Raieli (2010) is a librarian at Roma Tre University Art Library in Italy. He has a degree in philosophy and a PhD in library and information studies, and has been involved in a range of activities, research and publications around digital libraries and multimedia information. First published in Italian in 2010 as Nuovi metodi di gestione dei documenti multimediali: Principi e pratica del MultiMedia Information Retrieval, this book was translated into English by Giles Smith, thus making it accessible to those who would not be able to read it in its original language. Extensive revisions were made to the English edition, reducing the philosophical content and updating the text, terminology, diagrams, illustrations and bibliography. Stylistically it is not a light read and requires concentration, but Raieli (2010) leads the reader systematically through a range of theoretical and technical issues, always tying the discussion back to practical examples that will be familiar to an information professional. He never lets the reader forget that this is written by a librarian, which is appropriate for a book from the Chandos Information Professional Series.
Multimedia Information Retrieval: Theory and Techniques does exactly what the title promises, providing an overview of the theoretical issues and practical applications of multimedia information retrieval (MIR). This encompasses text, visual, video and audio retrieval systems. Raieli (2010) explores how content-based information retrieval, which is at the heart of MIR, can be accommodated within information systems. This is explored from the points of view of system design, description and searching. The first half of the book covers the theory, discussing semantic and content-based indexing and placing MIR within the wider context of library and information studies, while the second half of the book has a more practical focus, exploring a range of systems used for information storage and retrieval in different fields. The book is well-illustrated with diagrams and includes many screen dumps from multimedia systems, which increase the accessibility of the discussion. Each chapter has several pages of useful endnotes, and a 31-page bibliography is included at the end of the book, divided into chapters. The items in the bibliography are almost all English-language sources.
Raieli (2010) emphasises that this is being written for library professionals as well as those working with or interested in the design and application of MIR systems. He recognises the increasing complexity of information retrieval environments and the blurring of information management roles. As the information landscape changes rapidly, system designers struggle to provide appropriate access to multimedia resources, and searchers are often severely limited in how they can retrieve useful content. This is a topic that all librarians should be interested in reading about.
MIR is a field that will continue to evolve and draw on the theory and models that Raieli (2010) explains. This book will reward the reader by giving an understanding of one of the most significant information retrieval challenges of the current era.
