diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/DSpaceControlledVocabulary.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/DSpaceControlledVocabulary.java
index 7d69f81d1279..56f53fc4afaf 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/DSpaceControlledVocabulary.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/DSpaceControlledVocabulary.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public class DSpaceControlledVocabulary extends SelfNamedPlugin implements Hiera
     protected static String xpathTemplate = "//node[contains(translate(@label,'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'," +
         "'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'),%s)]";
     protected static String idTemplate = "//node[@id = '%s']";
-    protected static String labelTemplate = "//node[@label = %s]";
+    protected static String labelTemplate = "//node[@label = '%s']";
     protected static String idParentTemplate = "//node[@id = '%s']/parent::isComposedBy/parent::node";
     protected static String rootTemplate = "/node";
     protected static String idAttribute = "id";