Web search is typically memory-less, in the sense that each new search query is considered afresh and

solved

from scratch. We believe that this reflects the strong information retrieval bias that has influenced the development of Web search engines. In this paper we argue for the value of a fresh approach to Web search, one that is founded on the notion of reuse and that seeks to exploit past search histories to answer future search queries. We describe a novel case-based technique and evaluate it using live-user data. We show that it can deliver significant performance benefits when compared to alternative strategies including meta-search.
The support of the Informatics Research Initiative of Enterprise Ireland is gratefully acknowledged.