Introduction to Information Retrieval

Author: Ye Jiye
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: "Information is more important than missiles," this is an imaginative comparison people make when they lament the significance of information. However, how can one obtain the required information quickly and accurately? This is precisely the problem the "Information Retrieval" course aims to address. In today's society, information is in an "explosion"; its content is all-encompassing, and its carriers are diverse. Print-based information carriers and electronic information carriers each have their unique characteristics while also transforming, complementing, and overlapping with one another. A plethora of search tools, databases, and search engines have emerged. How to organize vast and varied information resources in an orderly manner, retrieve them swiftly when needed, how to develop various search tools, and how to utilize them—all these are core issues faced in the information age and the knowledge age. Research on these topics has now developed into a new interdisciplinary field—Information Retrieval. Information Retrieval is a discipline that studies the theories and methods of storing, organizing, and retrieving information resources. Its research content includes retrieval theory, retrieval languages, databases, information description methods, indexing and retrieval methods, retrieval systems, retrieval strategies, and retrieval services. It has evolved from traditional literature retrieval by integrating new information retrieval technologies. This book introduces the basic and new knowledge of information retrieval, focusing on the most commonly used and important search tools, databases, and search engines in various disciplines, both Chinese and foreign. The book is divided into 8 chapters, including an overview of information retrieval, information retrieval theory and methods, information retrieval tools and databases, manual retrieval, CD-ROM retrieval, online retrieval, web retrieval, and the evaluation of information retrieval effectiveness. Each chapter is followed by a certain number of exercises, and at the end of the book, there is a list of reference books for further reading, as well as a comprehensive directory of commonly used search tools, databases, and websites for theses, patents, standards, conference proceedings, and research reports in various disciplines, all of which are highly practical. The book aims to cultivate students' information awareness and information retrieval skills. Compared to similar textbooks, this book is characterized by comprehensiveness, novelty, practicality, and conciseness. It can serve as a textbook for undergraduate students in information management and information systems, library science, archival science, documentology, and related disciplines, as well as a reference book for professionals in information management departments, the library and information field, publishing and editing circles, and for teachers and students in various disciplines across all fields.