INFORMATION-RETRIEVAL IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES - BRINGING SEARCH TO THE NET

A digital library enables users to interact effectively with informati on distributed across a network. These network information systems sup port search and display of items from organized collections. In the hi storical evolution of digital libraries, the mechanisms for retrieval of scientific literature have been particularly important. Grand visio ns in 1960 led first to the development of text search, from bibliogra phic databases to full-text retrieval. Next, research prototypes catal yzed the rise of document search, from multimedia browsing across loca l-area networks to distributed search on the Internet. By 2010, the vi sions will be realized, with concept search enabling semantic retrieva l across large collections.