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26 views3 pages

Reviewer

Uploaded by

Nina Raiza Belen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Concept of Information Retrieval

Information Retrieval- concerned with all the activities related to the organization of processing
of, and accessing to, information of all forms and formats.

Information Retrieval System- designed to retrieve the documents or information required by the
user community.It should make the right information available to the right user. Information
Retrieval system aims to collect and organize information in one or more subject areas in order
to provide it to the user as soon as it is asked for.

Types of Information Retrieval System:


1. Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) -provides facilities for library users to carry
out online catalogue searches, and then check the availability of the item required.
2. Online Databases- provides remote access to a variety of users.
3. Digital Libraries and Web-based Information Services- that can be accessed
remotely through a web interface.
4. Web search engines- that are designed to provide access to vast amounts of web
information resources.

Functions of Information Retrieval Systems:


❖ To identify the information(sources) relevant to the areas of interest of the target users
community
❖ To analyze the contents of the sources(documents)
❖ To represent the contents of analyzed sources in a way that matches users queries.
❖ To analyze users queries and represent them in a form that will be suitable for matching
the database
❖ To match the search statement with the stored database
❖ To retrieve relevant information

For effective and reliable information retrieval system must have provision for:
❖ Prompt dissemination of information
❖ Filtering of information
❖ Providing the right amount of information at the right time
❖ Active switching of information
❖ Receiving information in the desired form
❖ Browsing
❖ Getting information in an economical way
❖ Current literature
❖ Providing access to other information systems
❖ Interpersonal communication

Information Retrieval Methods

Cataloguing and metadata


Classification- different systematic schemes of library classification that become a unique tool
for organizing materials on the shelves have been developed to aid the process of organizing
library materials systematically and make for easy retrieval of information materials.

Can be categorized by:


❖ Author
❖ Title
❖ Subject

Metadata- refers to “data about data”. Structured information that allows someone to identify,
locate, and retrieve resources.

Indexing- designed to assist in the retrieval of documents operate by assigning index terms to
the analyzed subject of each document either manually or automatically.

Abstracting- abstract as a brief but accurate representation of the contents of a document and
he opines that an abstract is different from an extract, an annotation or summary.

Users of Information Retrieval Methods

The user is the focal point of all information retrieval systems because the sole objective of any
information storage and retrieval is to transfer information from the source to the user.This
makes it very necessary that the information manager should have an understanding of the
nature and number of user, their activities.

Users may be limited by the organization they work for, by the nature of their work or profession,
by age, sex, and other social groups. On the other hand user categories may be identified by
the nature of the libraries they use:

For an Academic library - the primary users are students, teachers, researchers,
administrators, etc.

For Special or Research Libraries - the primary users may be categorized as researchers,
planners, policymakers, scientists and so on.

In the Public Library environment - anyone can be a user (members of general public)
children, students, housewives, the literate, neo-literate, etc.

Information seeking behavior of users

Some of the general points that affect the information seeking behavior of the users are:

❖ The users awareness of and ability to access other sources of information


❖ The users relationship with information unit concerned
❖ The information units ease of accessibility
❖ The time available to the user for consulting information systems
❖ The amount of competition that exist in the users field of activities
❖ The user past experience or knowledge
❖ How easily the user gets on with other people
❖ How friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient are the members of the information unit
❖ The various products and services of the information

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