diff --git a/resources/content_server/browse/browse.html b/resources/content_server/browse/browse.html
index e1e4cd47f5..cd556b87a4 100644
--- a/resources/content_server/browse/browse.html
+++ b/resources/content_server/browse/browse.html
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
                 </select>
             </div>
             <div id="search_box">
-                <form name="search_form"  action="/browse/search" method="get">
+                <form name="search_form"  action="/browse/search" method="get" accept-charset="UTF-8">
                     <input value="" type="text" title="Search"
                                         class="search_input" />&nbsp;
                     <input type="submit" value="Search" title="Search" alt="Search" />
diff --git a/resources/content_server/index.html b/resources/content_server/index.html
index f9f0aff491..cf9c6e6356 100644
--- a/resources/content_server/index.html
+++ b/resources/content_server/index.html
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
         </div>
         
 	    <div id="search_box">
-            <form name="search_form" onsubmit="search();return false;" action="./" method="get">
+            <form name="search_form" onsubmit="search();return false;" action="./" method="get" accept-charset="UTF-8">
                       <input value="" id="s" type="text" />
                       <input type="image" src="/static/btn_search_box.png" width="27" height="24" id="go" alt="Search" title="Search" />
             </form>
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py b/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
index 856363d7db..b9ca24a823 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from calibre.library.server import custom_fields_to_display
 from calibre.library.server.utils import strftime, format_tag_string
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import fmt_sidx
 from calibre.constants import __appname__
-from calibre import human_readable
+from calibre import human_readable, isbytestring
 from calibre.utils.date import utcfromtimestamp
 from calibre.utils.filenames import ascii_filename
 
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ def CLASS(*args, **kwargs): # class is a reserved word in Python
 def build_search_box(num, search, sort, order): # {{{
     div = DIV(id='search_box')
     form = FORM('Show ', method='get', action='mobile')
+    form.set('accept-charset', 'UTF-8')
+
     div.append(form)
 
     num_select = SELECT(name='num')
@@ -193,6 +195,8 @@ class MobileServer(object):
             raise cherrypy.HTTPError(400, 'num: %s is not an integer'%num)
         if not search:
             search = ''
+        if isbytestring(search):
+            search = search.decode('UTF-8')
         ids = self.db.search_getting_ids(search.strip(), self.search_restriction)
         FM = self.db.FIELD_MAP
         items = [r for r in iter(self.db) if r[FM['id']] in ids]
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/xml.py b/src/calibre/library/server/xml.py
index 469d2457e7..e99fc2839c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/xml.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/xml.py
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ class XMLServer(object):
 
         if not search:
             search = ''
+        if isbytestring(search):
+            search = search.decode('UTF-8')
 
         ids = self.db.search_getting_ids(search.strip(), self.search_restriction)