diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index d92c5330..e50b2d48 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ Imports:
     purrr (>= 0.3),
     readr (>= 2.1),
     readxl (>= 1.4.0),
-    jsonlite (>= 1.8.4),
     rlang (>= 1.0),
     sf (>= 1.0),
     tidyselect (>= 1.1.0),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7f9d889c..f464094e 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # bcdata (development version)
 
 * Add `jsonlite::read_json()` as a file read method, so users can now download & read `json` resources in B.C. Data Catalogue records
+* Change the `download_audience` default from `Public` to `NULL` in `bcdc_search()` (#315)
+* Fix bug where some/all facet values in `bcdc_search()` need to be quoted to generate a valid API query (#315)
 
 # bcdata 0.4.0
 
diff --git a/R/bcdc_search.R b/R/bcdc_search.R
index ee224603..76600872 100644
--- a/R/bcdc_search.R
+++ b/R/bcdc_search.R
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
 #' @examples
 #' \donttest{
 #' try(
+#'   bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")
+#' )
+#'
+#' try(
 #'   bcdc_search_facets("res_format")
 #' )
 #' }
@@ -129,7 +133,7 @@ bcdc_list <- function() {
 #' @param ... search terms
 #' @param license_id the type of license (see `bcdc_search_facets("license_id")`).
 #' @param download_audience download audience
-#'        (see `bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")`). Default `"Public"`
+#'        (see `bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")`). Default `NULL` (all audiences).
 #' @param res_format format of resource (see `bcdc_search_facets("res_format")`)
 #' @param sector sector of government from which the data comes
 #'        (see `bcdc_search_facets("sector")`)
@@ -151,8 +155,8 @@ bcdc_list <- function() {
 #' )
 #' }
 bcdc_search <- function(..., license_id = NULL,
-                        download_audience = "Public",
-                        res_format=NULL,
+                        download_audience = NULL,
+                        res_format = NULL,
                         sector = NULL,
                         organization = NULL,
                         n = 100) {
@@ -168,17 +172,27 @@ bcdc_search <- function(..., license_id = NULL,
                 organization = organization
                 ))
 
-  lapply(names(facets), function(x) {
-    facet_vals <- bcdc_search_facets(x)
-    if (!facets[x] %in% facet_vals$name) {
-      stop(facets[x], " is not a valid value for ", x,
-           call. = FALSE)
-    }
-  })
-
-  query <- paste0(
-    terms, ifelse(nzchar(terms), "+", ""),
-    paste(names(facets), facets, sep = ":", collapse = "+"))
+  # build query by collating the terms and any user supplied facets
+  # if there are no supplied facets (e.g., is_empty(facets) returns TRUE) just use terms)
+  query <- if (is_empty(facets)) {
+    paste0(terms)
+  } else {
+    #check that the facet values are valid
+    lapply(names(facets), function(x) {
+      facet_vals <- bcdc_search_facets(x)
+      if (!facets[x] %in% facet_vals$name) {
+        stop(facets[x], " is not a valid value for ", x,
+             call. = FALSE)
+      }
+    })
+
+    paste0(terms, "+", paste(
+      names(facets),
+      paste0("\"", facets, "\""),
+      sep = ":",
+      collapse = "+"
+    ))
+  }
 
   query <- gsub("\\s+", "%20", query)
 
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index bd4adb0e..2197d9bb 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -448,3 +448,7 @@ names_to_lazy_tbl <- function(x) {
   frame <- as.data.frame(stats::setNames(rep(list(logical()), length(x)), x))
   dbplyr::tbl_lazy(frame)
 }
+
+is_empty <- function(x) {
+  length(x) == 0
+}
diff --git a/man/bcdc_search.Rd b/man/bcdc_search.Rd
index 56bb9e05..ff3f8af7 100644
--- a/man/bcdc_search.Rd
+++ b/man/bcdc_search.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 bcdc_search(
   ...,
   license_id = NULL,
-  download_audience = "Public",
+  download_audience = NULL,
   res_format = NULL,
   sector = NULL,
   organization = NULL,
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ bcdc_search(
 \item{license_id}{the type of license (see \code{bcdc_search_facets("license_id")}).}
 
 \item{download_audience}{download audience
-(see \code{bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")}). Default \code{"Public"}}
+(see \code{bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")}). Default \code{NULL} (all audiences).}
 
 \item{res_format}{format of resource (see \code{bcdc_search_facets("res_format")})}
 
diff --git a/man/bcdc_search_facets.Rd b/man/bcdc_search_facets.Rd
index 739b5144..12b3e56d 100644
--- a/man/bcdc_search_facets.Rd
+++ b/man/bcdc_search_facets.Rd
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ Get the valid values for a facet (that you can use in \code{\link[=bcdc_search]{
 }
 \examples{
 \donttest{
+try(
+  bcdc_search_facets("download_audience")
+)
+
 try(
   bcdc_search_facets("res_format")
 )