Abstract

This paper presents an architecture for digital libraries that introduces user agents as one of the services available to publishers, librarians and patrons. User agents are the fundamental component of an emerging style of human-computer interaction based on the concept of delegation and indirect management of tasks. In the agent-enabled digital library architecture, termed "AGS", service providers define classes of agents that describe helpful tasks for patrons. Patrons, in turn, delegate work by selecting agents from the available agent classes and assigning specific tasks to be performed. AGS enables the development of agents that rely on a wide variety of construction approaches while maintaining a unified view of an active environment. AGS is intended to serve as a testbed to investigate alternative user interfaces to digital libraries and, in particular, a host of unexplored issues raised by the introduction of user agents.

Citations