Integration of model-based interfaces and intelligent systems to digital libraries

We need a principled methodology to ground design and development of interfaces to digital libraries in a comprehensive understanding of the information seeker and nature of documents. We present a methodology to designing effective interfaces to library information. Our methodology integrates three phases: (1) field studies and models of information seekers in libraries, (2) development of library information systems, and (3) design, implementation, and evaluation of interfaces derived from models. In this article, we outline the phases of our methodology in the context of our research at an university library. We present an operator function model of the information seeker and describe our field study at the library. We discuss the implications of the model results on the information retrieval system. We also present a prototype system we developed on the Internet infrastructure using a World Wide Web server, common gateway interface scripts, and hypertext markup language interfaces. Our system features direct manipulation interface access to multiple databases, full-text access and document delivery, and is a gateway to information.