USER REACTIONS TO THE HIGHWAY RESEARCH INFORMATION SERVICE ON-LINE RETRIEVAL DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Bryan R Carr · Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 1974
In commenting for the Canadian Ministry of Transport, the author indicates various benefits to be derived from an on-line retrieval system. These benefits include approaching cost competitiveness with the current batch retrieval system, faster turnaround time for searches, and increased flexibility for what is searched. The author also points out two disadvantages of the on-line system, namely, the fact that the professional staff who provided intelligent search strategies for batch retrievals is missing (assuming the on-line terminal is on the user's premises) and the problem of the lack of flexibility of a fixed thesaurus (necessitating a recall of all associated terms as, for example, the terms highway, road, freeway, etc., to cover the concept of road).