an element of a graphical user interface for displaying and exploring controlled vocabulary data , includes a first display pane for displaying controlled vocabulary terms , a toolbar adjacent to the first display pane containing graphic control elements for manipulating and exploring the controlled vocabulary data , a second display pane adjacent to the first display pane for displaying detailed information concerning at least one selected term of the controlled vocabulary and a third display pane adjacent to the first display pane for providing an interactive means for utilizing controlled vocabulary terms to search a data repository and further including a means for two letter index searching of terms within the controlled vocabulary .