diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/browse.py b/src/calibre/library/server/browse.py
index e29554c2a6..87c55275d7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/browse.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/browse.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import operator, os, json, re
 from binascii import hexlify, unhexlify
-from urllib import quote, unquote
 
 import cherrypy
 
@@ -21,6 +20,7 @@ from calibre.utils.magick import Image
 from calibre.library.comments import comments_to_html
 from calibre.library.server import custom_fields_to_display
 from calibre.library.field_metadata import category_icon_map
+from calibre.library.server.utils import quote, unquote
 
 def render_book_list(ids, prefix, suffix=''): # {{{
     pages = []
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/utils.py b/src/calibre/library/server/utils.py
index 35c92f7ae2..1407487db3 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/utils.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/utils.py
@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@ __copyright__ = '2010, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import time, sys
+from urllib import quote as quote_, unquote as unquote_
 
 import cherrypy
 
-from calibre import strftime as _strftime, prints
+from calibre import strftime as _strftime, prints, isbytestring
 from calibre.utils.date import now as nowf
 from calibre.utils.config import tweaks
 
@@ -81,3 +82,14 @@ def format_tag_string(tags, sep, ignore_max=False, no_tag_count=False):
         return u'%s:&:%s'%(tweaks['max_content_server_tags_shown'],
                      ', '.join(tlist)) if tlist else ''
 
+def quote(s):
+    if isinstance(s, unicode):
+        s = s.encode('utf-8')
+    return quote_(s)
+
+def unquote(s):
+    ans = unquote_(s)
+    if isbytestring(ans):
+        ans = ans.decode('utf-8')
+    return ans
+