A system for displaying published electronic documents includes an electronic periodical database that stores electronic files representing a plurality of electronic documents and a plurality of corresponding published issues to each of the plurality of electronic documents, an electronic periodical display controller that displays a graphic substrate upon which the plurality of electronic documents and the plurality of corresponding published issues retrieved from the electronic periodical database are arranged, and a user input controller that receives user input to manipulate the graphic substrate to control a zooming function and a panning function that displays the plurality of electronic documents and published issues within the graphic substrate, and associates input user information with a specific one of the plurality of electronic published issues of the plurality of electronic documents.