Innovations in Information Retrieval: Perspectives for Theory and Practice

New information retrieval and storage technologies provide users with the opportunity to record, digitise and store information in various forms. Keeping track of these developments is no simple task. Innovations in information retrieval is a new exciting book focused on introducing and contextualising information retrieval and organisation developments. Also, the book aims at introducing students to the broader information retrieval debates, theories and issues in the hope to inspire them and assist them. Furthermore, the contributors highlighted the “hot” research ideas in their areas of specialisation. Lastly, the book is a reminder of the impact information retrieval research has on the development (and improvement) of information systems and the uses that are made of these.

In order to allow for successful information storage and retrieval, information must be organised. With this in mind, the editors' decided that a study of serendipity and browsing was a good way to raise questions about information retrieval and organisation. Therefore, in chapter one, Bawden considers the relevance of various ideas pertaining to browsing, serendipity, information encountering and literature discovery within the context of the twenty‐first century information retrieval environment. The central focus of his discussion is on how these concepts changed in the new web‐based information retrieval environment and their continued relevance.

The continuing value of classification systems in an online information environment is often debated. In chapter 2, Slavic presents an overview of faceted classification research. She revisits some of the ways in which classification schemas can assist humans and computers in structuring and presenting information and formulating queries. Her discussion also considers a range of issues pertaining to web‐ontology standards and folksonomies. In a later chapter, Peters takes these issues further by investigating how folksonomies meet the standards and demands of “social searching”. One section of her discussion addresses the relationship between information retrieval and knowledge presentation.

Thereafter the focus of the book changes to the specialist areas of fiction and music retrieval. Some approaches to fiction retrieval consider the issues pertaining to intertextuality and generic categorisation. The nature of music also impacts on the retrieval of digital audio formats. With this in mind, Inskip not only examines this impact, but also provides a critical overview of developments in the area of music information retrieval.

Kopak, Freund and O'Brien address developments in the field of digital information interaction. They emphasise searchers' engagement with and manipulation of information objects as they search and browse through digital information environments. Lastly, Thelwall explores webometrics. He introduces a range of webometric measurements and illustrates their uses with case studies of Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Innovations in information retrieval is a welcome addition to the existing literature in the field of information retrieval. This is a very stimulating and thought provoking book which reads easily. Furthermore, it is a book that scholars, researchers or practitioners interested in information retrieval should not be without.