Browsing is a collaborative process

Interfaces to databases have traditionally been designed as single-user systems that hide other users and their activity. This paper aims to show that collaboration is an important aspect of searching online information retrieval (IR) systems that requires explicit computerised support. A number of systems offering varied approaches to supporting collaboration are surveyed and a structure for analysing the various aspects of collaboration is applied. The dominant form of collaboration in digital libraries is likely to be remote and asynchronous. Collaborative work in the digital library requires that both the search product and the search process can be captured and communicated. The ARIADNE system is introduced as an example of computerised support for collaboration between browsers.