The invention relates to the interaction between the electronic directory and sites cataloged therein. One embodiment of a directory system includes a first and second conduit, a receiver function and a global catalog. The first conduit runs between the directory and a first site and the second conduit runs between the directory and a second site. The receiver function accepts the first local catalog of directory information from the first site and the second local content catalog of directory information from the second site. The global catalog of directory information includes the first local catalog and the second local catalog.