Collaborative Filtering for Digital Libraries

Abstract

Can collaborative filtering be successfully applied to digital libraries in a manner that improves the effectiveness of the library? Collaborative filtering systems remove the limitation of traditional content-based search interfaces by using individuals to evaluate and recommend information. We introduce an approach where a digital library user specifies their need in the form of a question, and is provided with recommendations of documents based on ratings by other users with similar questions. Using a testbed of the Tsunami Digital Library, we found evidence that suggests that collaborative filtering may decrease the number of search queries while improving users ’ overall perception of the system. We discuss the challenges of designing a collaborative filtering system for digital libraries and then present our preliminary experimental results