This paper presents a parametric method for indexing and retrieval of multimedia data in digital libraries. %Indexing (labeling) and retrieval %of multimedia data, based on the properties %of the imagery components of the stored data record, are derived. Indexing (labeling) and retrieval of the multimedia data are performed using parametric modeling of the textured segments found in the data imagery components. The estimated parametric models of the textured segments serve as their indices, and hence as indices of the entire image, as well as of the multimedia record which the image is part thereof. To achieve the ability to identify textured image regions and estimate their parameters, a joint segmentation-estimation algorithm that combines the 2-D Wold decomposition based texture model with a Markovian labeling process, is derived. Ordering and indexing of images require a definition of a distance measure between images. Using the framework of the Kullback distance between probability distributions, a new rigorous distance measure between textures is derived. The distance between any two textured image segments is evaluated using their estimated parametric models. The proposed segmentation, distance evaluation, and indexing methods are shown to produce comparable results to those obtained by a human viewer.