"Information Retrieval" provides the reader with an understanding of the theory, implementation, and evaluation of information retrieval systems in the health care field. No other available book on information retrieval addresses the specific needs and concerns of the health care industry as "Information Retrieval" does. Beginning with the basic concepts of information science, this comprehensive work moves on to review the current state-of-the-art in commercial retrieval, and culminates with a section comprised of three special topics: a discussion of the unique problems encountered in text processing of clinical records; how hypertext and hypermedia interface with conventional text retrieval; and information retrieval on the Internet. If you need to know how to design, purchase, use, and evaluate sophisticated information retrieval systems, this is the book for you.