"Information retrieval(IR) is very closely related to information filtering(IF) in that they both have the goal of retrieving information relevant to what a user wants, while minimizing the amount of irrelevant information retrieved" (Foltz & Dumais, 1992, p.52)
However, here is three primary differences between IR and IF.
First, user preferences in information filtering represent long-term interests, while queries in IR tend to represent a short-term interest that can be satisfied by the retrieval.
Second, information filtering is applied to streams of incoming data, while in IR, changes to the database do not occur often, and retrieval is not limited to the new items in the database.
Third, IF involves the process of removing information from a stream, while IR involves the process of finding information in that stream (Foltz & Dumais).