INFS 301 INFORMATION SOURCES PERPETUA S. DADZIE (MRS)

Transcription

1 INFS 301 INFORMATION SOURCES PERPETUA S. DADZIE (MRS) 1

2 Definition and importance of reference sources The Harrod s Librarians Glossary and Reference Book (2005) defines the broader concept of a reference source as any material, published work, database, website, etc, which is used to obtain authoritative information. A few years ago information sources were synonymous with printed materials such as books, journals, newspapers. Today, information sources also include non-print materials such as online databases, CD-ROM, materials in microform or electronic resources accessed via computers and network connections as reference sources. Information sources or reference sources contain miscellaneous information on any topic. It means that reference sources contain different information on various subjects. For that reason, references sources are usually not meant to be read from cover to cover. Rather, they are expected to be consulted as and when necessary in order to supply the required information. For instance, if you need to find information on the mineral production of a particular country, I expect that you would go straight to the section in the reference source where that country is discussed. You would not start from the beginning of the reference source because all that information would be irrelevant in answering your specific question. Reference sources are usually separated from the regular collection (that is, the printed sources) in an Information Centre or a Library. They are placed in a special location usually called the Reference Department in an Information Centre or a Library. This is to enable the Reference Librarian have easy access to them in order to answer users questions. This makes reference sources a very important and special collection in the Information Centre. The Reference Department is the place where the library staff comes into direct contact with clients to help them identify sources of information in response to particular questions, interests, assignments or problems. It is interesting to note that in this modern age, many Information Centres offer remote assistance via the telephone, or the Internet. It is important for the staff at the Information centre to hold themselves in readiness for any inquiries by acquiring a whole range of reference sources that would provide full and ready answers regardless of the form in which the queries arise. Types of reference sources Reference sources have been categorized into two main types, namely: Documentary and Non Documentary sources OR Control-Access-Directional and source types. 2

3 Documentary Sources Documentary sources are information sources which include primarily books, periodicals and newspapers. There are three types of documentary sources and these are : Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sources. Primary sources of information are the first published records of original research and development or the description of new application or new interpretation of an old theme or idea. In other words, they are original documents representing unfiltered original ideas. Primary sources are usually the latest available information. They are very often unorganized sources which are rather difficult to use by themselves. They are very useful for the researcher, scholar and of course YOU. Since they provide the latest available information, I would say that primary sources keep you updated and well informed of new developments. Another use is to help avoid duplication in research and also help people to build on the information which has already been produced. Primary sources are published in a variety of forms such as journal articles, research monograph, research report, patent, dissertation and so on. Secondary Sources They are either compiled from or refer to primary sources of information. They contain information regarding primary or original information. The original information having been usually modified, selected or reorganized so as to serve a definite purpose or group of users. Secondary sources contain organized repackaged knowledge rather than new knowledge. What it does is to represent information given in the primary source in a more convenient form. They are easily and widely available than primary sources and serve as bibliographical key to primary sources of information. Bibliographical key means that they provide information on the author, title, subject and so on. Secondary sources can only be produced after primary sources have already appeared. It is important to note that finding information from primary sources directly can be problematic and as such, it is advisable to consult the secondary sources in the first instance which will lead you to the specific primary source. Some examples of secondary sources include periodicals (those which do not report original work, eg, New Scientist), Indexes, Indexing periodicals, abstracting periodicals, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Handbooks, Manuals, Tables, Translations. Tertiary sources Tertiary sources of information contain information distilled and collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary function of tertiary sources of information is to aid the researcher and YOU of course, in the use of 3

4 primary and secondary sources of information. They are the last to appear after the primary and secondary sources. Examples are : Bibliography of Bibliographies, Directories, Guides to the Literature. Non-Documentary Sources Non-documentary sources of information form a substantial part of communication especially in science and technology. They provide information which other sources do not have. There are two kinds of sources and these are formal and informal. Formal sources include research organizations, societies, industries, government departments, universities, consultants. Informal sources include conversations with colleagues, visitors, attendance at professional meeting. Very often, the conversation or discussion would point out primary or secondary sources. Informal sources are live sources which are extremely important in the process of communication. They tend to be more convenient sources because it is easier to have a dialogue with an expert than to use a bibliography or index. The categorization of sources of information into Documentary and Non- Documentary is based on the characteristics of the documents. It takes into consideration related currency and accuracy of sources of information. Primary sources are more current than secondary and tertiary. Primary sources are generally more accurate than secondary sources due to the fact that these represent original ideas. However, in some cases a secondary or tertiary source may correct errors, which might have occurred in a primary source. The Control-Access-Directional Type of Source The first broad class or form of reference sources is known as the Control-Access- Directional type of sources. They are the Bibliographies. Bibliographic sources answer questions about books, magazines, newspapers, libraries and publishing. What is a Bibliography? Bibliographies are essentially compilations or systematically produced descriptive list of records. They record pertinent information about each item listed, including its author, title, edition, place of publication, publisher and date of publication. Bibliographic resources assists in such tasks as finding a copy of a book published at the end of the 19 th century or copies of 18 th century magazines. Further, they can help users find information centres or libraries with special collections and publishers who publish books in a specific subject area. Why are Bibliographies referred to as Control-Access-Directional? 4

5 One reason is that bibliographies serve as a control device or a kind of checklist. Bibliographies check or inventory what is produced daily or yearly. They enable both the compiler or the producer of the bibliography and the user to feel that they have a control, through organization, of the steady flow of knowledge. Bibliographies also provide access. They are prepared through research (that is, identification, description and classification of information). Once the items are controlled, the individual items are organized for easy access to facilitate intelligent work. Bibliographies are also referred to as Directional because they do not give definitive answers, but serve to direct users to the sources of answers. For their effective use, the items listed must be either in the Information Centre or available from another library system. These days, most Control-Access-- Directional sources of reference works are available not only in print but also in electronic format. Bibliographies may be subdivided as follows: 1. Bibliographies of Reference Sources and the Literature of a Field, of either a general or a subject nature. Examples of the general type include: Walford s Guide to Reference Materials and Balay s Guide to Reference Books. These are general because they cover all subject areas, such as Arts and Humanities, Science and Technology, Social Sciences. Examples of specific subject types include : Blazek, & Aversa (1994) The Humanities: A Selective Guide to Information Sources Parker, C.C.; Turley, R.V (1986) Information Sources in Science and Technology; Herron, Nancy (2000), (ed.) The Social Sciences: A Cross-Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources. 2) Another sub-division of Bibliographies is the library catalog or the catalogs of numerous libraries. The library catalogs are arranged for easy access at a computer or through a union list. Technically, these are not bibliographies but are often used in the same manner. They are referred to as Bibliographical Utilities. Examples include Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC) and Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) 3) General bibliographies which include various forms of bibliography eg, The National Union Catalog is another sub-division of Bibliographies. 4) Indexes and Abstracts form another sub division. They are usually treated separately from bibliographies but are considered bibliographical aids. They are systematic listings which help identify and trace materials. Indexes to the contents of magazines and newspapers are the most frequently used types in 5

6 the reference situation. Examples are : The Readers Guide to Periodical literature, The New York Times Index. Source Types They usually suffice in themselves to give the answers. Examples of sources types include Encyclopedias, Fact sources, Dictionaries, Biographical Sources, Geographical sources and Government Documents. Encyclopedias. They are works containing informational articles on subjects in every field of knowledge, usually arranged in alphabetical order. Eg, The New Encyclopedia Britannica; World Book Encyclopedia. Today, there are also Encyclopedias on CD-ROM and online eg, Encarta, Colliers, Grolier, Compton s Interactive. Fact sources Fact Sources include Almanacs, Handbooks, Manuals and Directories. All these sources have different qualities, but they share one common element: They are used to look up factual materials for quick reference. Together, they cover many facets of human knowledge, Examples are The World Almanac and Book of facts, Statesman s Year Book. Dictionaries. Dictionaries are sources that deal primarily with all aspects of words, from proper definitions to spelling. Eg, Webster s Third New International Dictionary; American Heritage Dictionary. Biographical Sources They are self-evident sources of information on people distinguished in some particular field of interest. For example, Who s Who, Current Biography Geographical Sources The best known forms are the atlases, which not only show given countries but may illustrate themes such as historical development, social development, and scientific centres. Geographical sources also include Gazetteers, Dictionaries of place names and Guidebooks, For example, The Times Atlas of the World. Government Documents These are official publications ordered and normally published by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA s). Since they may include directional and source works, their separation into a particular unit is more for convenience and organization than for different reference use. In other words, Government Documents can provide direction to the information or they may contain the information that we need. For example, Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (Access type); United States Government Manual (Source type). 6

7 Categorization of Reference Type by Access and by Source We now have to ask ourselves if this neat categorization of reference types by access and by source really exist. In other words, does it mean that the Control Access-Directional source does not suffice in itself to answer users queries? Surely, it does. If for instance a user wants to verify or trying to complete a bibliographical citation, the only source that may be required is that of a bibliography. In this instance, the bibliography can be considered as synoptic because it provided the answer required. On the other hand, a source type can also be considered as Control-Access- Directional when it redirects a user to another source. For instance, the bibliography at the end of an encyclopedia article or a statement in that article may direct the patron to another source. From the above, we can conveniently say that the two main categories Access and Source only serve to differentiate among the principal types of reference works. With the introduction of computers however, information is stored electronically in such a way that the neat categorization no longer exist. Selection and Evaluation of Reference Sources In building the reference collection, the Information Professional must evaluate the quality of particular sources and their suitability for inclusion in the Information Centre s reference collection. How can you determine whether a reference source is good, bad or mediocre? The only way you can determine whether the reference source is a good one is when that source answers your questions. So we can comfortably say that a good reference source is one that answers questions and a poor reference source is one that fails to answer questions. (Katz, 2002). Reference sources are very expensive to acquire and ideally it is advisable to examine materials before purchase. However, in our part of the world, getting examination copies of materials before purchase is very difficult. Publishers are not sure that we will order multiple copies of that publication to make them break even. Added to that is the delay in payment even when the order have been placed. The situation is quite different for large libraries in advanced countries. They usually request or automatically receive examination copies of print reference works before purchase. Similar arrangement for trials online, CD- ROMs, tapes, vendors may be arranged as well. Smaller libraries do not have that benefit. Most of them have to rely on reviews. The Information Professional in selecting and evaluating reference sources must be knowledgeable of the community of users that he/she is serving as well as their needs and interests. He/she must also be knowledgeable of the subject 7

8 areas to help him decide how much material is needed to fully cover any given topic. In addition the Information Professional must be knowledgeable of the usage of the different types and formats of reference materials. Although the evaluation criteria for reference sources were originally developed for printed sources, they are equally applicable to non print sources such as microforms and databases. For instance, if you are purchasing a book you will consider the cost of that book with another book of equal quality. Similarly if you are subscribing to a database, you would want to compare the price of that database with a similar database. So, the cost criteria then becomes applicable to both the print source (which is the book in this instance) and the non-print resource (which is the online database). There are some evaluation criteria which are more difficult to be applied to electronic and other non print sources because such media cannot be examined directly in the same way that one handles print sources. Selection and Evaluation of Print and Non- Print Sources There are a number of criteria which are used to select and evaluate reference sources. These are Authority, Scope, Treatment, Arrangement, Format and Special Features. The acronym ASTAFS represents the six essential points for the evaluation of reference books. There is however, another criterion which cannot be added to the acronym but is very important. That is the criterion, Cost. Authority Under this criterion, the Information Professional needs to consider three issues, namely, Authorship, Auspices, Genealogy Authorship - The Information Professionals need to ask questions such as : What are the qualifications, experience and education of the author, authors, contributors and editors? What is their reputation as revealed in previous works? To what extent are the authors responsible for the materials attributed to them? Dear Students, questions such as the above will enable the Information Professional to decide whether the author is credible or not. Auspices - Again the Information Professional needs to ask himself/herself what the reputation of the publisher or the sponsoring agency is. Genealogy -The Information Professional needs to find out if the work is new. If it is based on a previous publication, then he/she needs to find out the extent of the revision It may be easier to evaluate the Authority of printed reference sources, because statements of authorship and lists of references can be easily identified. If a CD- ROM or online database has a printed counterpart, authority can be easily judged. When there is no printed counterpart, it may be necessary to judge authority form statements presented in the documentation describing the electronic source. Please note that the Web notoriously lacks authority because 8

9 it not only represents work of experience, standard publishers, but embraces individual efforts. Scope There are three main issues to consider under Scope. These are Purpose, Coverage and Currency. Let us begin with Purpose. Purpose The Information Professional needs to find out the extent to which the statement of purpose in the preface is fulfilled in the text. The purpose of a reference work should be evident from the title or form. The clues to purpose are found in the a) contents b) the introduction or preface, which give details about what the author or compiler expects this work to accomplish c) the index, the sampling of which will tell what subjects are covered. Coverage- What is the range of subject matter and what are the limitations? How does this work relate to and compare with other works of similar scope? If it is a new edition, what is the extent of revision in new edition? With works of similar scope, to what extent is there overlap and to what extent is there unique information? These are among the questions that the Information Professional needs to ask himself/helrself with regard to the coverage of the reference materials that he needs to select for the Information Centre. Currency - The Information Professional needs to enquire how up to date the material is. For serial publications, it is important to find out how frequently it is updated. Again you would realize that this criterion is easily applicable to print sources. Printed sources thus, can be examined on the above parameters, but for non print sources, you will need to rely on documentation, that is, written descriptions that attempt to characterize the coverage of the source. You may also need to do sample searches to probe various aspects of scope. It is worth noting that when the same source exists in different formats, currency may vary. Online sources are often more current than printed sources, but there may be exceptions so the Information Professional should evaluate relative currency. Treatment - It has four main issues - Accuracy, Objectivity Audience and Style. Accuracy - How thorough, reliable and complete are the facts? This is a major question that the Information Professional needs to ask himself/herself with regards to Accuracy. Objectivity- The Information Professional needs to find out how fair issues are being treated in the reference sources. The following questions need to be asked? Is there any bias in controversial issues? How balanced is the space given on subject as compared with others of equal importance? The Information Professional can check objectivity by reviewing topics which he/she 9

10 has personal knowledge. This will allow him/her to assess the accuracy and quality of writing. Audience : Because reference works can be addressed to particular audiences, it is important to determine who can best use the work. Is this work for the scholar or student of the subject or it is for the layperson with little or no knowledge, adult or child? Reviewing topics on which one has personal knowledge allows one to assess the accuracy and quality of writing. This type of review may be easier to accomplish with print sources than with those on CD- ROM or online. Style. Is the level of writing for layman or scholar, adult or child? How readable is the work? These are some of the questions that the Information Professional needs to ask with regards to Style. Once again, this criterion of Treatment is easier to accomplish with printed sources than with electronic sources. Arrangement Under this criterion, the Information Professional needs to consider two main issues, namely Sequence and Indexing. Sequence: Does the sequence of content follow classified, chronologic, geographic, tabular or alphabetic order? If alphabetic, are the topics large or small? These are some of the questions that the Information Professional needs to ask or to explore. Indexing: A major question to be asked by the Information Professional - Is the main text arrangement adequately complemented by indexes and crossreferences? It is interesting to note that in general, electronic sources offer many different indexes to the contents of a database. These may allow the Information Professional to answer questions that cannot be answered in a printed source. For example a printed bibliography may allow one to search by author, title, and subject. A publisher index is not likely to be provided. In an online version, publisher could be a searchable index allowing one to locate easily the list of items in the bibliography issued by a particular publisher. We are moving on to the next criterion, that is, Format. Format : The main issues to be considered here are Physical makeup and Illustrations. Physical makeup - the Information Professional should consider the physical makeup and features of the book such as binding, paper, typeface and layout. The question to ask is, Do binding paper, type and layout meet minimum specifications? Illustrations: Are illustrations of good quality? Are they of real significance; Aare they directly related to the text? These are some of the questions to be asked with regards to Illustrations. With regards to Format, Printed sources have the advantages of being straightforward to use, predictable in cost and usable by more than one user if a multivolume set. The disadvantages with its Format include the space required 10

11 to house print sources, the problem in maintaining their currency and the limitations on search strategies. Microform formats may prove satisfactory for sources with short entries and alphabetical arrangements, such as bibliographies and directories. Microforms can save space and are a recognized medium for preserving content that has continuing value. Disadvantages include equipment costs and maintenance, the need for user orientation, the limit to one user at a time per viewer and the limitations on search strategies. CD-ROMs allow complex searching and store large amounts of information. They can store images and sound in addition to text and numerical data. As with illustrations imprint sources, the quality and reference value of such images and sound should be assessed. On the other hand, CD-ROMs may be expensive, somewhat slow to search and variable in ease of use because interfaces are not standard. They may lack currency, and they require work space for equipment. As do CD-ROMs, Online databases and Web resources support flexibility and complexity in searching, contain large amounts of information. They can be updated more frequently than CD-ROM. Limitations of online access to commercial databases include unpredictable costs, the need for equipment and the frequent need for special training to use available search systems effectively. Web resources may vary in usability and stability. These advantages and disadvantages must be weighed when evaluating a reference source in one or more formats. Special features: The Information Professional must always be interested in identifying any special features that distinguish a given reference source from others. CD-ROM sources have many possible variations in design because the databases are sold with software for searching the contents and displaying the information. A further complicating factor is that many publishers try to improve their existing products by identifying factors that might enhance their usability. Any new developments that make database searching easier and more accessible to users will affect the choice among products. In addition, in the case of electronic sources, the Information Professional must consider the quality of available documentation, training and customer support. For Web resources, effective use of hyperlinks may add to a source s value. COST : The cost of print and non print sources are similar in that a copy is acquired for in-house use in the Information Centre and the purchase or subscription price buys unlimited access to the contents of the source. Pricing of online databases follows a variety of models, from a charge per use to subscription with unlimited access for authorized users. Pricing may depend on the size of potential user populations, ownership of print equivalents, number of 11

12 simultaneous users of the resource and whether the library is licensing the database as part of a consortium or individually. In assessing cost the Information Professional must try to determine if the price is appropriate in relation to the need and the anticipated frequency and length of use. In case of non print sources, costs include purchase and maintenance of the necessary equipment to make the contents accessible. Also the Information Professional must consider cost in terms of staff support needed to allow users to make use of non print resources. By considering these evaluation criteria, the Information Professional is better able to judge whether a particular source meets the needs of the Information Centre and its users and is worthy of purchase or licensing using the limited funds available for reference collection development. Evaluation of Web Resources There is a lot of information produced daily on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Are the information carried out in the different sites credible, factual and ease to access? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself when using materials from the Internet. Even though some of the criteria we used for evaluating print resources can be applied here, I intend to give you specific criteria to use when it comes to web resources. These include : Authority, Content, Design, Organization and Navigation, Access and Use. Authority - Questions to be asked include: Who is responsible for the site? Are the author and the author's status clearly indicated? Is it a commercial, personal, governmental, or academic site? There are several basic leads to authority. Note the following: a) if the reference source is found on the library home pages, it is most likely to have been checked out b) If the suffix in the domain site address is.edu,.gov,.org. These represent educational, governmental or organizational websites. However watch when it is.com, that is, a commercial website. c) if the person or company behind the Web can be easily identified (address, name, phone number) d) if there is advertising, it should be separable from the text and multimedia so the user knows where the plugs begin and the information ends. Content This criterion considers the scope of the web page. Questions such as the following need to be asked. What is the purpose of the site? Is the text of the site well-written? Is the information of the site well-documented and accurate? Does the site offer anything unique, or is it just more of the same? 12

13 Design. Is the site well-designed? Did the top page contain all the information you needed or could it easily be retrieved from another page of the site? Are there any spelling or grammatical errors? Do all the hypertext links work? Are the graphics on the site page clear and useful, or do they just distract your attention? Is the site readable? Did it make good use of suitable color(s)? Organization and Navigation. The Information Professional needs to find out if the organization of information is logical or if the structure of the site is clear. They also need to find out if the site is searchable and if the navigation elements, buttons and menu items are clearly or usefully labeled. Access and Use. Questions to be include - is it easily accessed? What is the speed of access? Are there any Help pages? Do pages take a long time to load? Is the site free? Is it always available? Selection Aids - Reviewing Sources Reviewing sources describe, evaluate and compare new reference sources so that the information professional can make informed decisions about whether to purchase the title for their reference collections. They are therefore useful in offering basis for assessing new reference works. They vary in frequency from semi-monthly to annual. They differ in number of titles covered, that is, they cover many subject areas and some also cover unique sources. Since it is impossible to physically examine all books before purchase, it is important for the information professional to have as many reviewing sources as possible to be able to compare and contrast reviews. One problem with using reviewing sources is that most of them are generally favorable (that is, good reviews) and descriptive rather than evaluative and some make recommendations that do not follow from the text of the evaluation. Another difficulty comes from the time lag in appearance of reviews following publication of the book. Some reviews are churned out weekly and this may not have been critically examined. Generally, the more thorough the review, the longer the time lag. In spite of the above problems mentioned, reviewing sources are useful in offering some basis for assessing new reference works. They are also useful in supplementing the information that can be obtained from fliers and catalogs distributed by publishers of reference sources. 13

14 Presently, there are more reviewing sources covering printed reference materials than non-print media such as CD-ROM, databases and so on. Below is a list of some important reviewing sources that you must know of. Some of them have online versions which you can have access to, if you subscribe to them. i. American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) ii. Reference Books Bulletin appears in the semi-monthly issues of Booklist. Website: iii. Library journal includes a section of brief signed reference book reviews in each issue. Books which are reviewed are suitable for public and college libraries. iv. Choice- This is another reviewing source for books suitable for undergraduate collections; often the reviews have more specialized titles than does Library Journal. Guides to Reference Sources These are tools which provide key reference sources in print and on the Internet. They are organized by subject and they list and give brief annotations to a variety of information sources. They are intended as resources for libraries when answering reference questions, planning library instruction, identifying items to purchase and training staff Guides to reference sources serve dual purposes: as collection evaluation checklists and selection tools for reference and collection development librarians as aids in reference work to identify appropriate reference sources to use in answering reference questions. These lead-in tools can direct the Information Professional to one or more sources likely to provide an answer. Guide to Reference Books: (formerly Constance Winchell, Eugene Sheehy and most recently Robert Balay. 11 th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, It provides bibliographic information and descriptions for approximately 16,000 English and foreign language reference works in all fields. Arrangement - There are five major parts: 14

15 Part A: General Reference Works; Part B: Humanities; Part C: Social and Behavioral Sciences: Part D History and Area Studies; Part E Science, Technology and Medicine Within each part, entries are classified first by subject and then by form. Table of Content it displays subjects in a classified arrangement, alphabetical arrangement of author, title and subject. A bullet next to a title entry indicates that at least a portion of the source is available online. Entries include complete bibliographic information, publication history where appropriate, notes or annotations and often a Library of Congress call number. There are two types of publications which attempt to make up for the long time lag between the editions of this Guide. Periodic articles describing new reference sources appear in College & Research Libraries. It is American bias. Guide to Reference Books The British counterpart is the Guide to Reference Books edited by A.J. Walford. Unlike Balay s one-volume format, Walford s Guide to Reference Material is in 3 volumes: Vol. 1 deals with science and technology; Vol. 2 deals with social and historial sciences, philosophy and religion; Vol. 3 deals with generalia, language and literature and the arts. Each volume has its own index (es); Vol. 3 includes a cumulative subject index for the set. Beginning with the 5 th edition, the volumes have separate author/title and subject indexes. Walford bases subject arrangement of volumes on the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), with broad subject groupings comparable to those found in the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Just like Balay s Guide, Walford s is international in scope but it has better coverage of British and European titles. Beginning in 2000, the three volumes will become available on the Web. Source types of information Directories The ALA Glossary of Library Terms defines a directory as a list of persons or organizations, systematically arranged, usually in alphabetical or classified order, giving address, affiliations, etc for individuals, and address, officers, functions and similar data for organizations. Directories provide information about organizations of different kinds covering learned bodies, scientific societies, professional bodies, trade associations etc. For each organization, a variety of information like names, addresses, list of office bearers, qualifications of membership are included. These form a rich source of biographical information, sources of names and addresses for mailing 15

16 lists. Some of the information provided in directories can also be obtained from yearbooks, almanacs, encyclopedias etc. Uses of directories They are used to find out : i) an individual s or a firm s address or telephone number ii) the full name of an individual, a firm or an organization; iii) a description of a particular manufacturer s product or a service iv) the name of the president of a particular firm, or the head of a school or the person responsible for say, advertising or buying manuscripts. Less obvious uses of directories include obtaining i) limited, but up-to-date, biographical information on an individual, whether still president, chairperson, or with this or that company or organizations ii) historical and current data about an institution, a firm or a political group, such as when it was founded, how many members it had iii) data for commercial use, such as selecting a list of individuals, companies or organizations for a mailing in a particular area iv) random or selective samplings in a social or commercial survey, for which they are basic sources. Types of Directories There are different types of directories: general: international, national/regional, local. Other: scientific and learned societies, trades, professions etc. Important General Sources A few notable examples are cited below. Directories of Directories they provide listings and descriptions of various directories. They are a good starting point when the library patron needs a certain directory but does not know the exact title, or when the user wants to know if a specific type of directory exists, such as a directory of a particular occupational group. Directories in Print, International Directories in Print, Organizations Master Index Library Directories Directories of libraries and subject collections are valuable sources for identifying the locations, professional staff and special collections of libraries all over the world. They also provide the added benefit of potentially connecting the library user to information experts in all subject areas and geographic locations. Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centres, 16

17 Publishing and Book Trade Directories Questions concerning addresses and telephone numbers of publishers and various aspects of the publishing business are commonly asked at the reference desk. Publishers directories provide this information and other types of information on the publishing industry on both a national and an international level. Literary Market Place, International literary Market Place, Education/Research Directories Directories of educational institutions, secondary schools, community colleges, universities and research centers are frequently consulted reference sources, particularly in academic libraries. They are used primarily for addresses of institutions and individuals.eg The Europa World of Learning, International Handbook of Universities, Commonwealth Universities yearbook, Foundations and Grants Directories - Foundations and grants directories outline the interests of various foundations and grant-making institutions and the kinds of activities they support. Directories of this type also show which foundations give money to a particular nonprofit entity and how much they give. These are valuable tools in an academic library or in a special library, such as a business or foundation library. The Foundation Directory, The Foundation Grants Index, Annual Register of Grant Support, Directory of Research Grants Business Directories Directories of businesses are used to find where a company is located, who is the appropriate person at a particular business, general background on a corporation, the correct name of the company, or product information for the company. They also answer questions regarding which companies provide a particular service for consumers and business persons in the community. The Standard & Poor s Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, National Business Telephone Directory, The Directory of Corporate Affiliations, World Chamber of Commerce Directory. Association Directories - Association directories are means of connecting individuals with the appropriate organization for answering their information needs, either on the local, national or international level. Questions about addresses, telephone numbers, or names of executive officers are frequently asked. Other frequent inquiries include information on publications of the organization, and when or where the organization s annual conference is held. Some association-oriented questions are often best answered by a telephone call to the association. Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the US, Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations 17

18 Government Directories - Government directories fall mainly into 2 categories: those published privately and those published by governments. Worldwide Government Directory, Washington Information Directory, Federal Executive Directory, The State Executive Directory are privately published. Telephone and Fax Directories - Telephone directories are an excellent source for local information. A telephone directory is used to find names, addresses, and telephone numbers for individuals and businesses in a specific geographic area. Telephone directories may also provide additional information about a community, eg, street maps, local history, calendars of cultural and sporting events, zip codes, shopping guides. Facsimile transmission devices (fax machines) give the user the ability to transmit written or print communication quickly and are popular in today s fast-pace world. National and Fax Directory gives access to almost 50,000 addresses and more than 160,000 fax numbers for major US companies, law firms, government agencies, media and publishing agencies, financial institutions, etc.eg. Ghana Telephone Directory, The AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory, The National Fax Directory Electronic Options Directories are available not only in print format but also in electronic format. The consideration for selecting directories in CDROM, online database, or a free database on Internet options includes: more current information than their print counterparts. Opportunity for keyword searching. Ability to combine fields or terms using Boolean logic. Cost involved for hardware, software and online service charges. The information professional who is selecting the electronic option needs to weigh the above issues against the advantages of speed and the currency of information accessed. The Information Professional also needs to know that the number of directories which are accessible free on the Internet influences the directories which are selected for purchase for the reference collection. Links to the free sites must also be provided for easy access by clients. Some free directory sites can be accessed at Yahoo ( and Internet Public Library s Reference Centre ( Evaluation As you are aware by now, all reference sources must be evaluated before purchase. What are some of the criteria that you would consider for directories? They include scope, currency, accuracy and format. 18

19 Scope - The title often gives some insight into the scope of the source, however more detailed information will be found in the preface. It is also important to determine how comprehensive the directory is within its stated scope. Currency This criterion is very important as they are often used specifically to find the most up-to-date information on an organization, institution or individual. Accuracy how often materials are actually updated? Format How are materials arranged? Are the entries clearly arranged and consistent throughout the source? The directory s indexes are a significant factor in providing access to the information it includes. Types of indexes : indexes can include a personal name index, a geographic index, a title or organization name index and a subject index. Availability in non print format may contain more current information than their printed counterparts. Selection Process The selection of directories may be based on a number of factors such as the community being served, location of the library, budget available to library and cost of the various directories. Almanacs, yearbooks, handbooks and manuals Almanacs, yearbooks, handbooks and manuals have in common a convenience of use which other tools do not have. They are most often single volumes which summarize and synthesize large amounts of data. They are often the fastest and easiest way to locate concise facts or summaries. They consolidate information, summarizing and synthesizing it. These tools are however not as useful if detailed or analytical discussion is sought or primary sources are required. For this reason, they can be shelved close to reference desk and used in the ready reference process. Almanac An almanac is a compendium of useful data and statistics relating to countries, personalities, events, subjects and the like. Hello, student, a compendium is simply a brief summary of a larger work or of field of knowledge. An almanac is a type of specific-entry encyclopedia stripped of adjectives and adverbs and limited to a skeleton of information. Almanacs first appeared in the 16th and 17 th centuries as calendars, containing days, weeks and months and astronomical data such as phases of the sun and moon. Although most almanacs are broad in geographical and subject coverage, many of the best-known general almanacs consist of fact rather than folklore. Almanacs are still rooted in 19

20 popular culture, which explains many aspects of their content. Sports, entertainment, practical information such as zip codes and first aid treatment, and business addresses are all included in the contents. It is issued annually. An almanac is the place to find answers to questions such as: How many calories are in a tablespoon of butter? Where can one find a map showing international time zones? Yearbook A yearbook is an annual compendium of the data and statistics of a given year. Yearbooks however, present facts and statistics for a single year usually the year preceding the publication date, while almanacs also have retrospective facts and statistics. The yearbook s fundamental purpose is to record the year s activities by country, subject or specialized area. Encyclopedias often issue yearbooks which supplement the main set, but are chiefly the review of a specific year. These yearbooks include a chronology of the year, biographies of newsmakers, obituaries, sports news, current statistical data and articles about events of the year. A general yearbook such as an encyclopedia yearbook is the place to find information such as: A description of a disaster that occurred during the year eg Tsunami. Although a general almanac also provides some of the same information, the yearbooks presentation of the information is different. Yearbooks usually contain longer descriptions of events and more analysis and evaluation and articles are almost always signed. Yearbooks have larger and more readable type than almanacs in book format. Because almanacs and yearbooks are different, they fill different information needs. Almanacs are full of bits of data. Yearbooks that focus on a single topic or theme are similar to handbooks. They provide information about people, event and trends in a single area. Yearbooks which are supplements to Encyclopedias The basic aim of a supplement to an encyclopedia is to keep basic set up to date and to bring out summary of major events that took place during year. The sets of supplement information give comprehensive view of events or trends of events over period of time. It is important to note that it is not always that the information in the supplement gets into the revised encyclopedia. For that reason, they serve a useful purpose in a large library. Supplements to encyclopedias are useful to answer fact type questions relating to events, biographies, obituaries, current statistics, summaries of sports, events, news pictures of year. However, due to the fact that they have to be compiled in a limited time, they may be less authoritative and lack proper perspective. Yearbooks versus Almanacs These reference sources are similar but surely, there must be some differences. Yearbooks and almanacs are two different types of sources of information. Both 20

21 are related ready sources of information in terms of their scope and use. Traditionally, almanacs are general in scope and yearbooks are confined to a subject or a given area or region. However, a supplement to encyclopedia which appears as yearbook would be general in scope. A year book is a compendium of current information for the previous year while the almanac covers information of the previous year as well as considerable amount of retrospective materials which may or may not be found in a yearbook. Uses of Almanac and yearbooks Almanacs and yearbooks serve several uses. They are : Currency users turn to yearbooks or almanac for relatively recent information on a subject or personality. The purpose of many of these works is to update standard texts that may be issued or totally revised only infrequently. For example an encyclopedia yearbook is a compromise, or even an excuse for not rewriting all articles in the encyclopedia each year. Although most almanac and yearbooks are dated 2000, 2001, the actual coverage is for the previous year. Brief facts : where a single figure or a fact is required, normally without benefit of explanation, the almanac is useful. A yearbook will be more useful if the reader wishes a limited amount of background information on a recent development or seeks a fact not found in a standard almanac. Trends: Because of the currency, they indicate trends in the development. Scientific advances are chronicled, as are the events, persons and places of importance over the previous year. One reason for maintaining a run of certain almanacs and yearbooks is to indicate such trends. The obvious shift in interest over the years is easily reflected in collections of yearbooks and almanacs. Eg, 1908 World Almanac had 22 pages devoted to railroads. In 2000, it was only one page. Informal index : Thy cite sources of information and thus can be used as informal indexes. For example a patron interested in retail sales will find general information in any good almanac or yearbook. These publications in turn will cite sources such as Fortune, Business Week, or Moody s Industrials which will provide additional keys to information. Directory and Biographical information : Almanacs and yearbooks include material also found in a directory. For example, a yearbook in a special field may well include the names of the principal leaders in that field, along with their addresses and perhaps a short biographical sketches. The World Almanac, lists associations and societies with addresses. 21

22 Browsing : Masses of unrelated, frequently fascinating bits of information are always crammed into the odd corners of almanacs and yearbooks. Many users discover additional information by browsing. Handbooks and Manuals The handbook or manual is a reference work that serves as a guide to a particular subject or a ready-reference source for given fields of knowledge. They may contain data, procedures, principles, table, graphs, diagrams illustrations. A large amount of information about the subject is often compressed into a single volume. Scientists and technologists often use handbooks. Handbooks provide answers to questions such as :Are there any adverse side effects to this drug? What do I wear to a formal evening wedding? Examples of some handbooks are The Merck Manual, The Guinness Book of Records, The Chicago Manual of Style, The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Emily Post s Etiquette, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations; Bartlett s Familiar Quotations. A manual is an instruction book which provides instructions on how to perform job or do something by means of specific and clear directions. Handbooks and manuals are used interchangeable Most handbooks and manuals have one thing in common they are limited scope. They zero in on a specific area of interest. Evaluation Evaluation of an almanac, yearbook or handbook includes consideration of many factors. Accuracy, comprehensiveness and currency of the information and ease of use. Selection Process Selection of almanacs, yearbooks and handbooks will depend very often on the characteristics of the users- age, education and occupation will influence decisions about which works to purchase. Almanacs, yearbooks and handbooks tend to offer very good value at low cost. Electronic Options The acquisition of an electronic edition of an almanac, yearbook or handbook depends on several factors. Does the electronic edition improve the ability to retrieve information? Is it more current? Is it frequently used? Can it be easily integrated into the existing workspace? Is it part of a larger electronic product? The cost of online and CD-ROM databases and the equipment needed to access them may deter some libraries from acquiring almanacs, yearbooks and handbooks in these formats. The Web offers an abundance of free information, 22

23 but the authority for information on a Web site is critical. In addition, surfing the Web is time-consuming and sometimes counterproductive. Biographical sources A biography is defined as written life of a person. One of the most consistent features of reference work over the years has been the high demand for information about people. Biography is one of the most popular fields of study providing information, inspiration and entertainment. Biographical information can be obtained from almanacs, biographical dictionaries, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, literary handbooks and manuals, obituary columns of newspapers. Out of the above, biographical dictionaries is the most important single source of biographical information. Biographic reference tools may be divided into two basic types, direct and indirect. Biographical sources which provide factual information can be called direct sources, since they provide the information itself, rather than referring the user through bibliographic citations to other sources where the information may be found. Direct sources may offer brief, basic biographical data as does Who s Who or they may provide lengthy biographical essays about the individuals eg Current Biography and the Dictionary of American Biography. Biographical sources which provide brief data about individuals are generally referred to as biographical directories, while those tools offering more detailed information, often in essay form are usually called biographical dictionaries. To find obscure facts about an individual, Indirect sources may be consulted. Indirect sources list bibliographic citations leading the user to other works which will contain the information sought. Generally these sources are indexes to other sources such as Biography Index. In addition to being direct or indirect, biographical sources may be further divided into Current - those which supply information about living persons or Retrospective - those which are about historical figures. There are biographical sources which are international in scope. These may be direct sources eg McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography or may be indirect tools such as Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Uses of biographical sources The primary use of biography is as follows to locate information on a person which can de done through an index, encyclopedia, directory to locate people who are famous in a given occupation, career or profession to locate supporting material about an individual for any number of reasons 23

24 to locate a possible name for the baby. Evaluation Biographical sources must be evaluated on their ease of use, accuracy of information they provide, the degree to which they are comprehensive within their scope. For current sources, the information provided should be up to date as possible, while for retrospective tools which are often used for research, they are more valuable when they give sources for further reading. There are some criteria that I need to elaborate on. Accuracy - There are two sources for verifying information on biographical sources. These are the biographees themselves and writings about those individuals (secondary sources). The contribution from biographees approach has been criticized because the latter are asked to fill out the publisher s standard form and return to the publisher. Questions range from age and education to accomplishments and address. Accuracy of the entry then depends almost entirely on the thoroughness, the honesty of the individual who filled out the form. Librarians when faced with conflicting facts from biographical sources can consult other sources to try to determine the truth. Currency- Biographical directories which rely on data provided by the biographee themselves face a dilemma when individuals to be listed do not return their questionnaires. The data from a previous edition might be used. Out-of-date information sometimes survives, which could lead to inaccuracies regarding an individual s current position, family status, or address. Many biographical directories are revised every year or every other year. Their electronic counter parts are more current than the printed volumes. Selection Process Selection of biographical sources are based on the needs of a specific library and its user groups, the amount of money the library can allocate to reference materials and the uniqueness of the information provided by particular tools. Important General Sources Current Biographical Directories- Who s Who in America, International Who s Who, Who s Who in the World Current Biographical Dictionaries Current Biography, Newsmakers, Contemporary Authors Retrospective Biographical Dictionaries :Universal : McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Retrospective Biographical Dictionaries : National (in the US) - Dictionary of American Biography, the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, (In Great 24

25 Britain) - Dictionary of National Biography Indirect Sources : Biography and Genealogy Master Index, Almanac of Famous People, Biography Index Obituaries The New York Times Obituaries Index, The Annual Obituary, Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, Available [Online]: < Encyclopedias An encyclopedia has been defined in a number of ways. It is an interdisciplinary repository of information, a systematic overview and summary of human knowledge. It is also considered as a systematic overview of selected topics of major importance, a compendium of knowledge or a summarized compendium of multidisciplinary knowledge in a verifiable, organized and rapidly accessible manner. Generally, an encyclopedia allows its users to meet their information needs first on a general level and then on a specific level by pointing them to more detailed sources of information. For example, n encyclopedia can provide detailed survey articles, often with bibliographies, in certain fields or areas and it can also provide brief informational data such as the birth and death dates of famous people, geographical locations and historical events, illustrations (children s encyclopedia) and different point of views on given topic. This scope makes the encyclopedia ideal for reference work. Use of an Encyclopedia Given the varied role of encyclopedias, it is valuable to categorize encyclopedias by the type of questions best answered through their use. Three kinds of questions have been identified and these are :fact finding, general background and pre-research information. Fact finding (Ready Reference) encyclopedia is an ideal hunting ground for answers to ready reference questions information about places, people, things including numerous facts and figures. What is the size of Jupiter? Hello student, remember you can also find answers to ready reference questions by using almanacs, yearbooks, handbooks and manuals. General Background encyclopedia is used to locate explanatory material or definitions. In providing background information, an encyclopedia serves as a guide to related topics within its pages or to outside sources of information. What construction techniques were used to build the Golden Gate Bridge? 25

26 Pre-Research Information- Encyclopedias teach research skills systematic approaches to gathering information. They set subjects within a context or a framework, allowing the reader to view the big picture. By becoming aware of the larger issues and the related concepts, users find what they need at this stage of their investigations; they are then in a much better position to develop informed research strategies. Types of Encyclopedias There are generally two types: A general encyclopedia and a subject encyclopedia. A general encyclopedia is a work containing informational articles giving essential general information on subjects in various branches of knowledge, arranged alphabetically by subject and names. A subject encyclopedia is a work containing informational articles giving essential general information limited to a special field of knowledge or area of interest, arranged alphabetically by subject and names. Limitations of Encyclopedias Some of the major limitations of encyclopedias are : Due to the dynamic nature of universe of knowledge, encyclopedias become easily out of date as soon as they are published. Supplements/yearbooks fill up the gap but these are not able to serve the purpose fully. Because of the problem of space some editors are forced to drop many articles in successive editions. Libraries are thus forced to keep different editions Very often, bibliographies appended to articles are not very exhaustive and up to date Some of the encyclopedias are biased to a particular point of view or country Due to vastness of knowledge no encyclopedia can be best in all fields. Specialized encyclopedia if available is likely to provide details The Electronic Encyclopedia versus Print encyclopedias Electronic encyclopedias have become very popular. It is important for you to learn of some of the advantages and disadvantages of using electronic encyclopedias over print encyclopedias. Electronic encyclopedias can come in the form of a CD-ROM or online. CD ROM Encyclopedia The CD-ROM has revolutionized the format, sale and publication of general encyclopedias. It allows animation and music, easy to search by typing in a word or phrase, also allows Boolean searching, one can search a complete set without having to reach for separate volumes. The CD-ROM costs a fraction of 26

27 the print volume. A single or two CD s solve the problem of bookcases for bound volumes. Online versions of Compton s and Encarta are available. Most are more current than either the print or CD-ROM because they are updated monthly or quarterly. However, updates are irregular in quality. All have links to articles and web pages, often with illustrations. This considerably broadens the scope of the encyclopedia as well as acts as a filter. In spite of the advantages of CD ROM, print versions will not go away because some users are unfamiliar with electronic approach, find it more satisfying (at least for much of the older public) to read and examine illustrations in the familiar old format, they are convenient (the book always works and never crashes), no animation and music to slow down searches; no maintenance, upgrade and replacement of any equipment to run better multimedia versions. CD-ROM versus Online More people use the CD-ROM encyclopedia than online because only few people have constant access to online. Frequently CD has more features than online, that is, videos, sounds. It is only at much expense and time when done online. It is worth noting that publishers see a profit in CDs while they are busy giving away information for free online. In addition, there are other reasons from ease of use to low cost which ensures the probable life of CD encyclopedias after print versions have disappeared. Evaluation of Encyclopedias Encyclopedias are expensive and must be evaluated before purchase. Because there are many on the market, it is advisable to consult some reviewing tools such as Kister s Concise Guide to Best Encyclopedias, Book List : Reference Books Bulletin: Review of Subject Encyclopedia.. Besides these, reference librarians can evaluate an encyclopedia on the following criteria : scope or subject coverage, emphasis and the intended audience, authority, which includes accuracy and reliability, viewpoint and objectivity, writing style, recency including revision plans, if any, of the publisher; arrangement and entry; index with reference to how one gains access to information in the set; format, including the physical format and illustrations; cost; and the presence of bibliographies. Note the following criteria in addition to the general ones. Viewpoint and Objectivity- Since general encyclopedias are published as profit ventures, they aim to attract the widest audience and to insult or injure no one. Despite their claims of objectivity on ground of justice for all, they are motivated by commercial reasons. To consider viewpoint check what the editor chooses to include or to exclude, to emphasize or to deemphasize. Online CD-ROM 27

28 Authority and Viewpoint : while there is no problem with determining authority by reputation of the publisher and authors in a print work, sometimes this is difficult for the electronic encyclopedia. Often, neither the publisher nor the author s authority is visible. Writing style Writing style of today s encyclopedia is aimed at experts. Recognizing that laypeople considerably outnumber scholars and therefore purchase considerably more volumes, encyclopedia firms tend to cater to their market in a relatively standard fashion. Contributors are given certain topics and outlines of what is needed and expected. Their manuscripts are then submitted to the encyclopedia s editors who revise, cut and query in a bid to make the contributions understandable to the average reader. Recency: continuous revision The claim to continuous revision is a major selling point for publishers involved with selling sets to libraries. They reason that no library is going to buy a new set of the same encyclopedia unless there has been substantial revision. Most encyclopedias do revise material with each printing or electronic update. A printing normally is done at least once or twice a year. Until the advent of the electronic work, publishers relied on yearbooks to keep the sets current. No matter what the technological procedures employed for updating, the librarian should know a) few general encyclopedias use the edition as an indication of the relative currency of the work. Digital recency : updated in two ways: a) the publisher simply sends, usually each year, an updated version of the CD encyclopedia. This is at a reduced cost based on the initial purchase and the agreement to continue buying the update each year or so. b) the publisher offers daily to monthly updates via the internet. Online updates consist of revised articles and web links. Each month the publisher provides articles that reflect new developments. In a rush to be up-to-dated, encyclopedia publishers make way for the new by chopping out the old. The disadvantage is librarians who may be seeking historical data, biographies and material but which the publisher believes is no longer of interest to readers and thus have thrown out. Large libraries solve the problem by maintaining older sets. Index - The strong argument for an index is simply that a single article may contain dozens of names and events which cannot be located unless there is a detail, separate index volume. A detailed index is an absolute necessity. Digital index Searching an electronic encyclopedia is normally done with keywords and or Boolean logic. An index is not essential but it can be a great help to discover terms related alphabetically to the one being sought. Also an 28

29 electronic index helps to clarify spelling errors, at least if the first one or two letters is correct. Selection Process These will actually depend on the cost, needs of the information seeking audience learners, users with general needs and users with scholarly or specialized needs. It is will depend on the analysis made of the potential usefulness of an electronic encyclopedia as an alternative to the traditional printed set. Important General Sources Encyclopedias for Children and Young Adults World Book Encyclopedia Compton s Encyclopedia Encyclopedias for Adults The New Encyclopedia Britannica Subject Encyclopedias McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Online Encyclopedias - Free Internet Encyclopedia Encyberpedia Knowledge Adventure Encyclopedia Dictionaries Dictionaries contain words of language or terms of subject, profession or vocation arranged according to some definite order usually alphabetical giving meaning, pronunciation, spelling, syllabication, use and so on. Uses and characteristics Dictionaries have several uses. They are used to: define or give meaning to words, phrases and expressions verify spelling, syllabication or pronunciation check on usage, or to determine the etymological history of a word indicate dialect if any determine synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, determine abbreviations, acronyms, signs and symbols solve puzzles and to clarify the meaning of words in texts 29

30 satisfy intellectual curiosity Dictionaries are consulted chiefly by persons who are writing or editing manuscripts, Kinds of Dictionaries There are two main kinds of dictionaries Descriptive or prescriptive. Descriptive dictionaries record how the language is actually used (For example: The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2 nd ed. Those in favour of descriptive approach claim that language is always changing and that dictionaries should therefore reflect these changes. This is the philosophy governing the compilation of all major dictionaries today. Prescriptive dictionaries show how a word should be used. ( For example Fowler s Dictionary of Modern English Usage 2 nd ed.) Those who are in favour of the prescriptive approach indicate that it is the major role of dictionaries to set standards, support traditional usage and prevent contamination of the language by slang and jargon. This approach has now been abandoned by compilers of unabridged dictionaries. Some desk dictionaries and specialized usage dictionaries still maintain the more conservative prescriptive approach. Types of Dictionaries Unabridged dictionary attempts to include all the words in the language that are in use at the time the dictionary is compiled ( those with over 265,000 entries). These are large single-volume or multivolume works that sacrifice convenience for comprehensiveness. The necessity for overcoming inconvenience has given rise to the abridged, or desk-size, dictionary, a selective compilation often based on a larger dictionary. Desk dictionaries are compiled for a certain level of student use, with the college level being the one in general use by adults. (from 139,000 to 180 entries). Specialized dictionaries Etymological dictionaries gives the history of individual words with linguistic derivation and examples from writings of the past. Slang dictionaries defines terms used in ordinary, informal speech. These terms may include jargon, obscenities, or ephemeral words that go in and out of use quickly. Thesauri contain synonyms and antonyms usually without definitions. Its purpose is to provide writers with alternate or more specific words. 30

31 Dual-language dictionary has two sections, one with English words and their equivalents in a foreign language and the other with the foreign words and their equivalents in English. Dialect dictionary gives regional variants and usage for words within a language. It may include some slang. Usage dictionary prescribes how a word should be used, based on the way it has been used in the past. Evaluation In evaluating dictionaries, authority, vocabulary, currency and format, scope, purpose and cost are taken into account. I will explain a few of these criteria. Vocabulary This is evaluated in terms of the period of the language covered as well as the number of words or entries. Other special vocabulary features may include slang, dialect, obsolete forms, and scientific or technical terms. In the US the field is divided between the unabridged (over 265,000 words) and the abridged (from 50,000 to 265,000 words) type of dictionary. Scope This is stated in its preface or introduction. Dictionaries intended for college-level use should include : linguistic derivation all large dictionaries indicate the etymology of a word by a shorthand system in brackets. The normal procedure is to show the root word in Latin, Greek, French, German, Old English or some other language. brief historical definition - this can clarify odd notions and downright falsehoods linked to words. Eg how many words do the Eskimos have for snow. Answer: there are hundreds of such words. current usage - the most controversial aspect of evaluation concerns how proper usage is or is not indicated. There is contention between those who wish a dictionary to be prescriptive ( that is, clearly and categorically indicate what is or is not good, approved usage) or descriptive ( that is, simply describe the language as it is spoken and written without any judgment as to whether it is acceptable by the common culture.) Dictionaries vary on how they handle usage. Pronunciation guides are a basic necessity in all general language dictionaries. All dictionaries employ the simple phonetic use of the familiar. Most American publishers employ the diacritical one. An advantage of online and the CD-ROM is that all standard online dictionaries now feature voice pronunciation. Eg Encarta world English Dictionary website has about 60,000 words of 100,000 in the dictionary which one can hear pronounced. 31

32 syllabication all dictionaries indicate usually by a centered period or hyphen, how a word is to be divided into syllables. The information is mainly to help writers, editors and secretaries divide words at the ends of lines. There are special, short desk dictionaries that simply indicate syllabication of more common words without benefit of definition or pronunciation synonyms their inclusion helps to differentiate between similar words grammatical information - indication of parts of speech. All single entries are classified as nouns, adjectives, verbs etc. Dictionaries vary in method of showing adverbs, adjectives, plurals and principal parts of a verb, particularly the past tense of irregular verbs Indexing are most important in quotation books because of the variety of approaches that can be used. A good quotation book should have an author index, if the arrangement is not alphabetical by author, and a keyword phrase index. The phrase index is very important, since keywords by themselves cause time-consuming effort when one is following up multiple references only to find out in the end that the desired phrase is not in the book. Selection Process In selecting dictionaries you should consider the needs of patrons served by the library, the age and condition of the dictionaries already in the collection, the amount of money that can be put into new acquisitions. Important General Sources Unabridged Dictionaries - There are only three good unabridged English language dictionaries: Webster s Third New International Dictionary of the English language Unabridged; The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Etymological Dictionaries The Oxford English Dictionary Desk Dictionaries Webster s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, High-School-level Dictionaries The Concise American Heritage Dictionary Foreign-Language/English Language Dictionaries Cassell s series, Collins, Dictionaries of Slang and Dialect- The Dictionary of American Regional English, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English New Dictionary of American Slang Thesauri and Usage Guides- Roget s International Thesaurus, Dictionary of Modern English Usage Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionaries Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Machine Readable Dictionaries Several software vendors have produced electronic reference and writing aids. Microsoft Bookshelf CD-ROM Reference Library is a collection of ten reference books on a single CD-ROM. 32

33 Geographical sources The primary purpose for the majority of geographical sources is to help one locate places. General location questions can be grouped into three categories: current events, recreation and business. Recreation has become an important part of many lives and travel is now more common than it was in the past. The result is that a larger segment of the population is interested in information, not only on the local state or national park, but also on cities and regions all over the world. Business travel has also become more common and the information required to answer these questions is related to travel literature. Geographical sources may be subdivided into three large categories: maps, atlases and globe, gazetteers and guidebooks. Let us look at what each represents. Maps a map is a representation of certain boundaries of the earth. Maps may be divided into flat maps, charts, collections of maps in atlas form, globes. Cartographers refer to these as general maps, for reference purposes. They may present storage problems but libraries should not forego them entirely in favor of atlases. The major disadvantage of the atlas may is its small scale and inability to depict many geographical regions with sufficient detail. Atlases - can be divided into three groups : current, historical and thematic. Current atlases are needed for up-to-date information on geographical and political changes in the world. Historical atlases are necessary for the study of boundary changes, military campaigns and early exploration. Thematic or subject atlases emphasize a specific subject or region. Examples include national atlases, population atlases and geological atlases. Globe It is a spherical representation of earth. It is considered relatively accurate representation of the earth. Gazetteers - A gazetteer is usually a list of geographical names and /or physical features, either appended to an atlas or published as a separate volume. There are two types of gazetteers: locational and descriptive. Locational gazetteers usually provide information precisely locating the feature either by atlas page and grid index or by even more precise latitude and longitude on the earth s surface. Descriptive gazetteers may provide some or all of the above information, but then also describe the place. Such a description may include such features as a brief history, commodity production, population and altitude. Almost every atlas includes a gazetteer as an appendix used to locate the 33

34 place names in that volume. Atlas gazetteers are useful for locating major town, cities, administrative divisions and physical features. Questions requiring information on those cities beyond the scope of the normal world atlas will require a more detailed volume such as a gazetteer. Columbia Gazetteer of the World, Chambers World Gazetteer, National Gazetteer of the United States of America, Travel Guides The purpose of the general guidebook is to inform the traveler about what to see, where to stay, where to dine and how to get there. Travel Books: Bradt s Travel Guide: Ghana Travel Books: Guide to the Travel Guides, Fodor series (focuses on shopping) Frommer (on culture) Michelin (best hotels, sights, museums,) Let s Go ( inexpensive methods of travel.) Evaluation Certain criteria are unique to geographical sources. For maps and atlases, scale and projection, color and symbols, publisher, authority, indexing and currency are important. Scale and Projection - Scale and projection are the two common characteristics that make cartographic materials different from all other library materials. Scale is the ratio of the distance on the map to the actual distance in the real world on the face of the earth. Maps must be drawn to scale so that accurate comparisons may be made between the map and the corresponding distance on the earth. This scale may be given be given as a verbal scale (1 inch equals 4 miles) a representative fraction (1:253,440); or a graphic scale or bar scale normally found below the map. Scale is the most important elements of a map, as it defines the amount of information that can be shown as well as the size of the geographic area. Maps are generally classed by scale: largescale maps are normally 1:100,000 or larger; medium-scale maps are between 1:100,000 and 1:1,000,000; and smaller scale maps are 1:1,000,000 or smaller. Note the cartographic aberration that as the number increases, the scale is considered smaller rather than larger, and vice versa. Map projection is the method used to display the surface of a sphere upon a plane without undue distortion. Cartographers have a major headache in trying to achieve an accurate representation of the feature of the earth. Color and Symbols Color is used on maps to show political boundaries, eg France, green; Germany yellow and Italy blue. Color is used on many government maps to show standard types of information. The US Geological survey uses five basic colors on its topographic maps. Brown for contours, altitude lines elevations; blue for roads, buildings, railroads, green for vegetation, 34

35 woodland, vineyards etc. Color may be used to show land heights, ocean depths or gradients on a thematic map. Symbols on a map allow the map to communicate its information to the reader. Each atlas should provide a key or index to its symbols. Publisher/Authority- It is important to purchase quality maps from reputable dealers such as the national mapping agencies such as the Geological Survey in the US, the Ordnance Survey in Great Britain. For commercial maps, Rand McNally, C.S. Hammond, DeLorme, John Bartholmew, Indexing/Place Names A good index clearly lists all place names that appear on the map. In addition there should be a reference to the exact map, latitude, longitude and grid information. Currency Because the world is changing so rapidly it is important that libraries be able to provide current information. A world atlas that is five years old portrays enough obsolete information that it should be used only for historical purposes. So many changes occur annually; place name changes, new roads etc. Selection Process This depends on the cost of geographical sources, size and storage requirements. It also depends on the needs of the users and the community being served, the library s collection development guideline, whether collecting for ready reference materials or for in-depth research purposes. Electronic options: The choice of format is quickly becoming a dilemma for those using geographical sources. Maps and atlases are now being offered on diskettes, and as CD-ROMs. In addition, numerous Web sites are being developed that offer maps. With these formats come the demands for additional library equipment, personal computers with large hard drives, CD- ROM drives, Zip drives, scanners and colour printers. An important electronic resource is Google Earth. Important General Sources General World Atlases Times Atlas of the World, The New International Atlas. Historical Atlases The Times Atlas of World History, The New Cambridge Modern History Atlas, The Historical Atlas of the United States, Historical Atlas of Africa. Thematic Atlases The National Atlas of the United States of America, We the People: An Atlas of America s Ethnic Diversity, The Atlas of North America. 35

36 Control-Access- Directional type of sources Bibliographic sources Bibliographies may be defined as lists of written, printed or otherwise produced records of civilization. They may also be defined as a list of works, whether complete or selective, compiled upon some common principle, such as authorship, subject, place of publication. Bibliographies are not necessarily confined to books. They may list other formats such as online databases, CD-ROM, networks. Elements of an effective bibliography Please note that an effective bibliography needs several elements if it is to adequately meet the need for control and access. These include the elements of Completeness, Access to a Part and Various Forms. Completeness Through either a single bibliography or a combination of bibliographies, the Information Professional should have access to the complete records of all areas of interest, what is available now, available in the past, and available for publication in the future. It should also include the world and not only one nation s works. Access to a Part Access to a part means that the ideal bibliography should also be analytical, allowing the Information Professional to approach the specific unit in terms of the smallest part of a work (that is, to information on author, title, keywords) not only in terms of the whole unit, book, periodical, CD-ROM, manuscript. Various Forms Even though books are main element of most bibliographies, a comprehensive bibliographical tool will include all forms of published communication reports and documents to the various types of electronic basis. Uses of a bibliography It is primarily used for three basic purposes: The first use is to identify and verify the usual bibliographical citation gives standard information similar to that found in most catalogs: author, title, edition and price, ISBN, ISSN. In seeking to identify or verify any of these elements, an Information Professional will turn to a bibliography usually beginning with a general source eg Books in Print, or the National Union Catalog, or 36

37 bibliographical utility such as OCLC or RLIN. I believe you have come across these terms in Unit 1Section 2. I will discuss all in detail very soon. The second use is to locate Location may be in terms of where the book is published, where it can be found in a library or where it can be purchased. An online website or database will be located via its address online. And finally the third use is to select this objective presupposes selection from a vast number of possibilities. Types of Bibliographies There are three main branches of bibliography namely: Systematic or enumerative bibliography Analytical or critical bibliography and Historical bibliography However, for our purposes, I shall limit our study to the first type which is systematic or enumerative bibliography. Systematic bibliography refers to the straight forward listing of individual items with minimum details. What this type of bibliography tries to do is to assemble the resulting entries, into logical and useful arrangements for reference and study. Such a bibliography is usually enumerative which means that some sort of selection has prevailed determining what to include. Commonly recognized types of systematic bibliography are: Universal bibliography National bibliography Trade bibliography Bibliography of bibliography Subject bibliography Library catalogues All these types of bibliographies will be examined in subsequent sections. Evaluation of a bibliography The checklist for the evaluation of a bibliography for the purpose of its study should include the authority, scope, arrangement, entries and items of information, revision and up-dating including cumulations, special features, drawbacks and format. Please refer to the general criteria for evaluation. National bibliographies National bibliographies list comprehensively the materials published in a particular country. The scope of work may be enlarged to include works about 37

38 the particular country or works in the language of that country, regardless of the place of publication. National Bibliographies are usually published under the auspices of a national library or other agency which is charged by law with the receipt by legal deposit of copyrighted materials. National bibliographies are normally divided by time, form and origin. Time refers to listing works previously published, works being published or works to be published. Such bibliographies are normally labeled as either retrospective or current. The terms current and retrospective as applied to bibliographies refer to the time period covered by the items selected for inclusion in the bibliography. Current bibliographic sources list books or other items close to the time at which they are published. A retrospective bibliography covers materials published during an earlier time period. Current national bibliographies often appear weekly or monthly with annual and or multiyear cumulations. Form refers to collection of works, monographs, components (eg essays, periodical articles, poems); physical form (books, databases, recordings, pamphlets, microfilm) or published and unpublished works (manuscripts, dissertations). Origin refers to where it is issued or the organization producing it. Uses of National bibliographies 1. National bibliographies are primarily used "to identify and verify, to locate, and to select." Do you remember we cited this phrase for a bibliography? Yes, a national bibliography is a bibliography and so it will serve that general purpose of bibliographies and have more uses. 2. National bibliographies are important for the preservation of a country's intellectual property, for permitting scholars access to important books and manuscripts, to show where intellectual disparities lay, and to allow users to find out where particular books are, with the added possibility of borrowing them. 3. National bibliographies can be utilized for collection development. Using national bibliographies for collection development has many advantages since they include cataloguing data that is quite extensive; ISSN and ISBN information; they are considered accurate; include everything, even what is gone out of print; and provide more information than trade bibliographies. However, caution must be stressed. Using national bibliographies as tools for selection seems better suited for retrospective collecting, where time and currency are not imperative factors. 38

39 4. They are also valuable for verifying bibliographic information; for checking spelling; finding materials through subject headings; and for compiling copy cataloguing. 5. They bring enormous order out of the chaos of tens of thousands of items published each year. 6. They facilitate the international exchange of cataloging date in standardized format. One would find information such as subject headings, in addition to author, title and publication data. Also name entries would be in standardized form with appropriate see references from alternate forms of the name. Important Examples of National bibliographies National bibliographies are found in most countries that have an organized publishing trade. For instance, The British National Bibliography (1950) is a comprehensive inventory of all UK and Irish publications gathered under legal depository laws, and catalogued by the experienced staff of the British National Library. Its content is based on the books received by the Legal Deposit Office of the British Library under the Copyright Act of It also contains advance notification of forthcoming titles that is supplied by publishers under the Cataloging in Publication program. The British National Bibliography contains no music, maps, periodicals, nor many governmental publications. Ghana National Bibliography It is compiled by George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs Library and published by Ghana Library Board since The Ghana National Bibliography is compiled from materials deposited in consonance with the Book and Newspaper Registration Act 1961 and materials traced in other libraries. It lists theses, periodicals, newspapers, articles, vernacular book publications. The National Library of Canada- Canadiana, 1950 It lists all books, electronic documents, periodicals, video recordings, sound recordings, educational kits, microforms, theses, music scores, government documents, and pamphlets "produced in Canada, or published elsewhere but of special interest or significance to Canada." National Union Catalog As there is no official American national bibliography, the Library of Congress has been authorized to use the National Union Catalog (NUC) for that role. Advantages and Disadvantages of using National bibliographies 39

40 There are advantages and disadvantages of using National bibliographies. Most of them have been cited above but for clarity sake, I shall put in separate categories for easy recognition. Advantages for collection development - include cataloguing data that is quite extensive; ISSN and ISBN information Accurate, includes everything, even what is gone out of print; provides more information than trade bibliographies list everything that has been published, what is now available, and future proposals listing of forthcoming publications permits librarians to put in advance orders for books and to find out if an upcoming book could possibly fill a void in a collection Disadvantages For collection development - limited nature of the materials included by any one country (exception here would be the National Union Catalog) Not all types of materials are covered (BNB contains no music, maps, periodicals, nor many governmental publications) considerable delays with getting items listed prices could have changed in the meantime For collection development - limited nature of the materials included by any one country (exception here would be the National Union Catalog) National bibliographies can only be considered alerting tools, and need to be used with reviews, subject bibliographies, standard lists and guides to the literature Trade bibliographies Trade bibliographies are commercial publications which provide the book trade information required for the selection and acquisition of published materials. They are usually trade books intended for sale to the general public and would be available in bookstores. Trade bibliographies are alerting devices that make no statements on the value of the works cited. They also set themselves limits of time, form and origin. Hi, I hope you are still with me. Uses of trade bibliographies 1. Their main purpose is to list titles that are currently available from a whole series of publishers, within a geographic area. For example, Whitaker's Books in Print concentrates on materials published in Great Britain, while Canadian Books 40

41 in Print will contain everything that is currently available from Canadian publishing houses. 2. Trade bibliographies provide basic purchasing data, with "information...gathered from the publishers, and individual items listed not examined by the compiler of the trade bibliography." They are annual publications that are supplemented throughout the year to incorporate information pertaining to newly published materials, titles gone out of print, and price changes. 3. Trade bibliographies are useful in many ways to acquisition librarians, including: the collection of particular subjects using Subject Guides; finding out if an item is available and how much it costs; and from which company and where it can be purchased. Important Examples of Trade bibliographies An important trade bibliography is the Books in Print. It is an annual listing of books available from US publishers. It is a nine-volume set with separate author and title sections. Each entry includes price, ISBN, publisher, binding and other ordering information. Volume 9, a separate stand-alone Publishers Index, lists more than 63,000 publishers and their addresses. The lists are compiled from information provided by publishers. Books in Print is a list of what publishers report is in print at a given moment. Because data are collected from thousands of sources, errors of omission and commission are not uncommon. No attempt is made to standardize the form of an author s name. It is therefore possible to have a single author listed in more than one form, so one must be careful when searching the author volume. Books in Print has a supplement which is very valuable. It is the Subject Guide to Books in Print. It arranges the contents of Books in Print according to the Library of congress Subject headings assigned to the books. Although Books in Print and the Subject Guide are separate publications, most libraries subscribe to both titles because both are necessary for acquisitions and reference work. Advantages and Disadvantages of using Trade bibliographies Just like national bibliographies, trade bibliographies have their advantages and disadvantages. Advantages Useful for collection development useful to acquisition librarians for the collection of particular subjects using Subject Guides 41

42 finding out if an item is available and how much it costs; and from which company and where it can be purchased give a lot of helpful information, complete titles, correct spelling of authors' and coauthors' names, ISBN, editors, LC or Dewey numbers, publishers' information, years of publication, and the price. listed price helpful for acquisition librarians who are trying to stay within a budget can be used for checking items listed in a library's desiderata file to find out if something has been reprinted handy tool if a library is trying to expand a particular subject area of their collection Disadvantages confine their materials to the geographic area in which the publishers operate "non trade publications, such as textbooks, government documents, encyclopedias, and dissertations are not listed limit scope to materials that are for sale by participating publishing organizations not evaluative and should not be used exclusively for library selection should only be used as alerting tools, and never solely for evaluating selection Universal Bibliography Universal bibliography is that which lists all documents of all kinds of materials, produced in all countries, in every language, at any time and all themes. It is not limited in terms of subject, geographical area, language or form. Thus it is supposed to list all literature that may ever have appeared. The first effort towards the compilation of a universal bibliography was by Konrad Gesner. He compiled the Bibliotheca Universalis (Zurich 1545). This publication contains details of about 15,000 books by 300 authors in Latin, Greek, Hebrew. He excluded books published in vernacular languages. There were attempts by some other authors to compile universal bibliographies but they had been challenged by a number of problems. Why Universal Bibliography is not possible The compilation of such a bibliography has not been possible because : There are many books about which no recorded information is available. There are many books on which recorded information is available but the books themselves not available for rechecking 42

43 The number of documents to be recorded is so enormous especially the current ones that it becomes impossible to record them all The number of languages is so great that it becomes difficult to know about all the recorded materials The arrangement of such a bibliography remains a big problem. The alphabetical arrangement is not always suitable. Even in the case of classified arrangement, there is no scheme of classification yet to meet all requirements There is lack of resources and necessary manpower It will be difficult to keep it up-to-date Alternatives to Universal Bibliography As it is so evident that the compilation of a universal bibliography is impossible, we can ask ourselves what should be done in its place? In the first place a selective universal catalogue should be a good alternative. Secondly, the publication of complete national bibliographies is possible. Finally, the collection of published catalogues of national libraries is a good alternative. Subject bibliographies A subject bibliography lists of materials that relate to a particular discipline or subject scope. They are often attempts to select the most worthwhile books on a particular subject. Just like any bibliography, subject bibliographies set themselves limits of time, form and origin. They may be retrospective, current (at least at date of publishing) inclusive of all forms from individual monographs to government publications. Uses of subject bibliographies 1. Subject bibliographies are a good place to start when collecting in a specific area. 2. They give a valuable overview of a discipline, and are very useful in collection development. 3. They are important when building retrospectively, and allow the librarian to see what has been considered historically worthwhile in a field. 4. They are intended for research workers and others in special areas. Disadvantages of subject bibliographies Subject bibliographies are out of date the day they are published They sometimes contain books that currently have little value, having been replaced by newer and better titles. For instance, it is easy to see how textbooks on genetic engineering or computer technology can be quickly superseded by the latest information resources available 43

44 Another difficulty is the subjectivity of the author who compiles a subject bibliography. Personal opinions vary, and these are either one person's opinion or a composite of many opinions about the value of a particular book. Finally, finding some materials listed in subject bibliographies can be very time-consuming, and sometimes impossible if an item is no longer being published. This can be very frustrating. Bibliography of bibliographies A bibliography of bibliographies, as the name suggests, is a listing of bibliographies. It came about as a result of the multiplication of bibliographies of different types. These list bibliographies which direct readers to useful bibliographies through subject, individual, place. They are general in scope and are used to identify bibliographies on a specific subject. They are a good starting place when trying to locate a list of works on a specific subject. Important Bibliography of bibliographies An example of a general bibliography of bibliographies is Theodore Besterman : A world bibliography of bibliographies. It is international in scope, arranged by subject, general and retrospective. An example of a current bibliography of bibliographies is the Bibliographic Index. It is international in scope but biased towards American publications. It should be consulted in the early stage of any search. Bibliographic Index is a subject index to bibliographies that have been published in books, pamphlets and more than 2,700 periodicals. H.W. Wilson began publishing the index in It currently appears in two paperbound issues per year and an annual permanent clothbound cumulation, which includes four additional months of coverage. It is an excellent source for beginning a search for scholarly and popular works in many subjects. Bibliographic index includes materials published in English and other Western European languages. Each entry gives complete information on the bibliography and tells if it is annotated. The arrangement is by Library of Congress Subject Headings. Library Catalogues and Union catalogues Library catalogues list the materials held in the collection of one library. They list the titles owned by a library, and in some cases, those they have access to through interlibrary loan. Library catalogues are simply bibliographies that represent the choices made by a group of people building a library collection. Many people these days simply want to find out what is in their own library 44

45 catalogue through what is known as the online public access catalog or OPAC. There are over 1,500 online catalogues from libraries around the world. All large institutions feature an OPAC which can be accessed, among other places, free on the Net. For instance the University of Ghana s library catalogue can be accessed online from this website. Uses of library catalogues 1. Their main purpose is to help patrons and librarians to locate items, while keeping track of and organizing them. 2. Sometimes they are used for the development of collections as "stock selection tools." Collection development librarians can use a library catalogue in their work, as a subject bibliography, which is without the evaluative factor. 3. As a collection tool, they can give insight into what is considered important in a particular subject area, and what is not, by its exclusion. In this way, some library catalogues may also be seen as an evaluative tool in library collection. 4. Library catalogues give standard information on author, publisher, ISBN, and possibly prices. Advantages and disadvantages of library catalogues they are accessible on the Internet, and encompass a wide range of subject areas they are useful if retrospective collecting is being done, since they alert librarians to existence of titles they provide a picture of what materials another library has found important to include they can be a preliminary starting place for building of any subject area, especially in retrospective collecting they are appropriate as alerting tools for collection development and must be used with authoritative annotated list and reviews Disadvantages library catalogues can present a bias viewpoint of the developer, and "may not reflect the interests, collection levels, or other purposes of library. library catalogues are very limiting because they only include holdings of one or a handful of library collections, and do not give a clear picture of what is really available in universe of knowledge library catalogues could lack authority in the subject area, and can only be in catalogue because the library does not have a good system for weeding. It is impossible to know if an item is worth buying simply by finding it in the library collection doing subject search in a library catalogue brings up numerous listings to look through. 45

46 Terminologies BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD: A term used to describe the cataloguing information for an item. Included are author, title, publisher, date of publication, physical description of the item and any other pertinent information needed to identify the materials as a unique item. ACCESS POINT: A term or name that can be used to retrieve the bibliographic information from a card or an online catalogue. Example, authors name, title of the book and so on. ADDED ENTRIES: Other access points besides, the main entry to identify the work. For example, joint author and title series. CATALOGUE CODE: This is a set of rules for the guidance of cataloguers in preparing entries for catalogues so as to ensure uniformity in treatment Types of Catalogues CARD CATALOGUE: A form of catalogue that is made up of 3 X 5-inch cards. On each card, Information about an item is written, typed or printed. Cards are arranged in alphabetical, order and filed in special drawers. The interfiling by author, title and subject cards is called a Dictionary catalogue When cards are filed separately so that all subject cards are filed in one section, and all author and title cards are filed in another section Is called a divided catalogue. BOOK CATALOGUE: A listing of the library s holdings in book form. OPAC: The Online Public Access Catalog is a listing of the library materials that can be retrieved on a computer terminal. Union Catalogue It is a catalogue listing in one sequence the holdings or part of the holdings of two or more libraries. Uses of Union Catalogue 46

47 Union catalogues can serve the following functions: as a tool for the location of a document to identify a given document for which bibliographic information is provided. to help in inter-library loan to serve as a tool for selection of documents to help to achieve coordination in the acquisition and selection programme of a group of libraries to reveal the total document resources of libraries in a given geographical region thereby indicating the strengths and weaknesses of the holdings in that area. Important Union Catalogue The National Union Catalog The National Union Catalog of the US lists all works which are cataloged by the Library of Congress and other member libraries of the system. It is very comprehensive, with listings from more than one thousand North American libraries. It began in card form in By 1926, the NUC had over 2million cards physically located in the Library of Congress. A bibliography of this type has many books not published in the country of origin. The first printed catalog was in In 1956, the National Union Catalog added collections of other libraries using Machine Readable Cataloging. From , the pre-1956 card catalog was published as The National Union Catalog: Pre-1956 Imprints. The National Union Catalog is available today through Library of Congress at It is available for a fee on bibliographic networks such as the OCLC and RLIN. The National Union Catalog includes books, maps, music, serials, visual materials. This catalog contains many items not published in the United States, including foreign language titles. The National Union Catalog is very useful for finding the location of materials available in American libraries and what can be borrowed through interlibrary loans. Uses of the National Union Catalog To find comprehensive listings of writings of an author To search by subject To verify existence of particular works To locate book or other materials at the Library of Congress or one of the participating libraries To obtain cataloguing information Existence gives librarian sense of order and control In terms of acquisitions, particularly of expensive or rare items, the National Union Catalog permits a library to concentrate in subject areas with the 47

48 assurance that the less developed areas may be augmented by interlibrary loan from other libraries. Indexes and Abstracts Indexes are systematic listings of works that tell where information can be located. They have also been described as a systematic guide to the text of any reading matter or to the contents of other collected documentary material, comprising a series of entries, with headings arranged in alphabetical or other chosen order and with reference to show where each item indexed is located. Another definition of an index is a detailed alphabetical list of names, terms, topics, places, formulae, numbers or other significant items in a completed work with exact page references to material discussed in that work. Uses of an index 1. Indexes are used to find articles in periodicals and newspapers. They are also used to dissect what is inside a periodical or newspaper so that user has access to the individual articles 2. Indexes are employed to research topics of current interest. They enable the user to find easily material on a specific subject or specific article. 3. They help develop one s understanding of a contemporary debate. There are a variety of materials found on controversial topics from different points of view 4. They reveal more fully contents of library s collection (the library s catalog does not provide access to entire contents; the catalog may confirm the holdings of a periodical title but not its contents) 5. Indexes are used to research a subject not yet written about in books. They allow quick access to the contents of books. Types of indexes There are several types of indexes, notably: indexes to indexes, indexes to collections, periodical indexes, news indexes, pamphlet indexes, book indexes. However, for the purposes of our studies, I shall be focusing on two of them Periodical indexes and news indexes. Periodical indexes are regularly issued compilation of titles of articles that appear in current primary source journals. They list authors, titles, or subjects of publications without comment. They may also include titles of new books and pamphlets. Broadly speaking there are three types of periodical indexes. These are general indexes, subject indexes and indexes to single periodicals. General indexes cover many periodicals in a wide field of knowledge. The Readers guide to periodical literature is an example of a general index. 48

49 Subject Indexes are those which cover several periodicals. Very often they include new books, pamphlets, conference proceedings, reports. The subject is restricted to a narrow field such as education index, library literature Indexes to individual periodicals are generally of two types: i) indexing many newspapers and ii) indexing a single newspaper. Examples are the New York Times and The Times. Periodical and News indexes index publications known as serials. A serial is a publication issued in successive parts, usually at regular intervals and as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. I am sure you are asking yourself what a periodical is. It is a type of serial. It is a "publication with its own distinctive title, containing a mix of articles... by more than one contributor, issued... at regular stated intervals of less than a year, without prior decision as to when the final issue will appear. It includes magazines and journals but excludes proceedings. What are some of its uses? Uses of a periodical Periodicals form a very important element in reference work in any library, supplementing the book collections in several ways. They are especially useful in supplying: 1. the latest information available in print (particularly important in the sciences, in technology and in political, economic and industrial questions of current interest) 2. information on which the library has no books or about which no books are written 3. contemporary opinion on a given subject, person, book, etc. (Periodicals, newspapers and contemporary memoirs are the three main sources for such information) 4. current bibliographies (particularly annual or periodic bibliographies in a given subject field.) Important Periodical Index An important periodical index is the Ulrich s International Periodicals Directory. It is a guide to more than 164,000 periodicals and since 1993, newspapers. It has separate indexes providing access to title, ISSN, online and CD-ROM availability, online vendors, title changes and refereed serials. Abstracts 49

50 An abstract is a concise and accurate summary of the essential contents of document. It has also been described as a condensation that presents succinctly, objectives, scope and findings of document. It is also a summary of a document with adequate bibliographic details provided to enable retrieval. It presents a skeletal representation of the original document thereby serving as a true surrogate of the document. As true surrogate, the user might not need to see the original document. Uses of an abstract 1. It serves as substitute for the document, thereby saving valuable time for the user. 2. It is used for current awareness service or in retrospective search. 3. It is used to overcome the language barrier, as many documents in foreign languages usually have abstracts of their documents in English language; 4. It helps the user to determine whether there is need to translate original document or not. 5. With the large number of papers published every year, abstracts facilitate the selection of papers that the user can read. Types of Abstracts There are two main types of abstracts. These are informative and indicative abstracts. Beside these two major types of abstracts, there are other variants such as critical abstracts, discipline-oriented abstracts, slanted abstracts, mission-oriented abstracts, author abstracts, etc. I shall however, discuss the two main types. An informative abstract tries as much as possible to capture all the essential points in the original document. It presents the actual data and information contained in the original document, thereby giving enough details to enable a user to have sufficient knowledge present in the original document. The abstractor should state the objectives, scope, methodology, findings, conclusions and recommendations. Informative abstracts tend to be between 200 and 500 words. Indicative abstracts provide an indication of the original document. It is sometimes called descriptive abstract. It indicates the type of document being abstracted, the principal areas covered and the way the facts are treated. It applies generally to non-research papers. It hardly provides the actual content. Unlike an informative abstract, which can be regarded as a true surrogate of the original document, an indicative abstract cannot be used in place of the original document. It tells the user what can be found in the document rather than the actual data and information. 50

51 Subject headings and searching The issues of subject headings and searching of indexes and abstracts are so important to the researcher and Information Professional. Subject headings are controlled vocabulary used by the indexer. One has to match the search subject or concept with the term used by the indexer. If the indexer uses the term dwelling the user will find nothing if a search is made for home unless there are cross-references under the listing home which states see Dwelling. Two basic lists of subject headings consulted by reference librarians and catalogers are: Library of Congress Subject Headings it lists the standard Library of Congress subject heading in alphabetical order. It provides crossreferences, synonyms and other bits of advice and help which assist the user in finding the proper subject heading. Sears List of Subject Headings This is a rough equivalent of the Library of Congress subject headings for smaller libraries. It has fewer subject headings. Thesaurus- This is similar to subject heading list in that it is a list of terms used for indexing and for searching. It shows relationships between terms. One may look up what amounts to broader and narrower concepts within a hierarchical structure built on one or more basic term categories. Evaluation In evaluating indexes and abstracts it is necessary to choose those that will best reveal the contents of their own collections or that will refer users to needed information beyond library walls. Important characteristics to consider are format (print, CD-ROM, locally loaded or online), scope, authority, accuracy, arrangement and any special features that enhance effectiveness or ease of use. Important Abstracts Some important abstracts are CAB Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, Library and Information Science Abstracts. Electronic Resources History of E-Resources 51

52 Before computer technology advancements in the late 1960 s, the only way for most librarians to find information was to consult a standard printed reference work. The history of e-resources for reference began with the development of computer-assisted typesetting and printing. The publishers of indexing and abstracting services first used computers to print their paper products. They created magnetic tapes that allowed reference librarians to search for an indexed term or group of terms to see if there were bibliographic citations to articles on these tapes that would meet the information needs of their users. Because the technology available at the time magnetic tape and punch cards processed the queries so slowly, these searches had to be done in batch mode. The query was keyed in during the day, the magnetic tape was run against the query at night and the results were delivered the next day. Any typographical or logical errors in the query required re-doing the entire search and waiting for the new results. This was what was referred to as batch processing and it formed the foundation of the information retrieval industry in the 1960s. Then during the 1970 s computer power, speed and memory all increased as did the ability to communicate with computers over existing telephone wires. Magnetic tape was replaced by much faster disk stacks. Modems allowed remote access to huge computers rather than limiting access to hardwired terminals. Information service companies made their computerized files, (called Databases) available to other libraries on a contractual basis. The database or the reference work in a machine-readable form is searched online and information needed is received directly on their equipment. This is known as online searching. These developments provided the first truly online searching, with the searcher and the search systems communicating interactively. As the number and variety of databases available through these search service vendors such as Dialog or STN increased, the market for these services expanded as well, until it included most colleges, universities, corporations and research libraries and institutions. The primary user for nearly all of the abstracting and indexing services available through these search systems was the professional reference librarian in these organizations. Librarians performed the searches to fulfill an information need presented by a member of the library s user community. These comprehensive searches done on behalf of a library user are termed retrospective searches, bibliographic searches, online searches or mediated searches. Over time, the demand for direct access to electronic resources began and vendors created new services which are menubased to facilitate searching. Because most end-users were unwilling to commit the time and energy required to learn the command languages, the information industry developed the first end-user systems. These initial end-user search services can be seen now as a transitional stage of development for electronic resources. 52

53 CD-ROM The CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. It has vast storage capacity and is a very strong asset in the delivery of electronic resources for reference. Each disc stores approximately 550 million bytes of information. Basic elements of CD-ROM include a disc drive to read the CD-ROM, a personal computer (PC) or workstation, a search language to manipulate data. Uses of CDROM CD-ROM provides user ability to search the index, abstract or other reference tools directly. CD-ROM search software often provides the user with much of the power of multiple indexes and Boolean logic available in the commercial online search environment, without its time and cost pressures. Boolean logic is an effective way of searching electronic resources. Refer to Unit * Section * for details on this search strategy. With Boolean logic, users are able to explore the database, following leads as they are discovered, and printing out citations during the search. This makes them in charge of their own searches, relieves them of the burden of writing down citations, and provides them with many more citations in less time than in a manual search. Advantages and disadvantages For the reference librarian, the CD-ROM systems have single fixed subscription price for unlimited use. Having CD-ROM simplifies budgeting, since annual costs are known in advance and do not vary with use. Each library can select system or group of systems which meets the needs of its users. Each CD ROM system stores thousands of citations on a single disc so user can search the equivalent of dozen volumes of index simultaneously. Since it is designed to be end user system, the reference librarian does not have to be a search intermediary for each patron and can be used whenever a room is available (that is, it is not limited to when a librarian can be scheduled.) Libraries purchase CD-ROM systems, install them on workstations in reference rooms and provide the instruction and support for their use. Some disadvantages: CD ROM tends to be expensive. There is a lack of standards, often referred to as High Sierra Standard which has resulted in a degree of incompatibility among CD-ROM systems. The International Standard Organization (ISO 9660) has been provided to create consistency across systems. Though other vendors conform to High Sierra standard, they use software or indexing systems which make them incompatible with other systems. Another disadvantage is that CD-ROM systems with different search levels impede searches or need individualized training and instruction in higher search techniques. Searching procedures vary widely, so the user of multiple systems is sometimes confused by the very different capabilities, style and look of the 53

54 systems. They also undergo frequent and far reaching revisions and upgrades making it difficult to maintain current user aids. Very often CD-ROM and online version of the same database vary significantly from one another and from printed version. Online database tends to be updated frequently while CD-ROM updated quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis. So you need to investigate and cross check information from a variety of sources. The producing company provides inadequate technical support. Because of all positive and negative factors, CD-ROM has found a niche in the reference service spectrum as a complement to, rather than as a replacement for online information delivery systems. Databases A database is a set of information formatted into defined structures. In this context, the information is likely to be text. The text can be a basic bibliographic citation including the authors names and identifying the source, it can be an enhanced citation including subject headings and abstracts or it could be the complete text of the article or report. A database is also defined as a collection of information on one or more related topics. The library accesses the database over a communication network. Databases can store an unlimited amount of information and make them readily available in a matter of seconds. They can be searched with lightning speed, and can be updated anytime. There are different types of databases: bibliographic databases and non bibliographic databases. For our purposes, we shall be examining bibliographic databases. Bibliographic databases They are machine-readable form of indexes and abstracts. In the late 60 s and 70 s publishers of indexing and abstracting journals and bibliographies began selling machine-readable versions of their products in addition to, or in place of their printed counterparts. In bibliographic databases, the base record is a citation to an article, book, chapter or paper. The citation may include an abstract or summary of the item, subject headings selected by the database producer, author, title and source information; all are searchable. Some bibliographic databases include notes, augmented title words (when the original title is uninformative) or translated titles (if the original is in a language other than English), publication type, date of publication and language of the material. Most correspond directly to a printed index or abstract. 54

55 Bibliographic databases can be divided into three broad groups: Let us examine them now. The first is multidisciplinary where a variety of subjects are produced for a diverse clientele eg. Library of Congress Machine Readable Catalog (LCMARC), UKMARC these contain cataloging records pertaining to published materials on a wide variety of subjects. The second is News and business oriented that provide multidisciplinary subject coverage but emphasize news and business information of practical significance eg NEWSPAPER ABSTRACT and PERIODICAL ABSTRACTS databases (produced by UMI); the READERS GUIDE TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE, (from H.W. Wilson) And the third type is specialized search services that limit database coverage to particular subject areas, such as science or engineering, or to professional disciples or activities, such as medicine or law. Eg CURRENT CONTENTS SEARCH the machine readable counterparts of the Science Citation Index and Current Contents publications of the Institute for Scientific Information. Having a diversity of databases is both advantageous and disadvantageous. The positive aspect is that when the librarian is seeking information on a subject that is well covered in one database. The negative aspect is when a topic is partially covered by several databases, each with its own subject heading, structure, dates of coverage, rules for inclusion. This means that the user or librarian has to search several databases before he/she can come up with answers. Under those circumstances, the user is advised to use written guides and handbooks to databases. Eg. Directory of Online Databases. One common aspect of bibliographic databases is the general absence of material published before the mid-1960 s. It is typical for a database to go only as far back in time as the date it was first created using machine-readable techniques. Conversion of older material into machine-readable form is a costly undertaking and few database producers have done it. One exception however is the DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS ONLINE. Its coverage goes back to 1861 in its electronic form, because its printed cumulative index was created as a machine-readable file in Non-Bibliographic databases Non-bibliographic databases are a variety of databases which are distinguished from bibliographic databases by content, style or format. They contain 55

56 information other than citations to books, journal articles or other publications. There are two broad groups: textual databases and numeric databases. Let us look at them briefly. Textual non-bibliographic databases contain information equivalent to commonly encountered printed reference sources such as encyclopedias, directories and other publications. The base record is the full paper or document or article itself, with the associated bibliographic citation information, rather than a citation to a paper or other document located outside the database. A growing number of full-text databases are professional literature databases, which include the full texts of many journals in a particular discipline for fields such as library science, pharmacy, medicine and law. Examples are Emerald, EbscoHost, Blackwell, Hinari, and so on. Most of these non-bibliographic databases require subscription to them. Fortunately, the University of Ghana subscribes to all the above-mentioned and as such you can actually find journal articles that you want. Now, let us look at numeric databases. They contain statistical, financial or other quantitative information. An example is the EIU Country Risks and Forecasts database produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit. They are databases containing historical and predicative information, Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index. The advantage to the patron who can get the required information without going to a specialized library or central library building is enormous. Bibliographical Utility Networks These networks were established about 30 years ago to provide machinereadable cataloguing records and holdings information for their member libraries. Their services have expanded to support resource sharing through interlibrary loan and document delivery. Cooperative research projects extend the scope of the organizations. Examples of some bibliographical utility networks are the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), the Research libraries Information network (RLIN), CARL, Western Library Network (WLN). I shall however discuss the first two as they seem to be very popular. Both OCLC and RLIN provide services not just to libraries for the use of librarians, eg cataloging, interlibrary loan and document delivery, but also directly to end users. In doing so, bibliographic utilities are not only revolutionizing access to the bibliographic universe, they are also rapidly changing the interactions between libraries and their users. OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) It begun in 1967, provided as of 2000, bibliographic records and holdings information for more than 36,000 libraries in 74 countries. Although the numbers 56

57 obviously change daily, by 2000, the database contained more than 43 million records for books, serials, audiovisual materials, maps, archives/manuscripts sound recordings, music scores and computer files. Access to OCLC Online Union Catalog (WorldCat) and its other services is provided by several different systems. The Prism service provides access for cataloguing and resource sharing (interlibrary loan and the production of union catalogs). The FirstSearch service is aimed at end users who may access not only WorldCat but also other databases of indexes, abstracts and full texts. FirstSearch which is menu-driven also allows users to search their own catalog for holding and then to input an interlibrary loan request if their library does not own the item. The Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) Another bibliographical utility network is the RLIN. It is the shared cataloguing network operated by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) a nonprofit membership corporation composed in 2000 of 161 institutions, including university libraries, archives, museums and other research or educational bodies. RLG focuses its attention on the development of cooperative solutions to the problems of information access, information delivery, preservation and the management of digital information. The services offered by RLIN are similar in structure to those of OCLC. The central RLIN bibliographic database is a union catalog of more than 105 million items held in RLG member institutions, plus an additional 100 libraries that use RLIN. RLIN also offers access to CitaDel, a service providing access to 13 databases of journals, newspapers, conference proceedings, dissertations and other publications which are indexed at the individual article level. Eureka is RLIN s Web-based search interface and Zephyr is a service that allows users of local online catalogs to search the RLIn database using the same commands as their local system. Using Ariel, RLG s document transmission software for the Internet, libraries can scan articles or images and transmit the electronic image over the Internet directly to either their users personal computers or a receiving library. Advantages and disadvantages There are several advantages to the user and even to the Information professional for using these bibliographical utility networks. They include : i) sharing of information to avoid duplication ii) For the information professional, it helps to locate information; confirm and clarify the information a patron provides about a particular item; determine the proper spelling of an item; identify libraries in the system which owns the item (because each of the bibliographic utilities provides holdings information) and assist with interlibrary loan process. Searching databases 57

58 To obtain information from a database or a CD-ROM, you must know a series of commands that will allow you to find the needed information. Subject terms and or key words, author names titles are some of the primary keys of retrieving information. There is also the search or research query which requires a good deal of skill on the part of the user. The key to subtle searching is the Boolean Logic. Boolean logic is a form of symbolic logic named after George Boole, 19 th Century mathematician who developed it. Boolean logic uses common words as logical operators in very specific ways to create and manipulate sets. It allows one to combine words and phrases to either limit or expand the search. The operators are AND, OR and NOT. The Boolean operator OR is used to make a more inclusive set by making an item eligible if it meets at least one of the stated criteria : an item would be included in a set if it meets condition A or condition B. One way to visualize Boolean logic is with Venn diagrams. Try : search for college OR university The Boolean operator AND is used to make a more restrictive set by requiring that an item must meet both the conditions stated to be included in the final set: an item would be included only if it meets both condition A and condition B. Try :search for poverty AND crime The Boolean operator NOT is also used to make a more restrictive set. It excludes items meeting condition A that also meet condition B. The Boolean string would be cats NOT dogs. 58

59 Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching This is another form of Boolean Logic. Implied Boolean logic refers to a search in which symbols are used to represent Boolean logical operators. Boolean operators are not used - where the plus sign (+) represents AND, the minus sign (-) represents NOT, and no sign at all is automatically taken by the robot as an OR relation. Plus and minus sign: if a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. You can exclude a word from your search by putting a minus sign ("-") +school_of_public_health +harvard_university +titanic -movie Keyword searching refers to a search type in which you enter terms representing the concepts you wish to retrieve. In this type of search on the Internet, the absence of a symbol is also significant, as the space between keywords defaults to either OR logic or AND logic. Nowadays, most search engines default to AND. Implied Boolean logic has become so common in Web searching that it may be considered a de facto standard. Phrases or combinations of words To search with phrases or combinations of words, in most search engines you can use quotes. E.g. "harvard university library". In most search engines you can also use underscores: harvard_university_library. Predetermined language in a user fill-in template - a menu expressing the Boolean relation in brief sentences like: all of these words (=AND) any of these words (=OR) must not contain (=NOT) Truncation Another way of searching databases is by the use of truncation. Truncation refers to shortening a word or eliminating some characters from a longer term to pick up variants. It is a form of the Boolean operator OR. In truncation the computer is told to put into a single set all those items that share a common 59