Current Research My current research focuses on several related areas of information retrieval and digital libraries, including how to exploit XML structure and content in heterogeneous collections of XML documents, and how to use the evolving computational Grid for IR and digital library applications. I am also investigating ways to use the metadata infrastructure of ontologies (thesauri), electronic gazetteers, time period directories and biographical references to provide enhanced access to a variety of information resources and to generate dynamic portals to related information for a searcher's area of interest. In addition I am working on methods for effective
geographic information retrieval (IR that uses a geographic dimension) in a multilingual environment.
Other Activities I am one of the track coordinators for the GeoCLEF track of the
Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) and for the Heterogeneous Track
of the Initiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval (INEX).
Education B.A., English and Comparative Literature, California State University, Fullerton, 1976 M.S.L.S., Library Science, California State University, Fullerton, 1976 Certificate: Library Automation and Information Science, UC Berkeley, 1979 Ph.D., Library and Information Studies, UC Berkeley, 1986
Biography Dr. Larson specializes in bibliographical information systems, with an emphasis on the use of computers. He was involved in the design and development of UC public access online union catalog (MELVYL). He is the principal designer of the Cheshire prototype system, and is currently involved in Berkeley's NSF/ARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Project.
What is the best thing about working at the I School? Working with incredibly gifted and interesting students.
What Information issues interests you most? How to integrate the vast resources of the "dark web" -- all of
the databases that underlie the search pages on thousands or millions of web sites, and still make the results usable and comprehensible to users.
How to Reach Me Office: 207B South Hall Office Hours: On sabbatical: July 2007 - June 2008 Personal Website: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~ray/ Email: Voice: (510) 642-6046
