Digital collections on Calisphere are published with two default filter options: Type of Item (e.g., image, text, audio, etc.) and Decade (e.g., 1910s, 1920s). Users are able to explore the collection by choosing any number of these filters to narrow down the selection of items displayed. (Please note: “Type of Item” sorts by number of item results, from greatest to smallest; “Decade” sorts alphanumerically.)

Customized filters:

As you prepare to publish a digital collection, additional filter selections may naturally surface to optimize discovery. For example, researchers may wish to narrow a collection to a selection of languages, years, collection series and sub-series, call numbers, and so on. These customized filter options can be defined to offer flexible browsing for each of your digital collections published on Calisphere.

UC Merced has a collection of drawings that include costume designs from hundreds of productions of theater, opera, film, and television. In addition to the default filter options, this collection offers the option to refine the display by “Production” titles.

How it works:

The custom filter options are directly connected to defined metadata facets in the digital collection. A number of metadata facets are available for selection, and include display customizations as well.

Metadata facet options:

  • Contributor
  • Creator
  • Date Created and/or Issued
  • Date of Copyright
  • Extent
  • Format
  • Form/Genre
  • Language
  • Location
  • Place
  • Publisher
  • Relation
  • Rights Information
  • Rights Holder and Contact
  • Rights Note
  • Source
  • Subject
  • Time Period

Please note: The options essentially include any field that appears in the “Summary Information” section of the item record. These fields must have an entry in the metadata facet for the custom filter to work correctly.

Meaningful label: The example from the UC Merced collection uses the “relation” metadata facet, which is used to describe the production title. A custom label, “Production,” is provided to offer a meaningful, user-friendly term to define the filter selection.

Sort order: The sorting order can also be customized, indicating whether the display should arrange by number of results (greatest to smallest) or alphanumerically. Note that if you are sorting alphanumerically, please consider using leading zeroes to ensure proper numerical sequences (e.g., Series 01, Box 001, Folder 001, etc.)

Interested in turning on custom filters?

If you would like to trigger custom filter options in your digital collections, we can turn them on for you.

Contact us with the following information:

  • The metadata facet that you'd like to enable for faceting
  • A custom (user-friendly) label for the filter option
  • A sort order preference: number of results (greatest to smallest) or alphanumerically

You may choose multiple facets -- please feel free to send those along!