The use of metadata in visual interfaces to digital libraries

This poster reports on a study carried out to investigate and analyze a specific category of digital library visual interfaces that support information seeking, exploration and retrieval based on metadata representations, namely metadata-enhanced visual interfaces. This study has examined 21 metadata-enhanced digital library visual interfaces from the following perspectives: a) information access and retrieval features supported; b) metadata elements used; c) visualization techniques and metaphors utilized. The results show that visual interfaces to digital libraries enhanced with metadata are becoming more widespread. The study also demonstrates that the combined use of visualization techniques and metaphors is becoming increasingly prevalent as a design strategy to support users' information exploration.