SGML: Berkeley CHESHIRE II

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 17:08:21 PDT
From: Michael Buckland 
To: friday@otlet.berkeley.edu
Subject: Friday Seminar

FRIDAY SEMINAR ON EXTENDED RETRIEVAL  APRIL 14
South Hall 107,  3:10 pm.  Everyone welcome.

RAY LARSON, SLIS:  CHESHIRE II: A NEXT GENERATION ONLINE CATALOG SYSTEM

EXTENDED ABSTRACT:
The Cheshire II project is developing a next-generation online catalog
and full-text information retrieval system using advanced IR
techniques. This system is being deployed in a working library
environment and its use and acceptance by local library patrons and
remote network users are being evaluated. The Cheshire II system was
designed to overcome twin problems of topical searching in online
catalogs, search failure and information overload.

The Cheshire II system includes the following features:

1) It supports SGML as the primary data base format of the underlying 
search engine.

2) It is a client/server application where the interfaces (clients)
communicate with the search engine (server) using the Z39.50 v.3
Information Retrieval Protocol.

3) It includes a graphical direct manipulation interface on advanced
(Sun SPARC) X terminals. This interface permits searching of the Cheshire II
search engine as well as any other z39.50 compatible search engine on
the network.

4) It allows users to enter queries as "free-text" (that is, normal
English prose) statements of their interest or need. No formal "query
language" or Boolean logic imposed on the user, although Boolean logic
is available for those who desire it.

5) It uses probabilistic "best match" techniques to match the user's
initial query with a set of "classification clusters" for the
database, so that the clusters are retrieved in decreasing order of
probable relevance to the user's search statement.  This aids the user
in subject focusing and topic/treatment discrimination.

6) It facilitates open-ended, exploratory browsing through following
dynamically established linkages between records in the database, in
order to retrieve materials related to those already found. Any
citation or document seen by the user can become the basis for this
"nearest neighbors" searching technique.

7) It uses the user's selection of relevant citations to refine the
initial search statement and automatically construct new search
statements for "relevance feedback" searching.

The Cheshire II system will deployed for public use in the UC
Berkeley Astronomy-Mathematics-Statistics Library (a medium-scale
academic branch library, circa 75,000 volumes) using modern
workstations, and to the national mathematics research community via
network access. Use and acceptance of the system and its features will
be evaluated using transaction monitoring and questionnaires.

------
Michael Buckland,  School of Library & Information Studies,
University of California, Berkeley   buckland@otlet.berkeley.edu