diff --git a/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilder.php b/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilder.php
index 016b7ccbaac780f8f1e960862f8578e6062d29e5..1175ab33433126d99a3cde1806130df11b8891db 100644
--- a/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilder.php
+++ b/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilder.php
@@ -547,6 +547,10 @@ class QueryBuilder implements QueryBuilderInterface
             $input = preg_replace($parenRegex, '', $input);
         }
 
+        // Remove surrounding slashes and whitespace -- these serve no purpose
+        // and can cause problems.
+        $input = trim($input, '/ ');
+
         return $input;
     }
 
diff --git a/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilderTest.php b/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilderTest.php
index eeb4b82b371eed0410135d6e32ffe6824b05644f..d2a41ba6e60171ec2ae0b9e529697a4f1e98ee8e 100644
--- a/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilderTest.php
+++ b/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Solr/QueryBuilderTest.php
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ class QueryBuilderTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             array("()", "*:*"),                     // empty parens
             array("((()))", "*:*"),                 // nested empty parens
             array("((())", "*:*"),                  // mismatched parens
-            array("this that ()", "this that "),    // text mixed w/ empty parens
+            array("this that ()", "this that"),     // text mixed w/ empty parens
             array('"()"', '"()"'),                  // empty parens in quotes
             array('title - sub', 'title sub'),      // freestanding hyphen
             array('"title - sub"', '"title - sub"'),// freestanding hyphen in quotes
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ class QueryBuilderTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             array('^10', '10'),                     // invalid boosts
             array('test^ test^6', 'test test6'),    // invalid boosts
             array('test^1 test^2', 'test^1 test^2'),// valid boosts
+            array('title /', 'title'),              // trailing slash
         );
         // @codingStandardsIgnoreEnd