Use of stored data [by military intelligence analysts] is intensively
interactive; "information retrieval" is an inadequate and even
misleading metaphor. The analyst is continually interacting with units
of stored data as though they were pieces selected from a thousand
scrambled jigsaw puzzles. Relevant patterns, not relevant documents,
are sought. Imagine for a moment that the scientific community adopted
the culture, attitudes, and metaphors of the intelligence community
with respect to recorded information. Scientists might then take
seriously the idea that new knowledge is to be gained from the library
as well as from the laboratory, through processes of correlation,
synthesis, and exploration of the literature.