Selecting Libraries, Selecting Documents, Selecting Data

We use “selecting” as a general term for selection processes, including filtering, retrieval, routing, and searching. The search for recorded knowledge in a digital library environment is examined in terms of selection at three levels: 1. Selecting which library (repository) to look in; 2. Selecting which document(s) within a library to look at; and 3. Selecting fragments of data (text, numeric data, images) from within a document. These tasks with their differing problems have, historically, been treated as separate and different. Examination and comparison of these three processes reveal similarities and differences between the three levels. The three selecting processes are fundamentally the same in theory. The differences in practice are seen as arising from differing deficiencies in internal structure or lack of metadata. Identification of these deficiencies provides a basis for an agenda of research and development.