diff --git a/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.spec.ts b/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.spec.ts
index 77f41be76a..bb2187d9a6 100644
--- a/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.spec.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ describe('BrowseByDatePageComponent', () => {
   const mockBrowseService = {
     getBrowseEntriesFor: (options: BrowseEntrySearchOptions) => toRemoteData([]),
     getBrowseItemsFor: (value: string, options: BrowseEntrySearchOptions) => toRemoteData([firstItem]),
-    getFirstItemFor: () => toRemoteData([firstItem])
+    getFirstItemFor: () => observableOf(new RemoteData(false, false, true, undefined, firstItem))
   };
 
   const mockDsoService = {
diff --git a/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts b/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
index 701082b6a2..c5048c9520 100644
--- a/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/+browse-by/+browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
@@ -75,10 +75,10 @@ export class BrowseByDatePageComponent extends BrowseByMetadataPageComponent {
    */
   updateStartsWithOptions(definition: string, metadataField: string, scope?: string) {
     this.subs.push(
-      this.browseService.getFirstItemFor(definition, scope).subscribe((firstItemRD: RemoteData<PaginatedList<Item>>) => {
+      this.browseService.getFirstItemFor(definition, scope).subscribe((firstItemRD: RemoteData<Item>) => {
         let lowerLimit = this.config.browseBy.defaultLowerLimit;
-        if (firstItemRD.payload.page.length > 0) {
-          const date = firstItemRD.payload.page[0].findMetadata(metadataField);
+        if (hasValue(firstItemRD.payload)) {
+          const date = firstItemRD.payload.findMetadata(metadataField);
           if (hasValue(date) && hasValue(+date.split('-')[0])) {
             lowerLimit = +date.split('-')[0];
           }
diff --git a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
index 40c51130d6..c7ff4d3478 100644
--- a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import { BrowseEntry } from '../shared/browse-entry.model';
 import { HALEndpointService } from '../shared/hal-endpoint.service';
 import {
   configureRequest,
-  filterSuccessfulResponses, getBrowseDefinitionLinks,
+  filterSuccessfulResponses, getBrowseDefinitionLinks, getFirstOccurrence,
   getRemoteDataPayload,
   getRequestFromSelflink,
   getResponseFromSelflink
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ export class BrowseService {
    * @param definition
    * @param scope
    */
-  getFirstItemFor(definition: string, scope?: string): Observable<RemoteData<PaginatedList<Item>>> {
+  getFirstItemFor(definition: string, scope?: string): Observable<RemoteData<Item>> {
     return this.getBrowseDefinitions().pipe(
       getBrowseDefinitionLinks(definition),
       hasValueOperator(),
@@ -188,7 +188,8 @@ export class BrowseService {
         }
         return href;
       }),
-      getBrowseItemsFor(this.requestService, this.responseCache, this.rdb)
+      getBrowseItemsFor(this.requestService, this.responseCache, this.rdb),
+      getFirstOccurrence()
     );
   }
 
diff --git a/src/app/core/shared/operators.ts b/src/app/core/shared/operators.ts
index a9294b2fc9..2dfe2691da 100644
--- a/src/app/core/shared/operators.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/shared/operators.ts
@@ -88,3 +88,12 @@ export const getBrowseDefinitionLinks = (definitionID: string) =>
         }
       })
     );
+
+/**
+ * Get the first occurrence of an object within a paginated list
+ */
+export const getFirstOccurrence = () =>
+  <T extends DSpaceObject>(source: Observable<RemoteData<PaginatedList<T>>>): Observable<RemoteData<T>> =>
+    source.pipe(
+      map((rd) => Object.assign(rd, { payload: rd.payload.page.length > 0 ? rd.payload.page[0] : undefined }))
+    );