Methods and computer-readable media are provided for performing a federated search using a library description file to locate multiple data sources. For a federated search, a library description can be used to describe a set of data sources searched, and may further be used to describe how search results should be presented to a user. The format of such a library description file can include multiple elements, some of which provide information on how to display the library and others that define which data sources are included in the library. The library description file can be created according to library description template.