Search is at the heart of information seeking behavior. As a process, it involves expression of an information need, matching that information need with relevant information resources, and presentation of information resources for analysis and consumption. But search can be so much more than that: as an experience, it should be a fluid, seamless dialogue, supporting the full spectrum of user needs from fact finding and known item retrieval through to serendipitous discovery and exploratory search.

In this section, we focus on some of the methods by which expressed information need and search inquiry can be addressed.