IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 November 28, 1995 Volume XII, Number 46 Issue 283 ********************************************************** I. QUERIES 1. Natural Language Samples & Studies II. JOBS 1. GMD-IPSI, Darmstadt, Germany: Institute Directorship 2. Palinet: Director of Operations 3. The World Bank: Information Technician III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. JASIS Table of Contents B. Meetings 1. SIGALP (ASIS '96) 2. Libraries & Technology: Second Thoughts on the Second Thoughts C. Miscellaneous 1. CyberStacks ********************************************************** I. QUERIES I.1. Fr: Philip Worthington Re: Natural Language Samples and Studies I am a user representative working on a project to develop a large online information retrieval system. As true natural language software has not been included we have developed our own algorithm, which while it won't understand English grammer or syntax, attempts to provide a pseudo natural language function. I am looking for some suggestions as to where to get some typical examples of queries users are likely to enter on such a system. This is for testing purposes. I would also appreciate references to empirical analyses of user's queries on natural language systems in order to answer questions such as: Are the key words in a natural language query more likely to appear at the beginning or end of a sentence? Any suggestions would be gratefully received Philip Worthington Ph: +61-6-262 1241 NDIS Joint Project User Team Fax: +61-6-273 2116 National Library of Australia E-mail: pworthin@nla.gov.au ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Dr. Adelheit Stein Re: GMD-IPSI, Darmstadt, Germany: Institute Directorship The GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology is seeking to fill the position of an INSTITUTE DIRECTOR at GMD-IPSI (Institute for Integrated Publication and Information Systems), Darmstadt, Germany. Research and development efforts at GMD-IPSI focus on the distributed and cooperative design and development, management and storage, interactive presentation, and creative and constructive use of multimedia and networked digital information. In its endeavors to achieve innovative potential and thus market and product relevance, the Institute engages in close cooperation with national and international partners in industry, research organizations, and universities. The Institute sees itself as a multidisciplinary team drawing together scholars from the scientific and engineering communities and the humanities. GMD-IPSI is jointly headed by two directors. It is one of these positions that we are currently seeking to fill. The work of the new director will focus on the following areas: intelligent, multimedia human-computer communication; computer supported, distributed teamwork; and automatic generation and development of multimedia information. We are looking for an internationally recognized authority with an outstanding scientific record in one of the above specialty areas. The successful candidate will also be expected to possess experience in management, and to be willing and able to cooperate with industry and other research institutions. It is our intention to fill this position in cooperation with one of the universities of the German state of Hesse. The GMD is attempting to increase the number of women on its scientific staff. Priority will also be given to disabled candidates possessing the necessary qualifications. Resumes should be submitted not later than December 7, 1995, to the following address: Vorstand der GMD, Postfach 13 16, D-53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany. Further information is available from the Chairman of the Board of GMD, Prof. D. Tsichritzis Phone +49 2241 14 2294/2295 E-mail tsichritzis@gmd.de or Chairman of the Appointment Committee, Prof. S. Jaehnichen, Phone +49 30 6392 1803/1806 E-mail Stefan.Jaehnichen@gmd.de ********** II.2. Fr: asis@shrsys.hslc.org Re: PALINET: Director of Operations Philadelphia, PA _ 1995 November 8. PALINET's Board of Trustees recently authorized the creation of a new senior management position. The Director of Operations will provide day-to-day management of the operations of the network, supplying leadership, direction and control; direct management of PALINET service programs for member libraries and other organizations; assistance to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of all administrative and financial polices; and representation for PALINET in a variety of public and professional forums. Under the guidance of the Executive Director, the Director of Operations will oversee and work closely with department managers in planning, budgeting, controlling and reporting on PALINET operations. The Director of Operations will also assist the Executive Director in identifying and developing new business opportunities. "As PALINET works to expand and improve member services while controlling costs, it becomes increasingly important for the network to have a strong management team," observed James E. Rush, PALINET's Executive Director. "With a Director of Operations to guide day-to-day operations of the network, more of my time may be devoted to new ventures and to continued growth of PALINET, as well as to financial planning and management." $47,000 and an excellent benefits package. The following qualifications are required: *an advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in library and/or information science from an ALA-accredited institution or an equivalent education, training and work experience combination; *a minimum of five years professional work experience in libraries, library automation, and/or networking. At least five years of administrative/management experience preferred with demonstrated professional leadership, management ability, and strengths in marketing and promotion; *experience in personnel interviewing, selection, hiring, supervision and evaluation; *strong knowledge of fiscal management, including budgeting, revenue generation and cost control; *demonstrated strong ability to communicate effectively both orally and in written form with staff, board members, professional colleagues and others, individually and in groups; *strong public relations skills; *evidence of successful grant-seeking experience; demonstrated strong organizational abilities, initiative, and experience in program development, implementation and operation; *understanding of the organization and operation of library cooperatives, bibliographic service organizations, regional networks, automation systems, telecommunication networks and other technologies applicable to library and information service operations. PALINET is seeking an individual who is interested in working in a dynamic and challenging environment and whose background and capabilities will complement those of the Executive Director. PALINET is a growing organization with an expanding range of products and services and a strong service orientation toward its members. We expect the Director of Operations to make substantial contributions to PALINET's achievement of all of the goals of its Long-Range Strategic Plan. Letters of application, evidence of qualifications, and the names of three references should be received by PALINET no later than 1996 January 15. Early submissions are strongly encouraged. Reply in confidence to James E. Rush, Search Committee Chair, PALINET, 3401 Market Street, Suite 262, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3374. PALINET expects to fill the position by 1996 March 1. Founded in 1936, PALINET and Union Library Catalogue of Pennsylvania (PALINET) is a tax-exempt, non-profit, multitype library membership organization of more than 460 member libraries and information centers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Eastern Pennsylvania. A planned merger with PRLC, effective 1995 December 1, will expand PALINET's service area to include Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and will increase membership to 595 institutions. ********** II.3. Fr: ITP Resource Center 82830 Re: The World Bank: Information Technician Position The Information Technology and Personnel Resource Center at the World Bank, in the Organization and Business Practices Dept., is seeking a new library/information science masters graduate (from anywhere), or library student (in the Washington D. C. metropolitan area). This is an entry level, non-regular position, with a short term, renewable contract. It is a good opportunity for an entry level professional or student to get valuable library and information management experience in a highly computerized environment, located in a large organization. Approximately half of the time will be focused on providing support in the development of an X.500 Directory-based database of databases available in the Bank. The other half of the time will be spent in providing support on circulation, reference and technical processing of information technology and personnel collections, as follows: General description is to provide support to improve the detailed flow of library processes. Specific tasks include: 1. Collection weeding from retention schedule; reorder updated weeded material 2. Circulation and phone query assistance 3. Assistance with periodical database cleanup 4. Periodical problem tracking, and systematic claiming 5. Assistance with document delivery 6. Improve recall function 7. Track waitlisted problems 8. change status of lost or missing materials in system; inform waitlist and reorder Successful candidate should have computer skills, e-mail experience, and some experience in working in a library. Internet-Web knowledge a plus. Please e-mail resume or send questions to Ilibrary4@worldbank.org; fax to ITP Resource Center 202-477-8356, or mail to ITP Resource Center, The World Bank, 1818 H St NW, Room E 1-000, Washington, D.C. 20433. The World Bank is the world's foremost development institution. Its mission is to help developing countries reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. For more information on the World Bank, consult our Web page at http://www.worldbank.org. ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Richard Hill Re: JASIS Table of Contents Journal of the American Society for Information Science 47:1 (January 1996) SPECIAL TOPIC ISSUE: EVALUATION OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS GUEST EDITOR: JEAN M. TAGUE-SUTCLIFFE Some Perspectives on the Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems Jean M. Tague-Sutcliffe 1 STAIRS Redux: Thoughts on the STAIRS Evaluation, Ten Years After David C. Blair 4 The Dilemma of Measurement in Information Retrieval Research David Ellis 23 Variations in Relevance Assessments and the Measurement of Retrieval Effectiveness Stephen P. Harter 37 A Task-Oriented Approach to Information Retrieval Evaluation William Hersh, Jeffrey Pentecost, and David Hickam 50 Evaluation of Interactive Knowledge-Based Systems: Overview and Design for Empirical Testing F.W. Lancaster, Jacob W. Ulvila, Susanne M. Humphrey, Linda C. Smith, Bryce Allen, and Saul Herner 57 Stemming Algorithms: A Case Study for Detailed Evaluation David A. Hull 70 Evaluating Interactive Systems in TREC Micheline Beaulieu, Stephen Robertson, and Edie Rasmussen 85 Evaluating Retrieval Performance Given Database and Query Characteristics: Analytic Determination of Performance Surfaces Robert M. Losee 95 DISKETTE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS I Richard Hill Executive Director, American Society for Information Science 8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 501 Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 495-0900 FAX: (301) 495-0810 rhill@cni.org ********** III.B.1. Fr: Doug Metzler Re: SIGALP CALL FOR PAPERS The Automated Language Processing Special Interest Group (SIG/ALP) of the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) invites submission of papers on the topics listed below or other topics relevant to Natural Language Understanding, for panel sessions to be held at the Fall 1996 ASIS Annual Meeting. Papers can present theoretical perspectives, experimental results, descriptions of completed research or research in progress, critical evaluations, or demonstrations of pertinent products. Please submit a description of your topic (200 words or less) by December 4, 1995, to Douglas Metzler metzler@lis.pitt.edu Associate Professor voice: 412-624- 9414 Information Science Department fax: 412-624-2788 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA 15260 Please include your name, title, affiliation, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Notification of acceptance will be sent by February 15, 1995. If you have any questions, please also feel free to contact me as shown above. We would also welcome inquiries and proposals from other ASIS SIG's that may want to contribute perspectives or jointly sponsor sessions on these topics. * Natural Language Tools for Navigating the Internet SIG/ALP seeks presentations on natural language tools for retrieving information on the Internet. Of particular interest are presentations that include an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of these tools for navigating the Internet. * Use of Natural Language Processing in Multimedia Systems SIG/ALP seeks presentations on the actual and potential use of natural language processing capabilities in multimedia systems. Possible topics include the use of accompanying natural language text to facilitate retrieval of non-textual data, challenges and opportunities in automated indexing of multimedia databases, and the automated generation of explanatory information in mutimedia systems. * Instructional Uses of Automated Language Processing SIG/ALP seeks presentations on the actual and potential use of natural language understanding in computer-assisted instruction, intelligent tutoring systems, and other interactive educational systems. * Current Research in Natural Language Processing SIG/ALP invites persons to share the results of completed research or research in progress in the field of automated language processing at a panel session intended to highlight topics of current interest to natural language processing researchers. ********** III.B.2. Fr: Karen Marsh Re: Libraries & Technology: Second Thoughts on the Second Thoughts SOASIS...ON THE MOVE ERIC FREESE presents ** Libraries and Technology: Second Thoughts on the Second Thoughts ** Thursday, December 14th, 5:30-6:30 Free talk followed by optional boxed dinners, $8 Fairfield Inn -- I-75, Middletown, OH In his book, "Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway", Cliff Stoll discusses the effects that technology and the Internet are having on society from computers in the classrooms to on-line libraries. He emphatically states that all the hype surrounding technology may lead to decisions which will hurt if not destroy the concept of the library as we know it today. Eric Freese will present in his talk, "Libraries and Technology: Second Thoughts on the Second Thoughts", some of the concerns raised by Stoll. We will look into some of the issues which address the library in today's technology and Internet hype. We will also discuss how the librarian can use the technology to further increase the services that a library can offer. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Eric Freese has extensive experience in the development and implementation of document and information management technologies including SGML, HTML and the World Wide Web (WWW). As a Senior SGML Analyst for Information Architects, his duties include work in all phases of the document life cycle including research, analysis, specification, design, development, testing, implementation, integration and management. He has spoken at numerous industry conferences in the United States and Europe. In addition to all this, Eric does Internet consulting and is the Internet columnist for the Dayton and Cincy PC Review magazines in his spare time. He holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. ABOUT THE DINNERS: When you call to make a reservation, you will have the option to order one of seven boxed dinners from Cincinnati's famous "Vernon Manor Hotel". Dinner will provide a great opportunity to discuss the talk. To make reservations, please call Karen Ruud Marsh at 558-3374, or send an e-mail to karen.marsh@uc.edu ********** III.C.1. Fr: Gerry McKiernan Re: Announcing CyberStacks(sm) Announcing CyberStacks(sm), A Demonstration Prototype Virtual Science and Technology Reference Collection While there have been noteworthy efforts to facilitate the efficient identification of relevant Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) information and data sources in the fields of science and technology, users continue to be confronted with the cumbersome task of effectively identifying, selecting, evaluating and using Internet Reference resources that best meet their information needs. To address this situation, I have created CyberStacks(sm) - a browsable classified and categorized selected collection with an appropriate level of specificity and description that I believe offers the value-added structure and organization which can facilitate the identification and use of selected Internet and WWW resources in these, and other, subject areas. The URL for CyberStacks(sm) is As a short-term goal, I plan to identify and incorporate selected resources that may be categorized within the Science (Q) outline of the Library of Congress classification scheme, the system that I have adopted for the CyberStacks(sm) service. I would greatly appreciate receiving the title, URL and a _brief_ description of other Reference resources that may be classified in this group, as well as similar information for resources that cover other science and technology disciplines. Within the CyberStacks(sm) main homepage, I have hypertexted a 'virtual paper' where I have critiqued other efforts and documented the theories, philosophies and observations which I believe support the organizational approach adopted by CyberStacks(sm). As I am greatly interested in refining the development of CyberStacks(sm) in this stage of its development, I ask that my colleagues critically review the overall scheme as well as any other issues that this approach raises. I would also greatly appreciate comments on the working 'virtual paper' found throughout the base homepage. I believe that the CyberStacks(sm) database has the potential of serving many clientele within many organizations. To realize its potential, the service will require the cooperation and collaboration of a variety of subject specialists from these organizations, who have the expertise and knowledge of Internet resources in the broad and specific subject areas covered by CyberStacks(sm). I strongly encourage individuals and organizations to participate in the development of CyberStacks(sm) and describe the levels of participation from within its homepage. As CyberStacks(sm) is a prototype demonstration project, it would be premature to point to the service at this time. It is my hope that with the appropriate level of support, a fully functioning service can be established by July 1, 1996. Gerry McKiernan Coordinator, Science and Technology Section Reference and Instructional Services Iowa State University 152 Parks Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. 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