Abstract: A reference environment manager may create, modify, and access multiple environments, each containing certain references related in a manner of significance to a user. References may be entries referring to documents, provided by any suitable means. A user may create an environment and select references for inclusion therein from a list, such as a hit list provided by a conventional or a special purposes browser with an associated search engine. A catalog of environments may store entries identifying individual environments. A catalog may be navigated by a browser, to identify an environment. An environment may be so navigated, to identify a reference, as may directory services objects, associated with a document, in a directory services tree. Information may be available therein to determine whether to retrieve an entire document. A single browser may provide all browsing (search/review/navigation) functions. A directory services system may store catalog objects listing reference environments.