The invention relates to a system and method to optimize navigation and recommendation in a distributed network of media libraries. According to the invention, it is proposed a system and a method to assist the selection of media items comprising the steps of: - extracting intrinsic features of the media items having a media reference and storing said media items intrinsic features in association with said media references as graph media item nodes into a database, - calculating for a pair of extracted media items, a similarity value representing a level of similarity between the extracted intrinsic features of the pair of media items, - determining a proximity measurement based on at least said similarity value and at least one user preference parameter, - storing the proximity measurement in association with the respective pair of media references of said media items as graph proximity edges into a database if the similarity value is above a threshold, - establishing a selection path, from a given media item node, by connecting said media item to another media item through the edge having the highest degree of proximity measurement.