Patent ID: 6938168

Claim:
In an interactive library system having a computer in telecommunication link with at least one user computer and computer of at least one content provider requiring payment for information access, a method for providing information from the content provider to the user which comprises: receiving, by the library system computer, user identification and password âom the user computer; comparing, by the library system computer, said received user identification and password with authorized user identifications and corresponding passwords stored in the library system to determine whether to grant access to the interactive library system; if comparison results in grant of access, then receiving, by the library system computer, input from the user computer specifying type of information desired by the user; establishing, by the library system computer, telecommunication link with content provider computer; transmitting, by the library system computer, said type of information desired by the user as a search request to the content provider computer; receiving, by the library system computer, result of said search request from the content provider computer; providing, by the library system computer, said result to the user computer; and customizing a user interface provided by the interactive library system to the user computer based on type of information desired by the user.