Information access

As discussed in Chapter 1, information access includes all the typical information retrieval processes and activities ranging from content and data selection, and processing and indexing to search and retrieval and use of information and data by a designated user community in order to meet their information requirements. Research in information access, information retrieval to be precise, began nearly six decades ago and the emphasis in the early days was on building automated systems for indexing to facilitate retrieval of documents rather than on users. Progress in information retrieval may be summarized as follows (Agosti, 2008; Chowdhury, 2010; Ruthven & Kelly, 2011):