Cross Language Information Retrieval for Digital Museums

The trend toward information globalization has brought new challenges for digital libraries. On the one hand, it is often necessary for a digital library to share its valuable resources with users of different languages. On the other hand, it is also necessary for a DL user to utilize knowledge presented in a foreign language. This paper deals with the translingual issue on the design of a digital museum NPDM. A cross language information retrieval mechanism is proposed to support English access to Chinese materials. Users can select English input and Chinese output when they are neither familiar with Chinese input, nor lack of Chinese input device, but can read Chinese. Images or videos are transparent to those users that cannot read/write Chinese.