A technique for the organization of large files
Ralph M. Shoffner · American Documentation · 1962
Abstract There exist many information storage and retrieval applications in which a search obtains a single item from a large file. Examples of such applications range from the retrieval of a customer's record from a bank file to the retrieval of a document from an engineering library. The technique is an operations research approach to this retrieval operation: model the operation, determine a criterion of value, and optimize the operation according to the criterion. The cost of a retrieval operation is expressed as a function of the system characteristics: distribution of file activity, file size, item size, indexing method, personnel and equipment costs, and information processing and transfer rates. These characteristics are varied, within the constraints of the problem, to obtain a minimum cost of a retrieval operation.