NKEY search returns no results when search first name, last name

Question

When in Basic Search, within Author (NKEY), will only return results if author entered "last name, first name". No results are received if the patron enters First Name Last Name. Is this how it is supposed to function?

Answer

Yes. The NKEY index is designed to search last name, first name. When two words entered in search, NKEY conducts as a phrasal search. That means a search for "Jane Austen" will search specified fields in bib records for those two words in the specified order. As most sites catalog author names in the fields indexed by NKEY "{last name}, {first name}", no results would be found. But a search for "Austen, Jane" on the same index would return results for the bib fields the index searches.

Additional Information

The fields searched by NKEY can be found and updated in System Administration > Search > Indexes - Keyword Definitions > NKEY > Definitions.

• Article last edited: 04-Apr-2019