SOLO is relatively new and continues to be developed and improved. This page will be updated to reflect the current known issues and the progress being made in addressing these. As issues are resolved, they will be moved to the SOLO issues archive.
If you experience any problems using SOLO, please let us know and ask library staff for help.
Search terms containing apostrophes
Some searches containing apostrophes are unsuccessful or return fewer results than might be expected. This has been raised with the software provider as a high priority issue and we are awaiting a fix. In the meantime, if your search terms contain an apostrophe and you do not get the results you expect, try removing the apostrophe and 'closing up' the search term e.g. in transliterated Arabic 'al-a'yan' should be entered as 'al-ayan'.
Display of records with large numbers of items attached
Sometimes SOLO struggles to display records with large numbers of items or volumes attached to them. A typical example of this would be a long run of a journal. This seems to be a particular problem in the "Brief Results" display when using the "View all" button. It is sometimes possible to resolve the issue by going to the "Full display" of a particular record by clicking on its title or the cover image in the "Brief Display", and then clicking on the "Locations" tab. If you are still experiencing problems please ask staff for help. Staff can also request items on your behalf if necessary. Recent software updates have begun to address the issue and we continue to monitor the situation. We are in regular contact with the software provider and continue to push for performance improvements.
Clusters of versions
SOLO clusters together “versions” of the same work, such as multiple editions or editions in different languages/formats. This is designed to improve the display of the results list and make it easier to find editions of the same work. However for some types of searches and material clustering makes it harder to locate the precise record sought; this can be particularly problematic when searching for specific editions of popular titles or for antiquarian or non-book material.
UPDATE July 2012: Following extensive consultation, user testing and discussion, certain categories of material (early printed books (pre-1830), maps, music, audio-visual) have now been excluded from clustering and will no longer be pulled into the clusters of print and electronic versions of the same work. They are now visible instead in the main results list, separate from any clustered records. Modern printed materials and electronic resources will continue to be grouped into clusters. This partial clustering approach offers a significant improvement to the search experience while retaining the benefits of clustering for the majority of searches and readers.
The default sort-order within clusters will remain 'relevance'. This substantially mitigates the problem of finding specific editions within large clusters. If you prefer to see your search results sorted by date, please select from the sort options at the top of the results list.
Display of shelfmarks of items bound in a volume with other material
Some items in the library collections are bound together into sets e.g. a number of pamphlets bound together into one volume. Although the items bound together are usually connected in some way (such as by subject), they are catalogued separately in SOLO because there is no formal relationship between them. Each individual item also has its own shelfmark (often a base shelfmark with a number to indicate where it appears in the volume e.g. shelfmark (3) for the third item in the bound volume).
Where works are bound together the shelfmark displays correctly in SOLO for the first item in the volume. However, the stucture of the SOLO software means that it is not possible to display the shelfmark for the subsquent works. As a result, all items in the volume display the shelfmark of the first item. In some cases it is possible to find the correct shelfmark in the "Details" tab under copy specific notes.
Ligature displaying incorrectly
The ligature in transliterated Cyrillic is appearing one character to the left of its correct position. The problem arises from the Arial Unicode font rather than the SOLO software or data. This font is used nonetheless because it offers the best overall support for the languages and scripts used in SOLO.
Journal Summary Holdings
Journal records in SOLO have "summary holdings" which display when you choose a particular library from the "location" tab. The summary holdings indicate which parts (volumes, issues) the particular library holds. Where there are several "summary holdings" for a journal in a particular library, SOLO merges these together. However, it fails to take into account the fact that different volumes/issues may be kept in different locations (for example older volumes in closed stacks and newer ones on open shelves) or at different shelfmarks. The summary holdings for indexes and supplements also display, but do not necessarily indicate that they represent the index or supplement.
Library staff can give fuller information about the holdings/locations of affected journals. It is hoped this situation will improve with future software releases.
Some copy-specific notes are truncated
Some records for particular kinds of material held by the Bodleian Libraries have long and detailed copy-specific notes. Unfortunately due to technical issues we are not able to display very long notes in full. This is a display issue and the data has not been lost.
All notes should now display a link to the full version of the note and the indexing of the data has been streamlined to ensure that the greatest possible amount of the note text is searchable.
Ordering multi-volume works
In a limited number of cases, readers can only order one part of a multi-volume work. This is because of the structure of some of the catalogue records. If you require more than one volume of an affected work, please ask staff who can place requests on your behalf. Configuration changes have already been made in the system to limit the extent of the problem, and in the longer term, the affected catalogue records will be improved. Changes from OLIS
The following are not caused by problems with SOLO, but are changes in the way we use our library system now that it is powered by different software.
Predicted delivery times for stack requests
Unlike with our previous catalogue, SOLO is not used to give predicted delivery times for items requested from closed stacks. Instead, a summary of the expected delivery times is now provided via the SOLO homepage. In addition, you will receive an email when a requested item arrives in the reading room, and you can always check your SOLO account for up to date information on loans and requests.
