One of the primary purposes of information retrieval systems is to locate the most relevant documents in a collection for a particular query.

The success of a search is often evaluated in terms of recall (the number of relevant documents in the collection) and precision (how closely the retrieved documents relate to the user’s information need).

Gordon (2002) acknowledged this split, claiming that the two disciplines have “grown up” in parallel worlds, although they share a theoretical foundation.

Lucan and Topi (2004) found that when searchers interacted with a simple interface, even minimal training in Boolean logic improved search results.

In a developing world, the aging of the population is a widely recognized phenomenon.

Yet, as Butler (2008, pp. xi-xiii) has pointed out, “The United States has not made a research investment in aging.”

The authors have adopted the label, first coined by Laslett (1991), to describe this group, viz, the fourth age.

For example, Laslett (1995) argued that old is a classification based on the culture, societal norms, and individuals’ personal perspectives.

National Institution on Aging (NIA), Robert Butler, MD, has admitted that “there is nothing magical or scientific about [65] …or any other number in defining old age” (Butler, 2008, p.13), thus affirming Friedrich (2001), who suggested the chronological age was so flawed a measurement that it should be considered a dependent variable in aged-related research.

Research (e.g. Chatman 1991, 1992; Williamson 1995, 1997, 1998) has indicated that people aged 85+, most of whom are in the fourth age, still have information needs.