Using the Library
Search, filter, compare, and inspect indexed evidence across the library surface.
The Library is MARCUS's document exploration surface. Chat answers questions. The Library helps you inspect the corpus itself: which documents are present, how they are labeled, how they cluster, and whether the evidence base looks complete enough to support the questions you care about.
If chat feels like asking a colleague a question, the Library feels like walking into the reading room and pulling the relevant material onto the table.
When To Use The Library Instead Of Chat
Open the Library when you need to:
- Find out whether a document exists in the corpus at all
- Compare multiple sources before asking a question
- Review document type, tags, authority, or project membership
- Explore the source set broadly rather than asking one narrow question
- Understand why chat may be retrieving from a surprising source
Stay in chat when you already know the question and want a synthesized answer. Move to the Library when you need to inspect the evidence landscape directly.
How The Library Differs From Other Surfaces
| Surface | Best for | Think of it as |
|---|---|---|
| Chat | Getting an answer to a specific question | Asking for guidance tied to retrieved evidence |
| Project source list | Managing uploads inside one project | Operational inventory for a single corpus |
| Library | Inspecting and comparing sources across indexed evidence | The reading room for the broader knowledge base |
What You Will Usually See
Depending on configuration and permissions, the Library may include:
- A search bar
- Filters for project membership, document type, tags, dates, and authority ranges
- Sort controls
- Multiple view modes such as list, cluster, or spatial layouts
- Source cards with summary metadata
The practical purpose of all of this is to help you answer: "What do we actually have, and how is it organized?"
A Good First Library Workflow
- Search for the clinical topic or operational term you care about.
- Filter down to the project or document type if needed.
- Skim source titles and summaries to see whether the right material is present.
- Open one or two promising sources and read their briefings.
- Return to chat only after you understand what the corpus contains.
This is especially useful before high-stakes or high-ambiguity questions.
Search And Filter Strategy
The search and filter controls are most useful when used in combination.
Start broad, then narrow
Begin with the topic name or workflow term. Examples:
- wound care
- discharge criteria
- escalation
- appendicitis
- resident call
Then narrow with filters such as:
- specific project
- document type
- tags or concepts
- authority range
- date or recency indicators
What filters are good for
| Filter type | Best use |
|---|---|
| Project | Limit the view to one corpus or compare across known project boundaries |
| Document type | Separate protocols from notes, policies, or supporting references |
| Tags / concepts | Inspect whether the corpus was enriched in the way you expected |
| Authority range | Quickly focus on stronger or weaker source strata |
| Date filters | Look for older versus newer material |
Understanding The View Modes
The Library may expose more than one visual mode.
List view
Use this when you want clarity and control. List view is usually best for:
- deliberate searching
- source-by-source comparison
- checking metadata
- deciding what to open next
Cluster view
Use this when you want to see how documents group by topic or relatedness. Cluster view is useful for:
- identifying natural subtopics in a corpus
- spotting outlier documents
- noticing whether a supposed topic area is actually split across several themes
Spatial view
Use this as a pattern-finding tool, not as a final source of truth. Spatial layouts can help you see:
- dense topic neighborhoods
- isolated sources
- rough relationships between parts of the corpus
But remember: interesting proximity is a prompt for inspection, not proof that two documents should be treated the same way.
How To Read A Source Card In The Library
A source card usually gives you a compressed read on:
- title
- project membership
- document type
- authority cues
- summary text
- key tags or concepts
- indexing or creation timing
Use the card to decide whether the source deserves deeper inspection. Do not treat the card as a substitute for the source itself.
When The Library Helps More Than Chat
The Library is usually the better tool when:
- You suspect the right source is missing
- A project feels too broad
- The answer keeps citing surprising documents
- You are cleaning a corpus rather than answering one immediate question
- You want to compare the source set before asking MARCUS to synthesize it
In other words, the Library is where you go when the real question is about the corpus, not only about the final answer.
Common Mistakes In The Library
| Mistake | Why it leads to confusion | Better habit |
|---|---|---|
| Searching once and assuming the corpus is complete | One search term rarely captures the whole topic area | Try synonyms, workflow steps, and local terminology |
| Treating tags as perfect truth | Tags are helpful signals, not infallible labels | Use them to guide inspection, not replace it |
| Assuming all visually close documents are interchangeable | Similarity is not the same as authority or policy priority | Open the documents before drawing conclusions |
| Ignoring project boundaries | Cross-project material may not belong together operationally | Check project membership whenever a source looks surprising |
A Reliable Library Workflow For Corpus Review
If you are reviewing a project or service line, this sequence works well:
- Open the Library.
- Search for the main topic.
- Filter to the project if appropriate.
- Skim titles and summaries.
- Open briefings for the likely primary sources.
- Note gaps, duplicates, or low-authority material.
- Return to the project and clean the source set.
This often fixes weak chat behavior faster than rewriting the same question five different ways.
If The Library Feels Empty Or Confusing
Check the following:
- Are your sources fully indexed?
- Are you in the right organization or project context?
- Is your search term too narrow or too local?
- Did you upload the type of source you expected to see?
- Are filters hiding most of the corpus?
When in doubt, clear the filters and search again from a broader term.