Search results

There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.

1. Introduction Probably the “hottest” topic in the LISA (Library and Information Systems) world in recent times is the idea of developing systems which can act “intelligently” by using the knowledge of a human expert (within our context, that of an intermediary or a librarian). Such knowledge‐based systems are popularly known as “expert systems”.

The paper describes techniques developed by Tome Associates to process natural language queries into search statements suitable for transmission to online text database systems. The problems discussed include word identification, the handling of unknown words, the contents and structure of system dictionaries, the use of semantic categories and classification, disambiguation of multi‐meaning words, stemming and truncation, noun compounds and indications of relationship between search terms.

This paper reports on a comparative evaluation of two computerised reference retrieval systems, INSTRUCT and PLEXUS. Instruct is a statistically‐based system based on best match searching and automatic index term weighting while Plexus uses expert systems techniques to improve access to a conventional Boolean search system. After an introduction to the retrieval techniques used by the two systems, their retrieval effectiveness is compared using a set of nineteen queries and 512 documents on the subject of gardening. The best results were obtained by using the terms suggested by the Plexus system as the basis for an Instruct search.

This article examines the structure and components of information storage and retrieval systems and information filtering systems. Analysis of the tasks performed in such selection systems leads to the identification of 13 components. Eight are necessarily present in all such systems, mechanized or not; the others may, but need not be, present. The authors argue that all selection systems can be represented in terms of combinations of these components. The components are of only two types: representations of data objects and functions that operate on them. Further, the functional components, or rules, reduce to two basic types: 1) transformation, making or modifying the members of a set of representations, and 2) sorting or partitioning. The representational transformations may be in the form of copies, excerpts, descriptions, abstractions, or mere identifying references. By partitioning, we mean dividing a set of objects by using matching, sorting, ranking, selecting, and other logically equivalent operations. The typical multiplicity of knowledge sources and of system vocabularies is noted. Some of the implications for the study, use, and design of information storage and retrieval systems are discussed.

The issues involved in the construction of an expert system for retrieval are described, together with some of the techniques that have been used in artificial intelligence and information science to tackle them. The solutions adopted by the prototype expert system PLEXUS are described, with particular reference to the semantic processing that takes place. The paper concludes with a discussion of continuing issues on which work is currently proceeding.

During the years following the end of World War II, there was a considerable expansion of library services in industry, and some of the scientists engaged in this activity sought to establish strong links with professional librarians, particularly in universities and city libraries with collections of scientific literature. Among them were Denis Arnold, Wilfred Ashworth and Brian Vickery, and it was at a conference of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association that I first met both Arnold and Vickery. It was my good fortune to discover very quickly a community of interest with Brian, based on our industrial experience, and a similar outlook on a wide range of matters social and political.

This paper describes the use of a modified cassette recorder to present information and instruction to intermediaries and users of on‐line information retrieval systems using three media. The cassette recorder co‐ordinates (1) computer signals recorded from and displayed upon a visual display unit, (2) audio‐signals, that is voice commentary, relayed through a loud speaker, and (3) thirty‐five millimetre slides displayed on an overhead screen. The system was designed and developed for use in the Central Information Services, London University.

Informatization is a term of Japanese provenance denoting major systemic change resulting from the application of information technology. At the macro (economic and sociological) level, authors such as Fritz Machlup and Daniel Bell have outlined the shape of a supposed new order. In modern librarianship and information work, too, the effects of informatization have been pervasive. The paper articulates a simple synthetic theory of post‐war informatization with special reference to information services in libraries, and specifically computerized information retrieval. It is suggested, on the basis of primary and secondary research, that the “story” of informatization can be broken down into four electronic epochs: offline, online, CDROM, and the Internet. Each epoch is described and evaluated, focusing on the practical effects on British librarians (national, academic, and public) and their patrons. It is hoped that the use of primary sources enables the account to capture something of the sense of revolution accompanying the arrival of new epochs. Advice on a future fifth “e”poch is not supplied, but it is acknowledged that the prospects for a global reference system seem more hopeful than ever before.