Bug 2646 - Add sort option for the series number
Summary: Add sort option for the series number
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Koha
Classification: Unclassified
Component: OPAC (show other bugs)
Version: Main
Hardware: PC All
: P3 enhancement
Assignee: Galen Charlton
QA Contact: Bugs List
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Blocks:
 
Reported: 2008-09-26 07:39 UTC by Nicole C. Engard
Modified: 2026-02-23 16:04 UTC (History)
18 users (show)

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Description Chris Cormack 2010-05-21 00:53:52 UTC


---- Reported by nengard@gmail.com 2008-09-26 07:39:20 ----

Can we sort by the 440v? That would be the series number - so I could see the series in order on the search results page.



--- Bug imported by chris@bigballofwax.co.nz 2010-05-21 00:53 UTC  ---

This bug was previously known as _bug_ 2646 at http://bugs.koha.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=2646

Actual time not defined. Setting to 0.0
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Comment 1 slmontesdeoca 2023-02-01 22:54:27 UTC
Being able to sort series by volume number would be extremely helpful. However, doing so shouldn't be confined to the 440 $v, but also 8XX $v.
Comment 2 Christopher Brannon 2023-04-25 22:25:17 UTC
(In reply to slmontesdeoca from comment #1)
> Being able to sort series by volume number would be extremely helpful.
> However, doing so shouldn't be confined to the 440 $v, but also 8XX $v.

What about the 490v?  I, too, would like to see progress on this.  Particularly when you click on a series link, that should default to a specific order.  Would love to see more interest and movement on this.  This bug is quite old.
Comment 3 George Williams (NEKLS) 2023-04-26 15:08:54 UTC
(In reply to Christopher Brannon from comment #2)
> (In reply to slmontesdeoca from comment #1)
> > Being able to sort series by volume number would be extremely helpful.
> > However, doing so shouldn't be confined to the 440 $v, but also 8XX $v.
> 
> What about the 490v?  I, too, would like to see progress on this. 
> Particularly when you click on a series link, that should default to a
> specific order.  Would love to see more interest and movement on this.  This
> bug is quite old.

At the time that nengard@gmail.com sent the e-mail this bug is based on, the 440 fields were still in use.  The Marc standard change that moved the 440 data to 490 happened shortly after that e-mail was sent in September of 2008.

Being able to sort by the 490$v would be an awesome addition to Koha.
Comment 4 Barbara Johnson 2024-02-08 22:50:22 UTC
I have a new cataloger and she just asked me why Koha doesn't do this. We'd love to see items in a series sort in series order in the OPAC based on the 490$v.
Comment 5 Steve, OSLRI, USA 2024-04-27 19:42:47 UTC
Our members are asking for this as well.
Comment 6 Miranda Nero 2024-04-29 13:34:03 UTC
We don't use the 490, so we would like this to be sort on 830v as well.
Comment 7 mteal 2025-02-03 17:21:30 UTC
Being able to search and return a series in series # order would be great. We typically use the 800 or 830 subfield v, so field 8xx would work for us.
Comment 8 mteal 2025-02-03 17:29:21 UTC
(In reply to mteal from comment #7)
> Being able to search and return a series in series # order would be great.
> We typically use the 800 or 830 subfield v, so field 8xx would work for us.

Also, we don't use the Koha OPAC, so we're looking for this in the staff side of Koha.
Comment 9 Jeremy Evans 2025-05-16 09:53:18 UTC
We would support this. We have a series with several volumes published in the same year so sorting by date isn't always helpful.  The ability to sort results in the staff client by series name and volume number would help identify missing volumes from the series.
Comment 10 David Nind 2025-12-06 19:28:35 UTC
This was discussed at the recent koha-US Cataloging Special Interest Group 4 December 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aLGMvjntDM (at various places)
Comment 11 Jason Robb 2026-02-19 17:55:54 UTC
We have a nice nasty mix of series data in 440s, 490s and 8XXs so we'd want to be able to consider all the possible series fields when doing the sort.

Our series titles aren't at all consistent either. I wonder if this would be simplified by only sorting when the search is limited to a specific series title search?
Comment 12 Esther Melander 2026-02-19 18:49:23 UTC
How would Koha handle a series sort when there is more than one series statement with different volume numbers? I am thinking of the Magic Tree House series which was originally published with one series order and then the publisher re-did the series with a new order. That would mean a title could conceivably have two series statements and be sorted in two different ways. This may be an edge example, but I'm sure there are others.
Comment 13 Sarah Cornell 2026-02-19 19:33:23 UTC
We have a nasty assortment of series data as well, but perhaps that helps find all the edge cases!  

Currently Koha displays series statements in the 490 or 8XX based on the 490 ind1 data. (as of the last time we checked!) 

It would be good for Koha to use the same or at least consistent logic (.e.g. if 490$v exists, use 490$v, if 490$v does not exist, use 8XX$v) to sort based on series.

Also, could a system preference tell Koha which series field to sort by?  If a library wants to prefer 8XX$v regardless of the presence of 490$v, then they cantell their system exactly what field to consult when using a "sort by series number" option.

Just some ideas.
Comment 14 Jason Robb 2026-02-23 16:04:18 UTC
(In reply to Esther Melander from comment #12)
> How would Koha handle a series sort when there is more than one series
> statement with different volume numbers? I am thinking of the Magic Tree
> House series which was originally published with one series order and then
> the publisher re-did the series with a new order. That would mean a title
> could conceivably have two series statements and be sorted in two different
> ways. This may be an edge example, but I'm sure there are others.

It would be neat if you could click on a series facet and it sorts by that. So if your query contains "&limit=title-series:Magic%20Tree%20House" then it sorts the record by the Magic Tree House number, and if your query contains "&limit=title-series:Merlin%20Missions" it sorts the same record by the Merlin Mission number.

With Elastic if a record has two 490s, an 800 and an 830 they all get made into individual title-series facets. Maybe the normalized $v from each field could get stored in a pair alongside the series entry so it could be leveraged for sorting by individual series entry?

Otherwise it would make sense to prioritize duplicate fields by the order they appear in the record to give the cataloger control. If the "Magic Tree House" 490 comes first it should sort by that, but if you want the "Merlin Missions" 490 to sort first all you should have to do is reorder the two fields in the MARC editor.