Library and Information Science

In this paper, researches on information seeking behavior in a document retrieval system, especially an online catalog are reviewed. The focus of the review is query formulation in information seeking process.

The introduction of an online catalog early in the 1980s in the USA revealed the demand for subject searching of users. As a result, the frequency of subject searching in an online catalog increased in comparison with that of a card catalog. But subject searching caused many problems which were related to the selection of search terms, that is query formulation. So many enhancements and improvements of subject searching have been proposed. Some of them are based on information retrieval researches.

Recently, researches on information seeking behavior in a document’ retrieval system using the theories and the methodologies of cognitive science appeared. These researches revealed the cognitive process of information seeking and query formulation. The findings implies a new typed user-centered document retrieval system.

The user-centered document retrieval system should be explored and designed, apart from the constraints of current document retrieval system. The application of the theories and the methodologies of cognitive science to the research on information seeking behavior of users is useful in exploring user-centered retrieval system.