The objective relevance of a document to a request is crucial to the design and testing of bibliographic retrieval systems, while subjective relevance is paramount in the use of such systems. The distinction provides a rationale for a trial-and-error mode of interaction with information systems. (Author/EM)

Syntagmatic relationships receive less attention than paradigmatic relationships in the development and study of index languages. Exposes misperceptions in linguistic characterization of syntagmatic relationships, and proposes the expansion to include conceptual syntagmatic relationships (CSRs), and characterizes CSRs to determine their role in…

This study examined judgments of document relevance made by library science graduate students who were not the originators of the queries for which the documents were retrieved. Although the secondary judgments compared well with those of the original users, it was found that secondary judges used document record fields differently and had a…

Reports a study that analyzed natural language search statements constructed by 22 Getty Visiting Scholars as they researched humanities topics on DIALOG. Results show a greater use of names, geographical areas, chronological periods, and discipline terms than scientists use, with implications for the design of humanities online systems and…