Text Information Retrieval Systems (Library and Information Science) [Hardcover]

Charles T. Meadow (Author), Bert R. Boyce (Author), Donald H. Kraft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0124874053 | ISBN-13: 978-0124874053 | Edition: 2nd

Information retrieval is a communication process that links the information user to a librarian, museum curator, fingerprint identification specialist, or whoever is in charge of a collection of what we are calling documents. The communication will normally involve the processing of text, strings of words known to both parties in the process that can be used to describe a document's content and other attributes and link it with a need expressed in similar terms. This book's purpose is to teach people who will be searching or designing text retrieval systems how the systems work. For designers, it covers problems they will face and reviews currently available solutions to provide a basis for more advanced study. For the searcher its purpose is to describe why such systems work as they do. The book is primarily about computer-based retrieval systems, but the principles apply to nonmechanized ones as well. The book covers the nature of information, how it is organized for use by a computer, how search functions are carried out, and some of the theory underlying these functions. As well, it discusses the interaction between user and system and how retrieved items, users, and complete systems are evaluated. A limited knowledge of mathematics and of computing is assumed. The first edition of this work appeared just before the World Wide Web came on the scene, but was nonetheless a student favorite because of its clarity. The new edition is updated and expanded, covering not only the Web but also new developments in how IR systems are or could be designed. It helps users understand why things happen the way they do and thus aids users in designing new systems, evaluating systems before use, and teaching or using IR systems. It provides an understanding of basic principles so that users may read, understand, and evaluate detailed works such as the many research papers on this topic. It explains complex mathematical models so that readers may become familiar with the underlying mathematical concepts of IR systems.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Best Information Science Book Award 2000, American Society for Information Science and Technology

From the Back Cover

Information retrieval is a communication process that links the information user to a librarian, museum curator, fingerprint identification specialist, or whoever is in charge of a collection of what we are calling documents. The communication will normally involve the processing of text, strings of words known to both parties in the process, that can be used to describe a document's content and other attributes and link it with a need expressed in similar terms. This book's purpose is to teach people who will be searching or designing text retrieval systems how the systems work. For designers, it covers problems they will face and reviews currently available solutions to provide a basis for more advanced study. For the searcher its purpose is to describe why such systems work as they do. The book is primarily about computer-based retrieval systems, but the principles apply to nonmechanized ones as well.
The book covers the nature of information, how it is organized for use by a computer, how search functions are carried out, and some of the theory underlying these functions. As well, it discusses the interaction between user and system and how retrieved items, users, and complete systems are evaluated. A limited knowledge of mathematics and of computing is assumed.
The First Edition of this work appeared just before the World Wide Web came on the scene, but was nonetheless a student favorite because of its clarity. The new edition is updated and expanded, covering not only the Web but also new developments in how IR systems are or could be designed.
Benefits
* Helps users understand why things happen the way they do and thus aids users in designing new systems, evaluating systems before use, and teaching or using IR systems
* Provides an understanding of basic principles so that users may read, understand, and evaluate detailed works such as the many research papers on this topic
* Explains complex mathematical models so that readers may become familiar with the underlying mathematical concepts of IR systems

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: Academic Pr; 2nd edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0124874053
• ISBN-13: 978-0124874053
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,776,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not [much] about web searching, June 3, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Text Information Retrieval Systems, Third Edition (Library and Information Science) (Library and Information Science) (Hardcover)

The book takes the reader through a quick summary of the history of text IRS. Mostly, the readership is assumed to be librarians. Whose task is to search for information. Much of the book has a traditional feel, describing a discipline that strives to be precise and orderly. Most famously, with the imposition of a cataloging system, like the Dewey or Library of Congress methods.

The book also deals with recent changes. Most notably the Web. There is some consideration of the problem of dealing with and trying to classify web sites and web pages. But this is not a text on web search engines, per se. That has proved to be a vast economically important field. It's just not covered much here.

Important ideas are still explained, that are also germane to those readers involved in web searching. Like having an ontology of well defined terms. Or having a consistent metadata schema, as with the Dublin Core.

This book reminds me of texts in the early 90s, that covered SGML. Mostly for publishers. Just as the SGML-inspired HTML started taking off with the new Web. The SGML books were correct, but limited in their audience, while a much larger world of HTML was emerging. Likewise here. The ideas bubbling around the Dublin Core and ontologies are really not being driven by traditional printed texts, or even the databases that exist, but are not on the web.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a Textbook..., January 19, 2011

By 

Kimberly-Ann "Purveyor of Literacy" (Terra Firma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Text Information Retrieval Systems (Library and Information Science) (Hardcover)

Ok, it's a required textbook for SJSU/SLIS.....when I finished I added it to the Library's collection for other students to use. It's used a lot!

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great customer service, September 22, 2010

By 

Lindsay Rhinehart (Texas) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Text Information Retrieval Systems, Third Edition (Library and Information Science) (Library and Information Science) (Hardcover)

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