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 doc ument services that are becoming available. Based on pub lished 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 ser vices while focusing on a task. Users have reacted favorably to the interface design in pilot testing, but a problem sur faced: we need a mechanism to teach new users about the metaphor and interface. We conclude by describing our approaches to this problem.