Information retrieval
Information retrieval is defined as "a branch of computer or library science relating to the storage, locating, searching, and selecting, upon demand, relevant data on a given subject."[1]
Classification
Information retrieval can be divided into information discovery, information recovery, and information awareness.[2]
Information discovery
Information discovery is searching for information that the searcher has not seen before and the searcher does not know for sure that the information exists.
Information recovery
Information recovery is searching for information that the searcher has seen before and knows to exist.
Information awareness
Information awareness has also been labeled "'systematic serendipity' - an organized process of information discovery of that which he did not know existed".[2] Examples of this prior to the Internet include reading print and online periodicals. With the Internet, new methods include email newsletters, email alerts, and RSS feeds.
Factors associated with successful retrieval
Characteristics of how the information is stored
Characteristics of the searcher
In healthcare, searchers are more likely to be successful if their answer is answer before searching, they have experience with the system they are searching, and they have a high spatial visualization score.[3]
References
- ↑ National Library of Medicine. Information Storage and Retrieval. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Garfield, E. “ISI Eases Scientists’ Information Problems: Provides Convenient Orderly Access to Literature,” Karger Gazette No. 13, pg. 2 (March 1966). Reprinted as “The Who and Why of ISI,” Current Contents No. 13, pages 5-6 (March 5, 1969), which was reprinted in Essays of an Information Scientist, Volume 1: ISI Press, pages 33-37 (1977). http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/V1p033y1962-73.pdf
- ↑ Hersh WR, Crabtree MK, Hickam DH, et al (2002). "Factors associated with success in searching MEDLINE and applying evidence to answer clinical questions". J Am Med Inform Assoc 9 (3): 283–93. PMID 11971889. [e]