In this research project, the authors set out to discover the current practice in both the archival and cataloging worlds for usage of access points in descriptive records and to learn how archival descriptive practices fit into long-established library cataloging procedures and practices. A sample of archival finding aids and MARC records at 123…

The visual system uses several tools to select only the most relevant visual information for further processing, including selection by location. In the present study, the authors explored how many locations can be selected at once. Although past evidence from several visual tasks suggests that the visual system can operate on a fixed number of 4…

Retrieving a subset of previously studied material can impair later recognition of related items. Using the remember-know procedure (Experiment 1) and the receiver operating characteristic procedure (Experiment 2), the authors examined how such retrieval-induced forgetting can be explained in terms of single-process and dual-process accounts of…

In experimental searches of "Basic Journal Abstracts" using the subject terms from 104 selective dissemination of information profiles, retrieval was found to be significantly worse if only titles were searched rather than the full title and abstract. (PF)

Poses questions concerning methods of using specificity information in a weighting scheme. (JB)

The model assumes that the relevance assigned to a document by a juror is a random variable. (PF)

A threshold rule is analyzed and compared to the Neyman-Pearson procedure, indicating that the threshold rule provides a necessary but not sufficient measure of the minimal performance of a retrieval system, whereas Neyman-Pearson yields a better apriori decision for retrieval. (Author/MBR)

The use of a structured system of storing information, particularly relational indexing, can lead to situations in which items would not be retrieved due to technicalities of the system. To overcome such problems a study was made of condensations with the aim of providing a series of rules to apply. (4 references) (Author/SJ)

There are six major studies of the effect of indexing depth on retrieval performance. They differ in purpose, methodology, measures, indexing language, field of study, and data base--nevertheless, all have found depth of indexing to have the same effect upon information retrieval. (13 references) (Author/NH)

The work described was designed to test the feasibility of using automatic or semi-automatic methods to replace or reduce the intellectual effort involved in retrieving information from machine readable stores, particularly those using natural language. (Author)

Introduces the concept of relevance as viewed and applied in the context of IR (information retrieval) evaluation by presenting an overview of the multidimensionality and dynamic nature of the concept. Topics include classes and types of relevance; relevance criteria; degrees of relevance; levels of relevance; situational relevance; and…

Discussion of probabilistic information retrieval (IR) systems challenges the probability ranking principle in IR from the perspective of (1) signal detection-decision theory and (2) utility theory. Calibration, certainty, and independent assessment are discussed in terms of the relevance of documents, and standard retrieval policies are analyzed.…

Describes results of a study that investigated the effect of variations in indexing exhaustivity on retrieval performance in a vector space retrieval system. The test collection of documents in the National Library of Medicine's Medline file indexed under cystic fibrosis is described, and use of the SMART information retrieval system is discussed.…

Discussion of information-retrieval effectiveness focuses on the use of multiple query or document representations, or multiple retrieval techniques, and combining the retrieval results (also known as data fusion). Experimental results with the SMART System (developed at Harvard and Cornell Universities for over 38 years) indicate combining…