OTHER ARTICLE Integrating thesaurus relationships into search and browse in an online photograph collection Michelle Dalmau, Randall Floyd, Dazhi Jiao and Jenn Riley Indiana University Digital Library Program, Bloomington, Indiana, USA Abstract Purpose – Seeks to share with digital library practitioners the development process of an online image collection that integrates the syndetic structure of a controlled vocabulary to improve end-user search and browse functionality. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys controlled vocabulary structures and their utility for catalogers and end-users. Reviews research literature and usability findings that informed the specifications for integration of the controlled vocabulary structure into search and browse functionality. Discusses database functions facilitating query expansion using a controlled vocabulary structure, and web application handling of user queries and results display. Concludes with a discussion of open-source alternatives and reuse of database and application components in other environments. Findings – Affirms that structured forms of browse and search can be successfully integrated into digital collections to significantly improve the user’s discovery experience. Establishes ways in which the technologies used in implementing enhanced search and browse functionality can be abstracted to work in other digital collection environments. Originality/value – Significant amounts of research on integrating thesauri structures into search and browse functionalities exist, but examples of online resources that have implemented this approach are few in comparison. The online image collection surveyed in this paper can serve as a model to other designers of digital library resources for integrating controlled vocabularies and metadata structures into more dynamic search and browse functionality for end-users. Keywords Controlled languages, Photography, Digital storage, Collections management Paper type Technical Background The Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection (www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/ cushman/) is an online resource providing access to nearly 15,000 color photographs The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm The four authors of the paper all contributed to this project in significant and unique ways, as did approximately 15 other members of the project team from the Indiana University Digital Library Program and Indiana University Archives. Development of the Cushman collection web site was funded through an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant. The authors would like to thank everyone involved with the project for their hard work, patience, and inspiration. Special thanks to Kristine Brancolini, Jon W. Dunn and John A. Walsh for their helpful review of this paper. Integrating thesaurus relationships 425 Received 31 August 2004 Revised 10 November 2004 Accepted 10 November 2004 Library Hi Tech Vol. 23 No. 3, 2005 pp. 425-452 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0737-8831 DOI 10.1108/07378830510621829