Discussion of search strategies in information retrieval systems focuses on the implementation of document ranking based on inverted files. Highlights include descriptions of three heuristic methods for implementing a weighting strategy and a comparison of two methods for estimating retrieval accuracy, including document movement and linear…

Examines the statistical distribution of relevance judgments by reviewing and comparing the results of several studies over the last three decades. A characteristic distribution is examined, and a hypothesis is offered to explain it based on human judging characteristics and the nature of relevance experimentation. (Contains 13 references.) (LRW)

Online seaches of sample topics in the area of forensic medicine were conducted in the following life science databases: Biosis Previews, Excerpta Medica, Medline, Scisearch, and Chemical Abstracts Search. Search outputs analyzed according to criteria of recall, uniqueness, overlap, and utility reveal the need for a cross-database approach to…

Considers classifications produced by application of single linkage, complete linkage, group average, and word clustering methods to Keen and Cranfield document test collections, and studies structure of hierarchies produced, extent to which methods distort input similarity matrices during classification generation, and retrieval effectiveness…

The effectiveness of using the age of references to control the exhaustivity of the reference representation in information retrieval was investigated through analysis of optimal cluster-based retrieval results. The results show that the foreground representation at its optimal level of exhaustivity is restricted to references with ages less than…

A comparative study of the cost effectiveness of retrospective manual and on-line bibliographic searching is described. Individual task times for question analysis, searching, photocopying, shelving and output distribution were measured, and component costs for labor, information, reproduction, physical space and telecommunications calculated. The…

The costs of creating and maintaining permanent files and retrieving keyword title indexes in TRIAL (Technique for Retrieving Information from Abstracts of Literature) are presented. This system, which is used for bibliographic control and file efficiency, is relatively easy to learn and use, and popular with school, academic, business, and…

Discussion of bibliometrics focuses on methods of predicting the number of new journals carrying relevant articles in the future, using both established parametric approaches and newer empirical methods. Parametric models and empirical Bayes models are used to compare examples using previous bibliographies compiled by Bradford and Kendall. (13…

A survey of 123 users at the National Agricultural Library and Purdue University showed that, for most measures of acceptability, users preferred online or digital videodisc versions of the Pork Industry Handbook to the printed version. User characteristics were examined as factors that might influence responses. (Author/MES)

Describes a study that investigated subject retrieval in a group of humanities databases. Scatter by subject field and type of search term is discussed, the effectiveness of natural language and of controlled vocabulary are compared, and implications for system designers concerned with end-user searches in the humanities are suggested. (37…

The 7th International Conference on Education Data Mining held on July 4th-7th, 2014, at the Institute of Education, London, UK is the leading international forum for high-quality research that mines large data sets in order to answer educational research questions that shed light on the learning process. These data sets may come from the traces…