Note: To ensure that WorldCat Discovery continues to provide users with timely search results, maximum limits on the number of words that WorldCat Discovery will accept in a search query are in place. Refer to Maximum limits on number of words in a search query.
Allow non-authenticated users to view their recent searches executed in a single browsing session and allow authenticated users to view recent searches from My Account.
To enable search history for your institution, navigate to Display Settings in the WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local module of the OCLC Service Configuration.
From the Search History section:
Navigate to the search history view by clicking Search history in the navigation bar or footer. Additionally, select Search activity from the My Account menu when authenticated.
Non-authenticated users and authenticated users are able to:
Authenticated users or users who are signed-in will additionally be able to promote a search history to a permanently saved search. Refer to Saved search for more information.
Note:
To re-run a search query, click on the hyperlinked term under the Your search column.
To delete a search query, use the Select all option to include all previous search queries or select individual queries and click the Delete button.
To share search queries:
Allow authenticated users to save their previous searches.
To enable Save Search for your institution, navigate to Display Settings in the WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local module of the OCLC Service Configuration.
From the Search history screen:
The saved search will now appear in the Saved searches tab. To delete saved searches, Select All or individual queries and click Delete Searches.
Note: If a user's institution ends access to a database that is part of the user's original search, the search will no longer work and will need to be re-run.
Allows users to monitor new, relevant information to saved search queries and be automatically notified if new results meet their saved search alert criteria.
This feature is available to WorldShare Management Services and WorldCat Discovery Premium libraries.
To enable Search Alerts for your institution, navigate to Display Settings in the WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local module of the OCLC Service Configuration.
Note: Save search functionality must also be enabled to leverage the search alert functionality. Refer to Save Search for more information.
Once enabled, the Create alert button displays on the search results page. Select the Create alert button to open a drawer where the library user can review their search details. Search alerts can also be created from the Save search action. The user will be able to:
Once an alert has been saved, the user will receive an email confirmation that the search alert has been successfully created.
Users can find their search alerts in the Saved searches module of the Search activity tab within My Account. There is a limit of 25 active search alerts for signed-in users of WorldCat Discovery.
Note: When a search alert has expired, the user will receive email notification that will prompt them to renew their alert by signing into My Account and toggling the alert from inactive to active.
Authenticated users will be able to:
If a user needs to change the email address of a search alert for any reason, the user will need to delete the existing saved search, re-run the search, and create a new search alert with the new email address.
Users will receive an email notification only when new results are available that match their saved search query. The email will contain a preview of up to five new results and a link to view the full result set in a customized view of WorldCat Discovery.
Click See all new items from the results email to be taken to a customized view of WorldCat Discovery and review the entire results set.
Users will be able to:
Note: Functionality that is tied to user-generated search queries will be disabled in this view: Save Search, Create Alert, Search History, Retain Filters, Sort, and Expand this Search. All new search alert results will be returned in a flat show-all view with Libraries Worldwide set as the holding library. Institution defaults will be applied for any new searches that are executed via the search box.
When a search alert has expired, the library user will receive an email notification that will prompt them to renew their alert by signing into My Account and toggling the alert from inactive to active.