

        • LCNAF

        • Wikidata

        • VIAF

        If one or more of the identifiers are not activated in Esploro, you can contact Ex Libris support to activate them.
        User
        • PRIMARYIDENTIFIER
         
      • Users:
        When uploading users to an itemized set with an Excel file, the A1 cell must contain either the code of the identifier type used in the file (see Viewing Additional User Identifier Types) or USERNAME (for the primary ID), and the ensuing cells of the A column must contain the user identifiers. Similarly, when uploading a .txt file, the first row must contain either the code of the identifier type used in the file or USERNAME, and the ensuing rows must contain the user identifiers (each separated by a carriage return). For example, if you want to upload a set of user names (default primary ID), enter the text USERNAME in the top row of your Excel/.txt file, and enter the actual user names in the ensuing cells/rows.
        For details on available user identifier types, see Managing User Identifiers.
        user_code_example.jpg
        Example of an Excel File with User Identifiers
        The Add Members to Set job runs and creates a set from the file. Several instances of this job can run in parallel. 
        • If you select Add Members to Set after selecting a file, the file is not loaded. Select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box to search the repository for records to include in the set. The records that are then selected, and not those in the file that was previously selected, are included in the set after you select Done.
        • The import file can be a maximum size of 10 MB.
        • If you perform an import with invalid data, each invalid cell is ignored.
        • If you import a file and then change the content type, you must re-import the file.
      • Upload an Analytics report
        Select From Analytics. The following options appear:
        create_set_from_analytics.png
        Add Contents from Analytics
        Select an option from the Analytics Folder drop-down list:
        • Recent reports – Reports that you ran within the last hour. Select the report from the Name field.
        • My Reports – Reports to which you have permissions to access (see Analytics Object List). Select the report from the Name field.
        • The reports in your community folder, if you have the Design Analytics role.
        Select Download Report to download the report.
        A job creates the Esploro set from the analytics report.
      • Select records from the repository
        Select Add Members to Set.
        A search page opens, depending on the content type you selected. The following sections describe the procedure for the different content types.
    7. When you are done, select Save.
      If you used the file input method, the system runs a job to build your set that appears in the list of sets when it is done. The resulting number of records/members in the set may be more or less than the number of entries in the input file. If, for example, an asset has multiple matches in the Esploro database, all matches found are added as members to the set; and the opposite is true if no matches are found. Similar to other jobs that are run, you can view the job status/history on the Monitor Jobs page (see Viewing Running Jobs and Viewing Completed Jobs).

      For sets of content type Research assets, If the number of items is large, a Manage set members job is run to add the assets to the set; to see the results, see Viewing Completed Jobs.
      • When the Add Members to Set job is run using the file input method, the resulting Job Report will include a Validation File, if the submitted file uses a list of one-to-one identifiers.
      • When the Add Members to Set job is run using identifiers that have the potential for many matches per identifier, there will be no Validation File in the Job Report.

    Editing Itemized Sets

    You can edit the set details and add items to the set. To delete items from the set, see Removing Members of Itemized Sets.
    To edit an itemized set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), find the set and select Edit in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens.
      Itemized set type.Set Details Page Itemized Set to Edit
    2. Modify the set details as required. The Set name is a mandatory field and must be unique. (See Adding Itemized Sets for a description of the fields.)
      The set name cannot contain special characters (for example: &, #, $, %).
    3. If you do not also want to change the items in the set, select Save. The Manage Sets page opens indicating that the set has been successfully saved.
    To add items to an itemized set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the itemized set to which you want to add items and select Edit in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens.
    2. Select Add Members to Set. A search page opens, depending on the content type.
    3. Select the items you want included in the set (or select Select All) and select Add Selected. The selected records are added to the set.
      You can continue searching, selecting, and adding records. When you are finished, select Done. The Manage Sets page opens indicating that the set has been successfully saved.

    Viewing Members of Itemized Sets

    You can view members (selected items) in an itemized set.
    To view members of an itemized set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), find the set and select Members in the row actions list. A search page opens, depending on the content type.

    Removing Members of Itemized Sets

    You can remove members (selected items) in an itemized set.

    To remove one or more members of an itemized set:
    1. View members.
    • For multiple members – Select the members you want to remove and select Remove Selected.
    • For one member – Select Remove in the row actions list.
    1. Select Done.

    There is an alternative to manually scrolling between the pages to find the records to remove. After opening the set, you can perform a new repository search, in order to more easily locate members in the set. You can then mark them and select Remove Selected to remove them from the set.

    Identifying Records Matching Esploro Records Based on Itemized Set

    Institutions often get a list of record identifiers used in external systems (e.g. in a vendor system). You can load this list to Esploro and easily get a list of what you already have in Esploro and what you don't have in Esploro, in order to facilitate your decisions. 

    To get a list of records matching / not matching the Esploro records:
    1. Load your input file of identifiers into Esploro (see Creating Itemized Sets). Esploro runs a job to create the set and produces the Add Members to Set report. 
      add members to set enhanced.jpg
    2. Do one of the following:
    • To download a file of records for which a match was not found with Esploro records, Click the counter for Non-matched Records to download an .csv file of identifiers for which a match was not found with Esploro records, for example:
      example of file 2.jpg
    • To download a file of records matching Esploro records, click the counter for Total added to set to download an .csv file of identifiers for which a match was found with Esploro records. The file features an additional column that indicates the ID of the records for which a match was found, for example:
      example of file 1.jpg

      The file provides the following Esploro ID for each set content type:
      Set Content Type Alma ID
      Physical items Barcode
      Users Primary ID

    Logical Sets

    Logical sets are created as a saved search query and the results are determined each time the search is run. Logical sets can be created by first running a search query and saving the results, or by first adding a new logical set and then defining the search query for it.

    Creating Logical Sets by First Saving a Search Query

    In this method, you first save a search query and then add a new set that will be based on it.
    To create a logical set by first saving a search query:
    1. Perform a search and save the query.
      Save a search.
      It is recommended not to use Keywords contains * as a basis for a logical set.
    2. After saving the query, the Set Details page appears.

      Set Details page after saving a query.
    3. Enter the set details in the respective fields. Note that the Set name is a mandatory field and must be unique.
      The set name cannot contain special characters (for example: &, #, $, %).
    4. The options that are available for Set content type depend on your permissions as described at the top of this page. 
    5. By default, the set is designated as a Private (Yes) set. This means that the set is only available to you. If you select No, the set becomes a public set and is available to all other users.
    6. By default, the Status is set to Active. Optionally, select Inactive. Inactive sets cannot be selected by users when running a manual job.
    7. Select Save. The logical set is saved. For sets of content type Research assets, If the number of items is large, a Manage set members job is run to add the assets to the set; to see the results, see Viewing Completed Jobs.

    Creating Logical Sets by First Adding a New Set

    In this method, you first add a new logical set and then you define the search query.
    To create a logical set by first adding a new set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), select Logical in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens.
      Add logical set.
      Set Details Page for Logical Sets
    2. Enter the set details in the respective fields. Note that the Set name is a mandatory field and must be unique.
      The set name cannot contain special characters (for example: &, #, $, %).
    3. The options that are available for Set content type depend on your permissions as described at the top of this page. 
    4. By default, the set is designated as a Private (Yes) set. This means that the set is only available to you. If you select No, the set becomes a public set and is available to all other users.
    5. By default, the Status is set to Active. Optionally, select Inactive. Inactive sets cannot be selected by users when running a manual job.
    6. Select Next. A search page opens for the selected content type.
      It is recommended not to use Keywords contains * as a basis for a logical set.
    7. Select Save. The logical set is saved. For sets of content type Research assets, If the number of items is large, a Manage set members job is run to add the assets to the set; to see the results, see Viewing Completed Jobs.

    Editing Logical Set Details

    You can edit logical set details. To change the set contents, see Editing Logical Set Queries.
    To edit a logical set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the logical set you want to edit and select Edit in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens.
      Edit logical set.Set Details Page Logical Set to Edit
    2. Modify the set details as required. The Set name is a mandatory field and must be unique.
    3. Select Save. The Manage Sets page opens indicating that the set has been successfully saved.

    Viewing the Results of Logical Sets

    You can view the results of a logical set (in other words, the records returned when running a search using the logical set). The population of a logical set is determined dynamically, reflecting the records currently in the repository.
    To view results of a logical set, on the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the logical set whose results you want to view and select Results in the row actions list. A search page opens, depending on the content type.

    Editing Logical Set Queries

    You can edit logical set queries.
    To edit resource management logical set queries:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the logical set whose query you want to edit and select Results in the row actions list. The search page for the query opens.
    2. Change the search as required.
      edit_logical_set_query_new_ux.png
      Change Advanced Search Page
    3. To save the set, select Save Query. The Set Details page opens. Edit any other details as required and select Save.

    Converting Logical Sets to Itemized Sets

    If you have a perfect set of results in a logical set, you can capture it as an itemized set.This retains your original logical set and creates a snapshot of the current results as a new itemized set.
    To convert a logical set to an itemized set:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the logical set that you want to convert to an itemized set and select Itemize in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens with the set name filled in:
      Convert to itemized set.
      Set Details Page Convert Logical Set to Itemized Set
    2. Modify the set details as required.
    3. Select Submit. A confirmation message opens.
    4. Select Confirm. The Manage Sets page opens indicating that the set has been successfully saved.

    Combining Sets

    You can create a new set based on the members of two existing sets, as long as the sets are of the same type. The combined set is an itemized set.
    To combine two sets:
    1. On the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets), scroll to the set whose members you want to combine with another set and select Combine Sets in the row actions list. The Set Details page opens with the Combine Sets section:
      Combine sets.
      Combine Sets
    2. Select an Operation from the Operation drop-down list:
      • And – Include only the members in common between the two sets in the new combined set.
      • Not – Include only the members that are in the first set and not in the second set in the new combined set.
      • Or – Include all of the members in both of the sets in the new combined set.
    3. In With, select the set that you want to combine with the first set you selected.
    4. Select Submit. A confirmation message indicates the number of members in each set you selected to combine, the operation you selected, and the number of members in the combined set:
      The confirmation message contains a range of members, since some members between the two sets may be identical and are therefore only included once in the combined set.
    5. Select Confirm.
      A job is run to combine the sets. After the job finishes, the new set is added to the list of sets (you must refresh the list to see the new set).

    Combining Sets - Example

    The following is an example of combing sets to create a set such as
    (X and Y) or Z
    To create this set:
    1. Create set X, set Y, and set Z.
    2. For set X, select Combine sets in the row actions list.
    3. Combine set X with set Y:
      combine_x_and_y_new_ux.png
      Combine Set X and Set Y
    4. For the new X and Y set, select Actions > Combine sets.
    5. Create set (X and Y) or Z:
      combine_x_and_y_or_z_new_ux.png
      Create (X and Y) or Z
      Set (X and Y) or Z is now available:
      combined_set_in_list_new_ux.png
      Set (X and Y) or Z