"There, there is the land

Abstract

The author introduces the concept of "paraselenic" searching that can lead to a new generálion of library services. The main idea behind the paraselenic or halo searching is that a certain distance can be defined between the user's query and the description of a library item. With this concept in mind, a computer search system can be instructed to retrieve all references with a radius r around the query. This distance concept lies on three supports: two distance concepts can be interpreted for the atoms of searching, i.e., for the keywords; in additlon, a third distance can be introduced between the more complex structures constructed from the atoms. The distance between the atoms is determined by a knowiedge base on one hand that is independent of the library collec-tion, and by a knowiedge on the other, which is based on a library collection as a statistical sample that makes the search system characteristic to this particular library. (A sample where the simultaneous occurence of the keywords stapes and hammer is markedly frequent, contalns probably many otological literature.) The author would like to present a frame system, rather than a defined solution, with elements that can be substituted under proper mathematicai criteria. He indicates six possibilities where the definitions and the measurement methods suggested by him can be replaced by other ones. By showing such a frame system, he intends to set a direction to further studies.