Coupling browse and search in highly interactive user interfaces: a study of the relation browser++

The size and breadth of digital libraries makes it difficult for people to quickly grasp what content is and is not available. Consequently, people usually need an overview of the digital library to help them decide if it is worthwhile to look further. As they do look further, it is helpful for their searching and browsing to get an idea of what is in the collection and how many items are available. The relational browser++(RB++) is a dynamic interface for large information collections. Not only does it allow users to search but also provides an overview of the collection/search results organized in an interactive category structure. It has been applied to two dozen different kinds of collections and this study used it with a film library collection with more than 10000 records.