Tefko
Saracevic

Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science Tefko Saracevic, a world-renowned expert on human information behavior, human-computer interaction from the human viewpoint, modeling interaction processes in information retrieval, and the notion of relevance in relation to information and information systems, has died. Please read an article highlighting his outstanding scholarship and his obit on Legacy.com.

Tefko Saracevic studied electrical engineering at the University of Zagreb, Croatia and completed his master (1962) and Ph.D. (1970) studies in information science at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He taught and conducted research at Case till 1985, when he moved to Rutgers. Saracevic was promoted to Professor II (highest academic rank at Rutgers Univ.) in 1991 and was Associate Dean from 2003 to 2006. Saracevic is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus since 2010. He continues by teaching a Digital Libraries course online every semester.

Active internationally, particularly in relation to information problems in developing countries. For over a decade he was involved with the Rockefeller Foundation in design, deployment, and evaluation of compact high-quality, low-cost medical information systems in developing countries. He was a visiting professor at four universities abroad and also worked and consulted with a number of international organizations on development and evaluation of information systems and libraries. Saracevic has given seminars, lectures and courses, or consulted, and presented papers at international meetings in 43 countries, and was an invited keynote speaker at over a dozen international conferences. Co-chair from 2000 to 2014 of the biennial conference and course Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) held in Zadar, Croatia.

Over the years Tefko Saracevic conducted research and published widely on: test and evaluation of information retrieval systems; notion of relevance in information science; human aspects in human-computer interaction in information retrieval; user and use studies in information science and librarianship; studies of user-derived value of information and library services; evaluation of digital libraries; and analysis of Web queries as submitted to search engines. As principal investigator or co-principal he has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes for Health, Department of Education, Council for Library Resources, the Rockefeller Foundation, UNESCO, and several other national and international organizations. Results are widely reported and cited.