Library description of the user interface for federated search results

A method of creating a library description file, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a computing device, a description of one or more locations, said description containing information describing a data source of each of the one or more locations;
• automatically grouping, at the computing device, a subset of the one or more locations based on predefined criteria into a library, wherein the library is a group of data sources grouped together for simultaneous searching, and wherein the data sources are at different locations;
• creating, at a computing device, a library description file for the library, wherein said library description file is comprised of information describing the library including a display format element for the library and at least one scope element for the library, wherein the display format element defines formatting of a visual indicia used to represent the library in a user interface and for how search results are presented for search queries performed upon the library, wherein the location element contains methods for communicating within the group of data sources, wherein the scope element provides information related to scopes of the one or more locations associated with the library and exclusions to searchers upon the library;
• and
• storing the library description file on a computer-readable medium.

One or more computer storage media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of executing a federated search of one or more libraries and displaying the one or more libraries and search results according to one or more library description files, the method comprising:

• receiving one or more library description files from a different computing device;
• receiving a search query;
• receiving a selection of a library to perform the search query upon, wherein said library is described by the library description file, and wherein the library is a group of data sources grouped together for simultaneous searching;
• generating a list of search results by accessing one or more locations defined by the one or more library description files;
• and
• presenting a list of search results.