The digital library integrated task environment (DLITE)

We describe a case study in the design of a user interface to a digital library. Our design stems from a vision of a library as a channel to the vast array of digital information and document services that are becoming available. Based on published studies of library use and on scenarios, we developed a metaphor called workcenters, which are customized for users' tasks. Due to our scenarios and to prior work in the CHI community, we chose a direct-manipulation realization of the metaphor. Our system, called DLITE, is designed to make it easy for users to interact with many different services while focusing on a task. Users have reacted favorably to the interface design in pilot testing. are conclude by describing our approaches to this problem.