Deja Vu: A Knowledge-rich Interface for Retrieval in Digital Libraries

Providing access to digital libraries will require interfaces that effectively mediate between the retrieval needs of library users and the materials that the library has to offer. This paper describes Deja Vu, a new interface for retrieval in digital libraries. Rather than relying on traditional querybased techniques, Deja Vu allows users to browse through the subject terms used to catalog library materials to find ones that meet their particular retrieval needs. The browsing process is facilitated by a new knowledge structure introduced in this paper called Expectation Packages. Expectation Packages group together subject terms based on the commonsense knowledge of library users to provide a richly interconnected browsing space. An example application of Deja Vu is described, which incorporates the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials to provide access to online image collections. Keywords Retrieval Interfaces, Digital libraries, Thesaurus Browsing

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: IUI
• Authors: Andrew S. Gordon, Eric A. Domeshek
• Keywords: Deja Vu, Digital Libraries, IUI 1998, Retrieval Needs, Software Engineering