A blueprint for automatic Boolean query processing

Conventional information retrieval systems use Boolean query formulations and inverted file technologies for search and retrieval purposes. The need to construct complex Boolean queries in order to obtain the benefit of the existing retrieval operations constitutes a substantial burden for the users. In most environments trained search intermediaries are used to facilitate the communication between system and user.In this note a new Boolean retrieval environment is outlined in which the queries are automatically constructed from the original natural language query formulations provided by the users. Any available Boolean query formulations can also be improved automatically by using the natural language text of previously retrieved documents identified as relevant during previous searches. The automatic queries can be formulated in a standard Boolean system, or in an extended system in which the interpretation of the Boolean operators and and or is relaxed. In either case. the automatic Boolean manipulations produce better retrieval output than conventional retrieval operations based on manually prepared query statements.