Historical Note: The Past Thirty Years in Information Retrieval

Abstract

The documentation literature of the nineteen fifties is reviewed briefly, and some early text processing endeavors are discussed. Various predictions made in 1960 by Mooers about the creative role of computers in information retrieval are then considered, and an attempt is made to explain why some of the more exciting predictions have not been fulfilled. Conclusions are drawn concerning the limits of computer power in text retrieval applications.