Jane : a new information retrieval system for the Radiation Shielding Information Center

A new information storage and retrieval system has been developed for the Radiation Shielding Information Center (RSIC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to replace mainframe systems that have become obsolete. The database contains citations and abstracts of literature which were selected by RSIC analysts and indexed with terms from a controlled vocabulary. The database, begun in 1963, has been maintained continuously since that time.

The new system, called JANE, incorporates automatic indexing techniques and on-line retrieval using the RSIC Data General Eclipse MV/4000 minicomputer. Automatic indexing and retrieval techniques based on fuzzy-set theory allow the presentation of results in order of Retrieval Status Value. The fuzzy-set membership function depends on term frequency in the titles and ab stracts and on Term Discrimination Values which indicate the resolving power of the individual terms. These values are determined by the Cover Coefficient method. The use of a commercial database base to store and retrieve the indexing information permits rapid retrieval of the stored documents.

Comparisons of the new and presently-used systems for actual searches of the literature indicate that it is practical to replace the mainframe systems with a minicomputer system similar to the present version of JANE.