Last modified: 2007-05-07 16:33:59 UTC
This may be specific to Internet Explorer as other browsers are more configurable. It would be nice to have a text link to the "search page" so you can easily open it in a new tab. Maybe other browsers such as Firefox allow you to configure them to open a new tab when you click on a link or search form but I do not believe IE does.
This can be easily added in the navigation bar; ask a local sysop. Instructions can be found at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Navigation_bar.