Search results

Full‐text documents are usually searched by means of a Boolean retrieval algorithm that requires the user to specify the logical relationships between the terms of a query. In this paper, we summarise the results to date of a continuing programme of research at the University of Sheffield to investigate the use of nearest‐neighbour retrieval algorithms for full‐text searching. Given a natural‐language query statement, our methods result in a ranking of the paragraphs comprising a full‐text document in order of decreasing similarity with the query, where the similarity for each paragraph is determined by the number of keyword stems that it has in common with the query. A full‐text document test collection has been created to allow systematic tests of retrieval effectiveness to be carried out. Experiments with this collection demonstrate that nearest‐neighbour searching provides a means for paragraph‐based access to full‐text documents that is of comparable effectiveness to both Boolean and hypertext searching and that index term weighting schemes which have been developed for the searching of bibliographical databases can also be used to improve the effectiveness of retrieval from full‐text databases. A current project is investigating the extent to which a paragraph‐based full‐text retrieval system can be used to augment the explication facilities of an expert system on welding.

This article contains a description of the third phase of development of Okapi, the online catalogue developed at the Polytechnic of Central London. The first phase of development (Okapi Version 1,1984) resulted in the seminal report “Designing an online public access catalogue” ; the second phase (Okapi, Version 2, 1986) looked at techniques for word stemming, spelling checks and at the feasibility of incorporating these in both subject (unknown item) and author/title (known item) approaches. The third and current phase of work (Okapi Version 3, 1988) has been looking at methods of automatically enhancing the handling of subject enquiries. As with all the Okapi work, the focus is on developing a simple, unambiguous user‐interface which uses intelligent processing to optimise retrieval.

From Boolean operators to virtual reality…..

Current OPACs show their weakness in terms of ease of use and comprehension of user requests, and more generally in man/machine dialogue. Most OPAC searches are for subjects and these give the word results. Natural language processing techniques exist to reduce these difficulties. In France, natural language processing has been used to access the yellow pages (headings) of the French phone directory and the telematics services directory; examples are included. No doubt the future library systems will use these techniques to make the new OPACs really Open, Public, Accessible and Co‐operative (user‐friendly).

National issues included: (1) a resolution from the Intellectual Freedom Committee calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expunge the files maintained on their FBI Library Awareness program after giving any individuals involved an opportunity to request their records; (2) another resolution which would subject television news services with commercials being marketed to schools to the same selection guidelines as other materials considered for school media collections; (3) a national policy on permanent paper; and (4) encouraging libraries to celebrate Earth Day in April 1990 to provide information on environmental concerns to their communities.

The effect that a computer can have on your daily life as a library worker can be, if you're lucky, as little or as much as you like. Or so you'd like to think. How many senior managers in public and academic libraries have a computer terminal or personal computer in their offices? How many have it on their desks? Would somebody at the next meeting of the Society of County Librarians, Metropolitan Librarians, University Librarians or whatever please ask for a show of hands — which of you personally use a computer at work? My guess is less than half. Perhaps. On the other hand, how many readers' advisers, reference librarians, subject specialists, administrative officers, circulation desk or Saturday casual staff use one every day of their working lives? No doubt a majority where issues, orders and the catalogue are controlled by a computer. As far as the bread and butter is concerned, their view of information technology is likely to be coloured as much by its reliability as by what it can do. In a profession dedicated to information skills, why then do the benefits of office automation — communications, data, information and the organisation of knowledge — seem so thinly spread? Do the libraries and their parent organisations lack the funds, the vision or the will to grasp the new technologies in order to improve the way libraries are managed and therefore presumably enhance the services they offer? One information systems manager I know speaks of introducing office automation in order to get managers to speak to each other! Librarians I'd have thought would have been quite good at that and would welcome another, electronic way of doing it. Or is the implication of a decision support system, that decisions based on facts might actually have to be made, too difficult a concept for our library leaders? As an editorial in Computer Weekly said: “in exploring executive's information needs, you are exploring their mental model of the business. The result can be to challenge long held assumptions and provoke radical change”. Perhaps the information professional can have a key organisational role in the development, regulation and promotion of information systems technology, through applying his/her skills in information handling and the organisation of knowledge; and if this be the case, what evidence do you see at work of planning for this role? A terminal on every chief's desk might be a start.

This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005

THE Newcastle school, like most others, was established after the second world war to provide full‐time education in librarianship as an alternative to the part‐time system which until 1946 was the only one available to the majority of librarians. At first most of the students were returning servicemen whose library careers had been interrupted by the war and they were followed by students direct from libraries, universities and schools. From a handful of students and one full‐time member of staff in the first year the school has grown steadily until there were 53 students and five staff during the session 1962–3 which was the last course held for the Registration Examination.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.