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Abstract

The Searcher/Information Interface Project explores the interface between an information searcher and the sources that the searcher uses in order to gather information. A hypothesis is formulated: different search intermediaries with similar training and using the same search tools should obtain similar results when conducting an information search, and all searchers can be expected to trace and report 'core' documents. Reasons for formulating this hypothesis are given and a meth odology is outlined for testing the hypothesis. The methodol ogy involves making comparisons between the search output of a number of searchers working with the same topics, user profiles and sources. Results of a pilot study which tested the methodology and explored the viability of the hypothesis are given.

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