INTERFACES AND TOOLS FOR THE LIBRARY-OF-CONGRESS NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

This paper describes a collaborative effort to explore user needs in a digital library, develop interface prototypes for a digital library a nd suggest and prototype tools for digital librarians and users at the Library of Congress (LC). Interfaces were guided by an assessment of user needs and aimed to maximize interaction with primary resources an d support both browsing and analytical search strategies. Tools to aid users and librarians in overviewing collections, previewing objects a nd gathering results were created and serve as the beginnings of a dig ital librarian toolkit. The design process and results are described a nd suggestions for future work are offered. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.