© Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining 2009 DOI 10.1179/174327909X441153 Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, Vol. 34 No. 2–3, 2009, 268–284 Information Retrieval in Cultural Heritage Marijn Koolen Archives and Information Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Jaap Kamps Archives and Information Studies, Faculty of Humanities and ISLA, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Vincent de Keijzer Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of applying modern information retrieval techniques to the cultural heritage domain. Although the field of information retrieval is closely associated with computer science, it originally emerged from library science — also one of the main disciplines concerned with access to cultural heritage material. Hence we are, in a sense, exploring what happens if we bring these strands of research back together again. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, we explain the field of information retrieval and its multidisciplinary nature. In the second part, we discuss how and why the problem of providing access to cultural heritage can be cast naturally as an information retrieval problem. In the third and main part, we present a detailed case study of applying the modern information retrieval approach in practice within a museum. keywords Information retrieval, Cultural heritage, Gemeente museum, Library Science Introduction The eld of information retrieval is now best known for the Internet search engines that give access to the endless amount of information on the Web, and that greatly impact our daily lives both professionally and personally. While modern information retrieval started in the 1950s, the underlying problem of bringing searchers and information sources together has been