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Introduction To Modern Information Retrieval (2nd Edition) : Ali Shiri

This review summarizes a book on modern information retrieval. The book covers topics from traditional library techniques to modern web technologies. It discusses concepts like metadata, indexing, classification schemes and information retrieval models. While comprehensive, the review notes the book could have discussed more recent retrieval models and user-centered evaluation measures.

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Meilany Nonsi Tentua
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179 views3 pages

Introduction To Modern Information Retrieval (2nd Edition) : Ali Shiri

This review summarizes a book on modern information retrieval. The book covers topics from traditional library techniques to modern web technologies. It discusses concepts like metadata, indexing, classification schemes and information retrieval models. While comprehensive, the review notes the book could have discussed more recent retrieval models and user-centered evaluation measures.

Uploaded by

Meilany Nonsi Tentua
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to Modern Information

Retrieval (2nd edition)


Reviewer(s):
Ali Shiri (School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, Alberta,
Canada)
Citation:
Ali Shiri, (2004) "Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval (2nd edition)", Library
Review, Vol. 53 Iss: 9, pp.462 - 463
DOI
http://dx.doi.org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1108/00242530410565256
Downloads:
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 344 times since 2006
Keywords:
Information retrieval, Worldwide web, Storage
Review Number:
2004/2
Review Subject:
Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval (2nd edition) Gobinda G. Chowdhury and
Sudatta Chowdhury
Publisher Name:
Facet Publishing
Publication Year:
2004
Price:
£39.95
Type:
Review
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Article

This is the second edition of this book titled Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval
authored by Gobinda Chowdhury and Sudatta Chowdhury. Writing a book on information
retrieval is a formidable task as the subject spans a broad range of topics, tools, techniques and
technologies requiring the author to address a wide range of rapidly changing information
environments. The authors note in their introduction that students of library and information
science programmes are the target audience of the book. I believe this objective has been met
given the breadth and relevance of the topics and issues discussed. It covers a broad‐ranging
array of information retrieval themes and topics derived from traditional LIS techniques through
to modern Web‐based technologies.
The book starts with the basics of information retrieval systems, the components of an IR
system, database technology, and various bibliographic formats. This is followed by a
comprehensive discussion of such issues as metadata and cataloguing, subject analysis and
representation, indexing and abstracting, and vocabulary control. Within these sections readers
are introduced to various classification schemes and metadata formats in use and the ways in
which they have been employed within the new web information environment. A separate
chapter deals with well‐known information retrieval models, namely Boolean, vector space,
probabilistic, natural language processing and hypertext. It would have been helpful if the
authors had briefly introduced some more recently developed information retrieval models such
as fuzzy set, neural, inference or belief network models in order to inform the reader of the scope
and scale of research in the area of information retrieval techniques.

Within this book the issue of user‐centred approaches to information retrieval is well handled
with the exception of the evaluation section on which I will comment later. Three chapters
discuss the role of users as regards information retrieval. Information needs, information use and
the methodology for carrying out user studies are adequately discussed in a chapter. There is a
brief discussion of the user‐centred information retrieval models proposed by such well‐
known researchers as Dervin, Belkin, Saracevic, Ingwersen, Kulthau, Wilson, Ellis and Bates.
The book briefly touches upon user interfaces and provides a few examples of Web‐based
database interfaces.

There are two chapters on the evaluation of information retrieval. The first addresses the purpose
and criteria for evaluation and a short discussion on recall and precision as evaluation measures.
However, there is no discussion on the measures and issues involved in user‐centred evaluation
of information retrieval systems. In particular, I was expecting to see references to two chapters
of “Annual review of information science and technology” which have extensively addressed the
user‐centered perspective of information retrieval research and analysis methods (Sugar, 1995;
Harter and Hert, 1998). The second chapter focuses mainly on the “black box” evaluation
approach that also acts as an introduction to major system‐centered evaluation projects such as
Cranfield, SMART, STAIRS and TREC.

This is followed by chapters on online and CD‐ROM databases, multimedia information


retrieval, hypertext and markup languages. Web information retrieval and the use of search
engines for information retrieval as well as examples of natural language processing systems
constitute later chapters. The information retrieval in digital libraries is a well‐written succinct
chapter that serves two purposes. First, it touches on the design components and conceptual
construct of a digital library. Second, it introduces the general search features of digital libraries
and briefly reviews a number of digital library initiatives. The last chapter, titled “Trends in
information retrieval”, highlights some of the recent trends which have been the focus of
information retrieval research and are useful starting points for those who would like to gain an
understanding of information retrieval research themes.

Overall, the book provides essential and useful reading on user‐centered information retrieval
covering a whole range of IR issues written from a non‐technical perspective. I recommend this
book not only to library and information science students but also to computer science
undergraduates who plan to undertake research into information retrieval.

References
1.
Harter, S. and Hert, C.A. (1998), “Evaluation of information retrieval systems:
approaches, issues and methods”, in Williams, M.E. (Ed.), Annual Review of Information
Science and Technology, Vol. 32, American Society for Information Science,

Washington, DC, pp. 3‐94.

2.
Sugar, W. (1995), “User‐centered perspective of information retrieval research and
analysis methods”, in Williams, M.E. (Ed.), Annual Review of Information Science and

Technology (ARIST), Vol. 30, ASIS, Medford, NJ, pp. 77‐109.

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