Have Information Services Been Successful? A Critique

This paper is somewhat different from those \npresented earlier. The \nothers have dealt with \nexperiences in the provision of information services \nthrough the use of machine-readable data bases. By and large, they reported \nsuccesses. The \npresent paper is more a series of observations and impressions \non the achievements of the field of information service in the \npast twenty \nyears. In particular, it is my intention: (1) to point out certain failures, or at \nleast \nlimitations, of existing information services, (2) to mention some findings \non use and users of information services that seem to be of \nspecial signifi- \ncance, and (3) to suggest some directions for future work. I intend here to \nraise \nquestions rather than to answer them. In parts, at least, the paper is \ndeliberately provocative and should be viewed in this light. \n \n"An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is \nmore painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than \nfor him not to have it." \n \nThis statement was made in 1960 \nby Calvin Mooers \n1 \nand is frequently \nreferred to as "Mooers's Law." It is \nperhaps the single most important \nquotation in the entire literature on the provision of information service. \n \n1. \nMooers, Calvin N. "Mooers' Law, or Why Some Retrieval Systems \nAre Used and Others Are Not," American Documentation 1 l:ii, July 1960.