Browsing a digital library: a new approach for the New Zealand Digital Library

Browsing is part of the information seeking process, used when information needs are ill-defined or unspecific. Browsing and searching are often interleaved during information seeking to accommodate changing awareness of information needs. Digital Libraries often support full-text search, but are not so helpful in supporting browsing. Described here is a novel browsing system created for the Greenstone software used by the New Zealand Digital Library that supports users in a more natural approach to the information seeking process.