  Most present day organisations make use of some automated information system.
This usually means that a large body of vital corporate information is stored
in these information systems. As a result, an essential function of information
systems should be the support of disclosure of this information.
  We purposely use the term {\em information disclosure} in this context. When
using the term information disclosure we envision a computer supported
mechanism that allows for an easy and intuitive formulation of queries in a
language that is as close to the user's perception of the universe of discourse
as possible.
  From this point of view, it is only obvious that we do not consider a simple
query mechanism where users have to enter complex queries manually and look up
what information is stored in a set of relational tables. Without a set of
adequate information disclosure avenues an information system becomes worthless
since there is no use in storing information that will never be retrieved.

Information Retrieval