We describe the use of ethnomethodologically-informedethnography as a means of informing the requirementselicitation, design, development and evaluation of digitallibraries. We present the case for the contribution of such studiesto the development of digital library technology to support thepractices of information-searching. This is illustrated by aparticular study of the help desk at a university library,examining the implications it has for designing appropriatefunctionality for a digital library. This requires us to address theproblems of using ethnographic data in systems design