Overview
This page is intended to be used as a reference guide to known issues found in UC Library Search, and will include explanations for the behavior and identified workarounds.
Many of these documented problems are due to API issues that can only be resolved by our external vendors, and it's difficult to estimate when they will be resolved. Systems & Discovery tracks these ongoing usability issues for further investigation and advocacy with vendors.
Known Issues
| Issue | Notes & Workarounds |
|---|---|
| Some journals are not appearing in the Journals Search feature. | Use the Articles, books, and more search instead |
| CrossRef is experiencing system problems | This impacts the DOI lookup for PrimoVE/Alma. OpenURL pages that rely on this lookup (such as those from Google Scholar) may appear with incomplete citation information while the DOI lookup is not functional. |
| Linking from Worldcat FirstSearch does not always land on the UC Library Search record. | Due to differences in OCLC number formatting in bibliographic records, our settings in OCLC First Search may not always successfully search a known item in the UC Library Search Catalog. Systems and Discovery is investigating the issue. |
| Some records are erroneously marked as Open Access when they are not. |
Many Open Access records are part of the Central Discovery Index (CDI) and cannot be fixed locally. Please submit a ticket to helpbox-library@berkeley.edu to report these issues. Systems and Discovery Services staff will then open a ticket with ExLibris to request the content provider to provide an update to the record(s). |
| Searching by call number does not always work as expected. |
This could be related to a number of factors, including a difference in the item and holdings call number, or how call numbers are indexed in Primo VE. Further information on how call number searching works is included in the question How do I search or browse by call number? |
| Records for completely different records are merging in UC Library Search display. |
Individual instances of this occurring can be reported to helpbox-library@berkeley.edu to pursue resolution. Further information on this behavior is described in Why are some records and holdings unexpectedly merging in UC Library Search? |
| Screen readers are not working optimally in all browsers. |
We have reported this issue to ExLibris. ExLibris has confirmed the issue, but we do not have a forecasted resolution date. We are collaborating with other campuses through the SILS Accessibility Project Team to complete assessment activities and advocate to Ex Libris for necessary fixes.
|
| Searching some non-Roman scripts do not function as expected in UC Library Search advanced search |
The Discovery Working Group is working together with several librarians with expertise in non-Roman languages to test and create an inventory of all the related issues for searching in UC Library Search. Update: The “Title starts with” search in advanced search does not query the MARC 880 fields, which contain non-roman scripts. Using this field will not effectively search these fields. |
| Unable to search by OCLC number in WorldCat search in UC Library Search Advanced Search | The addition of the OCLC number to the WorldCat search API is not currently planned, and the OCLC number dropdown in Advanced Search will not work as expected until this change is made by the vendor to the API. |
Resolved Issues
| Issue | Resolution |
|---|---|
| None of the article-level links for content in Factiva will connect to the articles; they connect to an error page. | SCP restored article-level linking to Factiva. |
| Many eresources we should have access to are not available in UC Library Search. | Project team with members from CDL and UC campuses resolved activation issues affecting Tier 1 and Tier 2 ebook and electronic resource access. This restored access for all ten UCs affected by the issue. |
| Approximately 800 database-level records migrated in to Alma as suppressed at the advice of Ex Libris | CDL Acquisitions team performed necessary clean-up to unsuppress these records. As new collections with portfolios are acquired and activated, all will be unsuppressed by default. |
By lolzcarter on 08-28-2025