The features planned include several tools to enable people to create their own digital collections using these materials either by searching and annotating records via the "Build-a-collection web tool" or by importing the retrieval results into their own webpages, applets, or XML transformations.

Below is a demo tool that creates a live collection.  A new version will be added shortly to help K-12 teachers assign specific learning outcomes to their annotated pages so that they can share their lessons with other teachers.

About thesearch engine:  The search engine's keyword approach is to locate the query term(s) anywhere in the author/agent name, work title, image title, or subject fields.

1. Define your collection and select options. Here you name the collection, provide contact information, default links, a default HTML template for displaying your collection, and some other features. Once you've completed this page, you'll pass to
2. Add Content. Notice that the folder you selected for your collection appears on the screen. Below it are several options: Homepage, Biography, Teacher's Page, Help, and More Info/Contact pages. Type text directly into the text area box. HTML tags are supported. Or you can cut from another document and paste it in here. When you're ready press the Save button. Repeat this for each of the pages. You can overwrite an existing page, too. After you've saved the first file, you'll see that your collection has been provided a unique collection reference ID. After adding content to these pages, press the "Click here to select and annotate items for your site." This leads to the
3. Search engine. The default option is set to search Subjects. There are multiple interfaces to display your results (small icons (the default), hierarchical list, drag-and-drop, hyperlinks, etc.). For demonstration, use the default small icons option.
4. Select items to include in your collection by clicking on the "Add" toggle. Click on the "Annotate" button and a new window appears. Here you type in text (or cut-and-paste). When finished ...
5. Confirm your choices. Finally an information page is created: keep this page because it lists where your files are on the server and other data that's useful for troubleshooting and maintaining your collection.
6. Check out your site! A static homepage is made for demonstration; collection content are created dynamically by sending parameters to the server which assembles your page on the fly.