A public library based on full-text retrieval

Abstract

The New Zealand digital library aims to impose structure on anarchic and uncataloged repositories of information providing information consumers with effective tools to locate and peruse what they need. Our goal is to produce an easy-to-use digital library system that runs on inexpensive computers at the information providers' own sites and offers a service that providers maintain. New Zealand's geographical isolation amplifies the benefits of networked digital libraries, in terms of both cost and timeliness of access to information. We are collaborating with the MeDoc project (see Endres and Fuhr, this issue) in Germany to provide local indexes to German language technical reports, and with the U.S.-based Journal of Biological Chemistry to field-test novel browsing techniques.