Tefko Saracevic

• PhD
• Professor Emeritus at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Everybody knows what relevance is. It is a "ya'know" notion, concept, idea-no need to explain whatsoever. Searching for relevant information using information technology (IT) became a ubiquitous activity in contemporary information society. Relevant information means information that pertains to the matter or problem at hand-it is directly connecte...

Relevant: Having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. Relevance: The ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user.-Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2005) Relevance is a, if not even the, key notion in information science in general and information retrieval in particular...

Cambridge Core - Knowledge Management, Databases and Data Mining - Interactive Information Seeking, Behaviour and Retrieval - edited by Ian Ruthven

Interactive Information Seeking, Behaviour and Retrieval - edited by Ian Ruthven December 2013

Everybody knows what relevance is. It is a " y'know " notion, concept, idea-no need to explain whatsoever. Searching for relevant information using information technology (IT) became a ubiquitous activity in contemporary information society. Relevant information means information that pertains to the matter or problem at hand—it is directly connect...

Everybody knows what relevance is. It is a "ya'know" notion, concept, idea–no need to explain whatsoever. Searching for relevant information using information technology (IT) became a ubiquitous activity in contemporary information society. Relevant information means information that pertains to the matter or problem at hand—it is directly connecte...

Emerging as a discipline in the first half of the twentieth century, the information sciences study how people, groups, organizations, and governments create, share, disseminate, manage, search, access, evaluate, and protect information, as well as how different technologies and policies can facilitate and constrain these activities. Given the broa...

While acknowledging that efforts in information literacy are a global, the paper concentrates on information literacy efforts in the USA. The American Library Association (ALA) issued in year 2000 a set of standards that provided a framework for assessing the information literate individual. By 2013 it was realized that many changes require an upda...

1995 user study in the National and University Library, Zagreb, Croatia

1999 user study at National and University Library, Zagreb, Croatia

Acceptance speech for Award of Merit 1995, American Society for Information Science

As a process, information interaction is (fairly) well defined; considerable amount of research is devoted to the topic in various areas, particularly in human information behavior and human-computer interaction. In contrast the notion of "context" in which this interaction takes place is ill or not defined and rarely researched -- mostly it is tak...

The EU i2010 policy framework to build the European Information Society has positioned digital libraries as a critical component for its realization. The i2010 Digital Libraries initiative sets out to make all Europe’s cultural resources and scientific records – books, journals, films, maps, photographs, music, etc. – accessible to all, and preserv...

Abstract The main objective of information retrieval (IR) systems is to retrieve information or information objects relevant to user requests and possible needs. In IR tests, retrieval effectiveness is established by comparing IR systems retrievals (systems relevance) with users’ or user surrogates’ assessments (user relevance), where user relevanc...

Relevant: Having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. * A version of this article has been published in 2006 as a chapter in E.G. Abels & D.A. Nitecki (Eds.), Advances in Librarianship (Vol. 30, pp. 3–71). San Diego: Academic Press. (Saracevic, 2006). Relevance: The ability as of an information retrieval system to retrieve m...

All is flux. —Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus (about 369 BC) Relevance is a, if not even the, key notion in information science in general and information retrieval in particular. This two-part critical review traces and synthesizes the scholarship on relevance over the past 30 years or so and provides an updated framework within which the sti...

Relevance is a, it not even the, key notion in information science in general and information retrieval in particular. This two-part critical review traces and synthesizes the scholarship on relevance over the past 30 years and provides an updated framework within which the still widely dissonant ideas and works about relevance might be interpreted...

Recording search histories, presenting them to the searcher, and building additional interface tools on them offer many opportunities for supporting user tasks in information seeking and use. This study investigated the use of search history information ...

Recording search histories, presenting them to the searcher, and building additional interface tools on them offer many opportunities for supporting user tasks in information seeking and use. This study investigated the use of search history information ...

Relevance is a, if not even the, key notion in information science in general and information retrieval in particular. This critical review traces and synthesizes the scholarship on relevance over the past 30 years with the concentration on experimental and observational studies that report data. For context, a historical note summarizes relevance...

Relevance is a, if not even the, key notion in information science in general and information retrieval in particular. This two-part critical review traces and synthesizes the scholarship on relevance over the past 30 years or so and provides an updated framework within which the still widely dissonant ideas and works about relevance might be inter...

Relevance is a classic topic of longevity in information science. Researchers of information retrieval are concerned with the performance and design of IR systems for which relevance is a major evaluation criterion; researchers in information seeking and use are interested in understanding how the users find and use relevant information for specifi...

The purpose is to provide a critical synthesis of works on digital library evaluation that included data. Over 80 evaluation studies are analyzed as to evaluation: (1) constructs, (2) context, (3) criteria and (4) methods that were used. Approaches taken in evaluation studies are identified and described; a list of constructs is given as to entitie...

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of works on digital library evaluation that included data. The approach was first to analyze and then isolate (or even deconstruct) some 80 evaluation studies along the lines of: 1. construct that were evaluated; 2. context in which evaluation were conducted; 3. criteria that were chosen as a bas...

The study surveys two large sets of activities concentrating on digital libraries to examine the following questions: Does digital library research inform digital library practice? And vice versa? To what extent are they connected, now that nearly a decade has passed since they began? Examined were research projects supported by the first and secon...

The Web has become a worldwide source of information and a mainstream business tool. Are human information needs and searching behaviors evolving along with Web content? As part of a body of research studying this question, we have analyzed three data sets culled from more than one million queries submitted by more than 200,000 users of the Excite...

this paperwe compare and contrast results from our two previous studies of Excite queries data sets, eachcontaining over 1 million queries submitted by over 200,000 Excite users collected in September 1997and December 1999. We examine how public Web searching changing during that two-year time period

We analyzed transaction logs containing 51,473 queries posed by 18,113 users of Excite, a major Internet search service. We provide data on: (i) sessions — changes in queries during a session, number of pages viewed, and use of relevance feedback; (ii) queries — the number of search terms, and the use of logic and modifiers; and (iii) terms — their...

: We conducted a transaction log analysis of 51,473 queries from 18,113 users of Excite, a major Web search engine. Approximately 2,500 (approximately 5%) of these queries were from the use of relevance feedback. Given the high level of research activity and historical success of relevance feedback in assisting users in locating relevant informatio...

In studying actual Web searching by the public at large, we analyzed over one million Web queries by users of the Excite search engine. We found that most people use few search terms, few modified queries, view few Web pages, and rarely use advanced search features. A small number of search terms are used with high frequency, and a great many terms...

The concept of digital library has several differing interpretations, derived from different communities involved in digital library research, practice, organization, and commerce. Educational offerings followed these activities. The major aim of the paper is to present results from a survey on the current state of digital library education in acad...

In studying actual Web searching by the public at large, we analyzed over one million Web queries by users of the Excite search engine. We found that most people use few search terms, few modified queries, view few Web pages, and rarely use advanced search features. A small number of search terms are used with high frequency, and a great many terms...

Introduction This is an essay. As are all essays, it is a personal analysis and expository of a specific topic---in this case, information science as a field. This is a critical reflection on the evolution and relations of information science from several perspectives, including historical, sociological, philosophical, technological, educational, a...

WHILE THERE WERE MANY EFFORTS IN THE RESEARCH and practices of digital libraries, evaluation was not a conspicuous activity. It is well recognized that digital library evaluation is a complex and difficult undertaking. Challenges facing digital library evaluation are enumerated. A conceptual framework for evaluation is suggested. A review of evalua...

While there were many efforts in research and practice of digital libraries, evaluation was not a conspicuous activity. It is well recognized that digital library evaluation is a complex and difficult undertaking. We enumerate the challenges facing digital library evaluation and suggest a conceptual framework for evaluation, A review of evaluation...

This essay is a personal analysis of information science as a field of scientific inquiry and professional practice that has evolved over the past half-century. Various sections examine the origin of information science in respect to the problems of information explosion; the social role of the field; the nature of “information” in information scie...

Thesis--Case Western Reserve University. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [334]-342). Microfilm of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms, 1971. -- 1 reel ; 35 mm.

In anticipation of the explosive growth of digital libraries, a complex study was undertaken seeking to evaluate 21 diverse services at 5 major academic research libraries. This work stands as a model for evaluation of digital libraries, through its focus on both the costs of operations and the impacts of the services that those operations provide....

This study develops a theoretical framework for expressing the nature of feedback as a critical process in interactive information retrieval (IR). Feedback concepts from cybernetics and social sciences perspectives are used to develop a concept of informational feedback applicable to IR. Models from human-computer interaction and interactive IR are...

We analyzed transaction logs of a set of 51,473 queries posed by 18,113 users of Excite, a major Internet search service. We provide data on: (i) queries --- the number of search terms, and the use of logic and modifiers, (ii) sessions --- changes in queries during a session, number of pages viewed, and use of relevance feedback, and (iii) terms --...

In apparently the largest study of actual Web searches, we analyzed transaction logs of a set of 51,453 queries posed by 18,113 users of Excite, a major Internet search service. This study focuses on three areas. First, we examined the query construction, providing data on the number of terms in queries, the use o f Boolean logic, use of term modif...

We present a summary of results from a study sponsored by the Special Libraries Association whose objective was to develop a taxonomy for studying value-in-use of library and information services in corporations. We treat value as a multidimensional concept and we isolate key dimensions of value as perceived and assessed by users. To obtain the dat...

The paper is the acceptance address for the 1997 ACM SIGIR Gerard Salton Award for Excellence in Research. In the preamble, the approach of dealing with the broader context of information science when considering information retrieval (IR) is justified. The first part contains personal reflections of the author related to the major events and issue...

We investigated the sources and effectiveness of search terms used during mediated on-line searching under real-life (as opposed to laboratory) circumstances. A stratified model of information retrieval (IR) interaction served as a framework for the analysis. For the analysis, we used the on-line transaction logs, videotapes, and transcribed dialog...

. Discourse between users and intermediaries (human agents), as they interact when searching large databases, serves the function of user modeling. Selected data from a real-life study are presented, categorizing the utterances and elicitations (questions) into seven categories. The results provide an empirical picture of constructing user models t...

This report is derived from a large study sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Two of the objectives of the study were to develop a taxonomy of value-in-use of library and information services based on users assessments and to propose methods and instruments for similar studies of library and information services in general. The correspon...

These ambiguities, redundancies, and deficiencies recall those attributed by Dr. Franz Kuhn to a certain Chinese encyclopedia entitled Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. On those remote pages, it is written that ani-mals are divided into (a) those that belong to the emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs,...

The paper is the acceptance address for the 1997 ACM SIGIR Gerard Salton Award for Excellence in Research. In the preamble, the approach of dealing with the broader context of information science when considering information retrieval (IR) is justified. The first part contains personal reflections of the author related to the major events and issue...

This report is derived from a large study sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Two of the objectives of the study were to develop a taxonomy of value-in-use of library and information services based on users assessments and to propose methods and instruments for similar studies of library and information services in general. The correspon...

We investigated the sources and effectiveness of search terms used during mediated on-line searching under real-life (as opposed to laboratory) circumstances. A stratified model of information retrieval (IR) interaction served as a framework for the analysis. For the analysis, we used the on-line transaction logs, videotapes, and transcribed dialog...

User-system interaction is a critical aspect for IR and digital libraries as well. Thus, a better understanding and modeling of these processes is of great importance to efforts aimed at making these systems more user responsive. The traditional IR model, with all its strengths, had a serious weakness: it did not depict the rich and varied interact...

At this year's National Online Meeting a panel chaired by Pamela Cibbarelli (Cibarelli Associates) and consisting of Ching-chih Chen (Simmons University); Tom Kochtanek (University of Missouri-Columbia), Tefko Saracevic (Rutger University) and Carol Tenopir (University of Tennessee) discussed the topic of libraries present and future. The subject o...

Library managers must respond to institutional demands for the justification of maintaining or supplementing resources and services. The difficulty of assigning costs and values to library and information services and resources is magnified by the advent of a broad variety of computerized and electronic modes of library service. This article provid...

The purpose is to critically examine traditional and interactive models that have emerged in IR, and to propose an interactive IR model based on different levels in the interactive processes. The traditional IR model was explicitly or implicitly adapted in majority of algorithmic works on IR, and in evaluation studies. Strengths and weaknesses of t...

This article reports two studies of “intermediary” conduct in naturally occurring online computer search interactions. The first study examines assumptions about professional practice and relational control as these are manifest in the “opening moves” produced by four intermediaries in interaction with two “users” each. The second study seeks to ve...

Evaluation is a major force in research, development and applications related to information retrieval (IR). This paper is a critical and historical analysis of evaluations of IR systems and processes. Strengths and shortcomings of evaluation efforts and approaches are discussed, together with major challenges and questions. A limited comparison is...

Describes the development of a taxonomy of the value of library services based on users' assessments from five large research libraries. Highlights include empirical and derived taxonomy, replicability of the study, reasons for using the library, how library services are related to time and money, and a theory of value. (LRW)

For the past decade and a half, universities in the U.S. and some even in Canada have been closing or merging their library schools at a steady pace. The article treats the closures as symptoms of what is fundamentally ailing in the contents, structure and governance of library education in North America. Discussed are problems and weaknesses of: a...

Discussion of the selection of search terms during an online search involving users and intermediaries focuses on a study that investigated at what stage of the search process search terms from different sources were selected, how terms were connected with retrieval of relevant answers, and the sequences in which terms were selected. (Contains 16 r...

The paper reports selected results from a larger study whose objectives were to observe, under real-life conditions, the nature and patterns of interaction between users, intermediaries and computer (system) in the context of online searching. This analysis concentrates on the sources of search terms. The extent of contribution by users, intermedia...