1. At least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform steps, the steps comprising: displaying search results to a user, the search results having been obtained by, in response to inputting a first query by the user, searching both local storage of the computer for local data items that match the first query and searching one or more computers on the network for remote data items that match the first query, wherein some of the data items are documents and files, and wherein the search results comprise those remote and local data items that match the first query; displaying a user interface with a user interface element whose activation by the user with reference to a data item in the displayed search results causes a determination to be made of whether a collection is open for editing and if not causes creation of a new collection which becomes the collection open for editing, the activation also causing the data item to be added to the collection open for editing, wherein the user uses the user interface to interact with the search results to author the collection open for editing, the collection, in accordance with the interaction is then comprised of references to various of the data items in the search results that were interactively selected by the user via the user interface element, wherein the user interface also allows the user to add to the collection a second query that becomes a member of the collection and allows the user to select from among collections previously created with the user interface an existing other collection to be added to the collection open for editing wherein any collection is permitted to contain another collection as a member thereof; and persisting the collection on the computer such that when the collection is selected by the user the computer displays indicia of the data items referred to by the references in the collection, wherein when the collection is selected by the user the second query is automatically executed to search both the local storage and the one or more remote computers and any local or remote data items that match the second query are displayed with the data items previously selected by the user for inclusion in the collection, and where the other collection added to the collection is also displayed by running any queries therein and by displaying any collections therein.