IRS13 An Analysis of the Documentation Requests chapter E. M. Keen Harvard University Gerard Salton Use, reproduction, or publication, in whole or in part, is permitted for any purpose of the United States Government. X-5 nient as applied to Scientific papers. There is nothing inherently wrong about having multiple need requests, but for testing Puproses such requests some- times cause difficulties when binary relevance decisions are used. For example, of the three documents assessed as relevant to request Al, two clearly answer the first part of the request only, and one answers the second part of the request only; thus it is never PQssible,. even for a perfect system, to establish a complete match between the request and the relevant documentse It is believed that where multiple needs are expressed separate search requests will give superior results. D) Uhclear Requests Two requests in particular are unclear. In request Al does the phrase `1approximate titles" mean abbreviated titles? Does request AS ask for documents in information retrieval as practiced in countries other than those speaking English, or, is it asking about information retrieval (prac- ticed anywhere) of documents written in languages other than English? The full request statements may be examined in Appendix B. Several other requests may be charged with Perpetuating the unclear terminology that abounds in the field of documentation. Request B2, what does an "automated" information system include and exclude? Request B3 requires documents either describing the shortages that exist of information personnel, or some solutions to the problem such as the need to provide suitable training. Request Bli uses the words 11index system1', and since only one document on the cataloging of books is judged relevant, "index system" has been taken to be [OCRerr] with book cataloging only. Such requests would, in an operating situation, be clarified by interaction with the questioner; this advantage is, however, denied to the