My ContentReference SourcesReference sources characteristicsClassification of Reference Sources Control Access Directional Type Work of Sources TypeTypes of Reference Sources
Dictionaries Lexicon Concordance Glossary Based on the number of words, scope and coverage of other items of information General language dictionaries Subject dictionaries Special Purpose dictionaries Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries The major categorisation of dictionaries based on the content is as follows General Dictionaries (Unabridged) Subject Dictionaries
Etymological Dictionaries
Bilingual Dictionaries
Polyglot Dictionaries
Encyclopaedies Supplement to Encyclopedia Types of Encyclopaedias General encyclopaedia Subject encyclopaedia
Ready Reference Sources Year books International yearbook National yearbook Subject Yearbook Almanacs Handbooks Manuals Directories Geographical Information Sources Map, Atlases and Globes Types of Maps General Reference Maps Thematic Maps Atlas National Atlas International Atlas Globe Gazetteers International Gazetteers National Gazetteers Local Gazetteers, District Gazetteers Guide Books
Biographical Sources Statistical Sources National Statistical Sources International Statistical Sources Current Sources Thesaurus Bibliographical Sourcer Bibliography of bibliographies Indexing and Abstracting Periodical Citation Index List of Research in Progress Notification of Forth coming conference
Etymological Dictionaries
Bilingual Dictionaries
Polyglot Dictionaries
Reference Sources
Although the materials in a reference collection vary in its format, to understand the concept historically, here we consider the definition of the term in connection with the most common format, i.e, a reference book. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science (1983) gives the following definitions of a reference book.
"A book designed by the arrangement and treatment of its subject matter to be consulted for definite items of information rather than to be read consecutively".
A book whose use is restricted to the library building an all-inclusive definition was later gives in the Harrod's Librarians Glossary and Reference book as "any material, published work, database, website, etc. which is used to obtain authoritative information"
Reference sources are designed to be consulted rather than read through. References materials can be arranged alphabetically, topically, or chronologically. Many will contain cross listed information and more than one index. If it is not obvious how a reference source is organized, take a moment to look through the explanatory or how-to-use information, which is usually presented at the beginning of the book, or in HELP screens for online products.
Use reference books (also called reference or background sources, or resources) to get quick specific facts or information or an overview of a subject.
Reference sources characteristics
i. Consulted for Definite Item of Information
They are not meant for continuous i.e. cover to cover reading. They are consulted from time to time (occasional) for particular pieces of information.
ii. Miscellary of Information
It is miscellary of information or facts and consists of disjointed entries of varying length which are collected from a vast number of sources. One entry in sources may or may not have any relationship with the other entry.
iii. Bird's Eye view of the Topic
The books provide only the birds eye view of the topics and rarely deal with them in depth.
iv. Item can be Randomly Located
The arrangement of information is such that it can be conveniently and quickly recalled
In the library, reference collections are shelved together in a special location separately from circulating items. Ordinarily the reference collections are not lent out (circulated) or checked out from the library because they contain brief information about the topic in hand and if needed, can be photocopied and therefore, do not need to be borrowed by the users. Its availability in the library assures the provision of making it accessible on demand to any user to answer questions immediately. Reference books are also too valuable to permit the borrowers to take them out.
It may be added that the boarder line of demarcation between a reference book and other is not always sharp. The decision as to whether or not to regard a given book as a reference book will some time differ from library to library.
Classification of Reference Sources
William A. Kata divides the reference sources into two large categories
i. Control Access Directional Type
It itself does not contain the required, information but directs the user to the documents which contain the information. It include bibliographies, Catalogue, indexes abstracts, etc.
ii. Work of Sources Type
It itself contains the information. For example. Encyclopedia, Dictionary etc.
Types of Reference Sources
i. Dictionaries
The word 'dictionary' comes from the Medieval Latin word dictionarium (meaning collection of words or phrase), which in turn came from latin term dictio meaning "word". The ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to produce dictionaries, But most Greek and Latin dictionaries were either lists of rare and difficult words or specialised list of word.
A dictionary contains the words of a language or the terms of a subject, profession or vocation arranged according to some definite order usually alphabetical, giving their meanings, pronunciation, spelling, significance, and use. Some times synonyms, antonyms, derivation and history of the words or terms are also given. Many dictionaris also provide grammatical information, etymologies (origins and development of the 4 meaning of the word), usage guidance and examples in phrases or sentences. There fore, primarily it deals with words and it is produced by lexicographers. A pictorial dictionary includes illustration of the objects represented by the words, listed; some other types of dictionary may also list our characters with their glyphs, or an alphabetical list of words with corresponding words in other languages. It is most commonly found in the from of a book. However, in recent years some dictionaries are also found in electronic portable handheld devices. Some examples of english language dictionaries are Marriam-Webster Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary (descriptive). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language. Webster's Third New International Dictionary (descriptive).
i. Lexicon
A dictionary of some ancient language that generally provides more grammatical analysts is known as lexicon.
ii. Concordance
A concordance is an alphabetical list of the principal words used in a book or body of work showing location in the text with immediate contexts. Because of the time and difficulty and expense involved in creating a concordance in the pre computer era, only works of special importance. Such as the Bible, Qur'an or the works of shakespeare, had concordances prepared for them.
iii. Glossary
A list of difficult terms along with some explanation or definition in a special field. The glossary is some times also refered to as word book.
A modern dictionary is a book containing words of a language arranged alphabetically with their meanings. Most dictionaries tell us much more than the meaning of the words. Many list pronunciation, grammatical labels, illustrative quotations, synonyms, antonyms, usage notes, etymology. and other information. Some dictionaries give derivation and history of the words too.
Based on the number of words, scope and coverage of other items of information, the dictionaries can be categorised into following groups
a. General language dictionaries
b. Subject dictionaries
c. Special Purpose dictionaries
d. Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries.
a. General Language Dictionaries
Language dictionaries cover the words of a language and give meanings, definition, explanation etc. of the words in the same language. The language may be english, French, Hindi, German or Russian. For instance english language dictionaries will include english words and give their meanings in english language. These dictionaries are also called monolingual dictionaries. These dictionaries include information on commonly used words of a language as well as scientific, technical and other subject terms. General language dictionaries can further be divided according to size, volume and the target user group. Comprehensive/unabridged general dictionaries contain a very large number of words and attempts comprehensive coverage including obsolete words. These dictionaries try to cover all the words of a language, including past as well as currently used words.
Abridged/ college dictionaries usually contain less number of entries. Desk and children's dictionaries contain much less number of words. Abridged/college dictionaries cover most common and currently used words. Children dictionaries cover word related to the course curriculum. The meaning and definitions are written in simple language which children can comprehend. Children dictionaries also include more illustration to make children understand the concept.
Most of the reputed publishers of unabridged standard general language dictionaries bring our abridged, desks, college and children edition of their dictionaries. Publishers of these dictionaries try to do continuous revision with each new edition they add or delete a given number of words. This is particularly true for desk dictionaries which are used by young people and must reflect current usage and new words introduced into the language via radio, television, music, technology and the like.
b. Subject Dictionaries
General language dictionaries, even comprehensive ones, find it difficult to cover all worlds of specialised nature and more and more such words are being coined every day. Subject dictionaries concentrate on the definition of the words in a given subject. These dictionaries are becoming increasingly common, due to increase in study and research in different subject areas ranging from arts, humanities, social sciences to science and technology.
c. Special Dictionaries
The dictioneries which are compiled for special purpose or which deal with linguistic aspect of the words (such as pronunciation, synonym and antonyms etc.) or literary aspect of the words (such as quotations, idioms, proverbs, etc) or with special type or class of words (such as obsolete words, abbreviations and acronyms, etc.) are called special dictionaries. Through most of these aspects of the words are covered by general language dictioneries as well, but special dictionaries cover these aspects much more comprehensively. Special dictionaries supplement general language dictionaries.
d. Bilingual and Multilingual Dictionaries
The bilingual dictionaries give meaning of a word from one language to another language. For example, an English-Hindi dictionary will list words in english and give their equivalent words in hindi. This type of dictionaries is called bilingual dictionaries. A multilingual dictionary gives meaning of a word in more than two or more languages. These dictionaries, also called translating dictionaries, normally do not define the words, but translate the words from one language to another. Many of them are limited in scope to certain fields such as astronomy, biology and electronics. Bilingual dictionaries can be unidirectional, meaning that they list the meanings of the words of one language to another. They can be bidirectional, providing translation to and from both the languages. Bidirectional bilingual dictionaries usually consist of two sections, each listing words and phrases of one language alphabetically along with their translation. These dictionaries are used by translators, linguistics, language students and all those interested in foreign language.
The major categorisation of dictionaries based on the content is as follows
a. General Dictionaries (Unabridged)
b. Subject Dictionaries
c. Etymological Dictionaries
d. Bilingual Dictionaries
e. Polyglot Dictionaries
ii. Encyclopaedies
The word encyclopaedia or encyclopaedia is derived from two Gresk Worlds "Enky Klios" which means "circle" and "Paideia" which means of learning. The word encyclopaedia itself is synonymous with cyclopedia which means compendium of information or knowledge or a circle of knowledge, a work which represents synthesis of knowledge. It contains comprehensive written information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge, with the entries arranged in aphabetical order. Multi-volume encyclopedia's often include an index in the last volume.
The oxford english dictionary has define am encyclopaedia as "a literary work containing extensive information on all branches of knowledge usually arranged in alphabetical order". ALA Glossary of library terms difine encyclopaedies as " a work containing information articles on subject in every f ield of Knowledge usually arranged in alphabetical order or a similar work limited to a special field of subject.” Four major characteristics of an encyclopaedia are its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and it's method of production. It attempts to bring some order to the knowledge reflecting the state of knowledge as it exists during the period of its compilation. The included knowledge is related to kind of readership which an encyclopedia intends to serve. There have historically been two main methods of organizing printed encyclopedias : the alphabetical method (consisting of a number of separate articles, organized in alphabetical order), or organization by hierarchical categories. The former method is the most common by far, especially for general works. The encyclopedia are written by a number of employed text writers, usually people with an academic degree but some modern encyclopaedies articles are collaboratively written by the experts on the subject.
The fluidity of electronic media, however, allows new possibilities for multiple methods of organization of the same content in the encyclopedia. Further, electronic media offer previously unimaginable capabilities for search, indexing and cross reference.
Encyclopaedia can be general, containing articles on important topics in every field that describe the total accumulated knowledge on each topic or all that come before them. The general encyclopedias are larger compendia and often contain guides on how to do a variety of things, as well as embedded dictionaries and gazetteers. Every general encyclopaedia work is, of course, an abridged version of all knowledge discussed in depth However, the discussion of the included topic represents the opinions and worldview of a particular time and the target audience is kept in view while discussing the topics. For example, New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Americana, Collier's encyclopaedia, and German Brockhaus. The encyclopaedia, can also specialize in a particular field such as an encyclopaedia of medicine, philosophy, law, encyclopaedia of library and information science, international encyclopedia of social sciences, McGraw Hill encyclopaedia of science and technology, etc
i. Supplement to Encyclopedia
It is an annual or periodical publication issued by the publisher of the encyclopaedia. The purpose of encyclopedia supplement is to provide up-to-date information about the articles in the basic set and to bring out a summary of the major events, which have taken place during a year. But in reality it only serves as general reading and browsing and for summarizing the significant events. It is extremely useful to determine the trend of development in a particular field during the previous year. Examples : Britannica Book of the year, Americana Annual, etc.
Types of Encyclopaedias
Encyclopaedias can be broadly divided into two types
a. General encyclopaedia
b Subject encyclopaedia
a. General encyclopaedia
A general eneyelopaedia covers all fields of knowledge, while a subject encyclopaedia is devoted to a single subject such as Encyclopaedia of physics or group of subjects such as encyclopaedia of science and technology.
General encyclopaedies can be futher categorised according to size (single volume - set or multi volume - set) and target users (for adults, students or children) most of the publishers of general language encyclopaedias bring out different sets of encyclopaedias for adults, students and children of various age groups. Articles in childrens encyclopaedias are written in simple language and large numbers of illustrations are included to make the topic clear and understandable. ex. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia, components by Britannica. britannica student encyclopaedies, Encyclopaedia Americana. The New Book of Knowledge, World Book Encyclopaedias, World Book Advanced, World Book Student.
b. Subject Encyclopaedian
A subject encyclopaedia provides detailed information on specific area of knowledge such as arts and humanities, science and technology, social sciences etc. There are thousands of subject encyclopaedias ranging from broad subject area to a very narrow subject field. For example there is an encyclopaedia of science and technology (a broad subject area) and an encyclopaedia on pigeon breeds (a narrow subject field). There are multi-volume as well as single volume subject encyclopaedias. Some subject encyclopaedias are meant for subject specialists and some are for students and general readers interested in that subject ex. McGraw-Hill Encyclopaedia of Science and Technology. Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science.
iii. Ready Reference Sources
Under this category come year books, almanacs, hand books. manuals and directories. Though most of the reference books are specifically designed for ready reference purposes, reference librarians categorise the above sources as ready reference sources, as these are used for providing answers to fact-finding questions.These sources come very handy for providing answers to fact-finding questions like when will the next total solar eclipse occus ? who was awarded the noble peace prize in the year 2009 ? Who is the vice chancellor of jodhpur University? What is the address of Bureau of Indian Standards ? How many newspapers are published in India ? and many more.
A. Year books
A year book is an annual compendium of current information which may be sometimes restricted by subject or country or region. It is mostly used for answering questions involving the recent trends and current developments. J. K. Cates defines a year book as "a publication which is issued annually for the purpose of current information in narrative, statistical or descriptive form. According to ALA Glossary, a year book is "an annual volume of current, information in descriptive and or statistical form, sometimes limited to a special f ield". A yearbook as the name indicates is a book of information that is updated and published annually i.e. every year. The basic purpose of a yearbook is to record events and developments of the previous year in a country or in the world. Based on their scope and type of information covered yearbooks can be categorised as :
i. International yearbook.
ii. National yearbook.
iii. Subject yearbook.
i. International yearbook
It provides reliable and handy statistical information about each country of the world. For example- The statesman's yearbook 2011 published by Macmillan, provides political, economic and social account of every country.
ii. National yearbook
It provides up-to-date political, economic and social account of an individual country. National yearbooks are mostly compiled by the respective government of that country and are considered reliable and authoritative. For example India 2010 : A reference Annual, 54 th edition, Published by Division Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govermement of India.
iii. Subject Yearbook
Subject yearbooks are devoted to a specific subject or group of subjects. For example Family Welfare programme in India year book 2001; Published by Ministry of Health and family Welfare, Government of India.
B. Almanacs
The world almanacs (also spotted almanak) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field (mostly covering information) often arranged according to the calender. According to the ALA glossary, an almanac ia a an annual publication containing a calendar frequently accompanied astronomical data and other information or b. An annual year book of statistics and other information sometimes in a particular field. It records most of the astronomical data and various statistics, such as the times of the rising and setting of the sun and moon eclipses, hours of full tide, stated religious festivals, terms of courts etc contents also include discussions of topical developments and a summary of recent historical events. Major topics covered by almanacs (reflected by their tables of contents) include : geography, government, demographics, agriculture, economics and business, health and medicine, religion, mass media, transportation, science and technology, sport, and awards/prizes. Sometimes almanac is grouped with yearbooks as this is also an annual publication giving current events, developments, statistics, etc. Example: World Almanac and Books of Facts, Whitaker's Almanack, Information Please Almanac. The old Farmer's Almana etc.
An almanac is a reference book usually published once a year and contains many kinds of information. Almanacs originally provided a calendar for the months with eslipses, the movement of planets and the rising and setting of the sun, the moon and stars. Currently almanoes have expanded their scope and contents beyond that of their historical counterparts. Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data covering the entire world. Major topics covered are geography, government, demographic data, agriculture economics and business, health and medicine, S&T, transport, sports, awards, and prizes. Contents also include articles focusing on events of the previous year as well as summary of recent events. Present day almanacs are more like yearbooks. Book depend on government sources for statistical data. The only difference is that almanacs present astronomical data, which is absent in the year books.
C. Handbooks
The word handbook is derived from German word. "Handbuch" meaning a small book giving usefull facts. The literal meaning of the term "handbook" is the book which is 'handy' to use as it contains useful facts and handy to carry it conveniently in hand. The term "manual" is derived from the latin term "manuals" meaning a guide book. Handbooks and manuals, both are ready reference source consisting of "facts to know" and "instructions to do"
A handbook by definition is a concise manual or reference book providing specific information or instructions about a topic or a subject. A subject handbook basically gives brief information such as facts on a subject or instructions for operating a machine. Most of the subject handbooks are meant for practitioners (engineers, technicians, etc.) and includes formulae, definitions, diagrams, graphs, tables, procedures, etc. which are required by the practitioners in their day-to-day work. These handbooks are limited in scope, since they deal with in-depth information in a narrow subject field and are mostly used by the specialists and practitioners working in a laboratory or in an industry. CRC press brings out a large number of handbooks for practitioners. Some of the examples are CRC Handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC handbook of Thermoelectrics.
D. Manuals
The word "manual" is derived from the latin term 'manuals' which means a guide book or instruction book to pursue an occupations, art or study. The term 'manual' in common parleness refers to instruction to do something with the aid of very explicit step directions. It gives instruction by means of specific and clear direction. Louis shores opined that "manuals are sources that contain instruction for doing". ALA Glossary definers a manual as a. a compact book, a handbook. b. a book of rules for guidance or instructions in how to perform a task process etc. or make some physical subjects. Example : Fay, G.S. (1972). Rockhound's Manual. New York : Harper and Row.
A manual is a book of instruction for operating a machine e.g. for repairing car or many other devices. A manual basically provides, step-by-step instruction on how to do a particular job or operate a particular machine. For example when you buy any home appliances such as a television, an air conditioner an oven or even a mobile phone, you are provided with a manual which gives proper instructions as to how to use that appliance.
E. Directories
A directory is a list of names and addresses of persons, organizations, manufacturers or periodicals. It may list information in a way which best serves the requirements of its user so as to enable them to get the required information readily. S. R. Ranganathan defines a directory as "a book containing the names, address, occupation, etc. of the inhabitants of a town or a district, a list of the user of a telephone system or of the members of a particular profession or trade or a descriptive list of institution, enterprises or trade". 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, affiliation etc. for individual and address. officers, functions and such data for organization". In a wider sense, even a list of periodicals or newspapers or places may also be turned a directory. Example : Times of India Directory and yearbook including who's who, Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information, world of Learning, Universities Handbook, etc.
A directory is a book listing names and addresses of people and organisations. Directories are also very important reference tools in the library to answer directory types of enquiries from the users. Directories are of many types of which telephone directories are most common. This apart there are topographical directories, professional directorie, organisational directories, business and trade directories, and so on.
vi. Geographical Information Sources
Libraries receive many questions relating to the field of geography. As you know, geography is the scientific study of the earth's surface, climate, resources, population, etc. users seek information regarding cities, towns, mountains, rivers, including information about people and population of a particular place, the development of the place, its historical significance and much more. To meet information needs of the users, libraries. maintain special callection of geographical sources in their reference collection. Though other reference sources like dictionaries, encyclopaedia, yearbooks and almanacs also include information about places, people, rivers, mountains, forests, lakes, etc but they cover only selected and prominent places. The special collection of geographical sources in the library, cover these topics more comprehensively and are specifically designed to locate the information quickly. This collection comprises the following three types of geographical sources :
A. Map, Atlases and Globes
B. Gazetteers
C. Guide Books
A. Map, Atlases and Globes
A map is defined as "a representation of a part or the whole of the surface of the earth or a celestial body delineated on a plain surface, earth points, in the drawing intended to correspond to a geographical or a celestial position". It represents the outer boundaries of a part of the earth or the earth as a whole on a plain surface. In simple, it is a simplified depiction of a space which highlights relations between components (objects, regions) of that space. Most usually a map is a two dimensional, generally accurate representation, normally of to scale, of all or a portion of the three dimensional earth's surface or of the heavens, or another celestial body. More generally, maps can be devised to represent any local property of the world or part of it. Maps are usually stored in specially designed cases which allow them to lie flat. A map is a pictorial presentation of the earth's surface or part of it showing countries, cities, rivers, lakes, and mountain. A map can also be a drawing of the sky showing the position of stars and the planets the constellations, etc.
Types of Maps - There are many types of maps most familiar types aren:
A. General Reference Maps
B. Thematic Maps
* General Reference Maps
General reference maps identify and locate a variety of geographic features. such maps may include land features, boundaries of water. political boundaries, cities and towns and many other elements. Maps that emphasise boundaries of countries, states, continents and other political units are called political maps.
* Thematic Maps
Thematic map show the distribution of a particular feature such as, population, rainfall or natural resources, or like coal, petroleum, metals, and minerals in the earth. Many thematic maps express quantities by means of symbols or colour.
* Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps, traditionally bound into book form, but also found in multimedia formats. It gives geographic features political boundaries and some time geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics, ALA Glossary defines atlas as "a volume of map, plates, engraving. tables etc. with or without descriptive letterpress". It may be an independent publication or it may have been issued to accompany one or more volume of text. Some cartographically or commercially important atlases include Times Atlas of the World (united Kingdom, 1920 - present), Allas Mira (Russia, 1937 Present) National Geographic Atlas of the world (United states, 1963 present), Historical Atlas of China (china). Some other atlases are thematic. Ex. The Times Atlas of World Exploration.
A book containing a collection of maps is called an atlas. A world atlas contains the maps of every country.
National Atlas
International Atlas
* Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth (terrestrial globe) or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star or moon. It may also refer to a spherical representation of the celestial sphere, showing the apparent positions of the stars and constellations in the sky (celestial globe)
A globe is a map that has been pasted or printed on a hollow sphere. Only a globe can give correct picture of the earth as a whole. Because the surface of the globe is round like the earth's, surface, a globe represents all parts of the earth's surface true to scale. The proportions and positions of the earth's land feature and oceans in relation to each other are seen on a globe exactly as they are on the earth.
B. Gazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary, an important reference for information about places and place-names, used in conjunction with an atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region or continent, the social statistics and physical features such as mountains, waterways, or roads. It also includes information about the location of places, dimensions of physical feature, population, GDP, literacy rate, etc. World gazetteer usually consist of an alphabetical listing of countries, with pertinent statistics for each one, with some gazetteers listing information on individual cities, towns, villages and other settlements of varying sizes. Example include The world Grazetteer, World Wide Index, etc.
A gazetteer is a dictionary of geographical names. It lists names of places, seas, mountains and other geographical entities with their history, economic development, geography and the people. As a reference source, a gazetteer provides historical, social, cultural, political, industrial, demographic and administrative details of a country, State or district, or an important place.
Based on their coverage, gazetteer can be categorised into
• International gazette er
• National gazette er
• Local gazette er → District Gazette er
C. Guides Book
According to ALA Glossary of library terms, a guide book has been defined as handbook for travellers that gives information about a city, region or country or a similar handbook about a building, museum, etc.
A guide to the literature assists a user to use literature of a specific Subject. It helps to evaluate and introduce literature. It lays emphasis on the literature of a subject rather than its content and covers secondary and tertiary sources. It presents a detailed account of the bibliographical apparatus and tools, basic literature, agencies etc. through which it is possible to follow the development status and progress of a subject. It gives the broadest bibliographical view of the subject. A guide to the professional organisation gives the address and a brief description of the organisations engaged in a particular field at the national or international level. Guides generally include guides to the literature of a subject, guides to the libraries, guides to organization etc.
Guidebooks are basically travel guides or tourist guides meant for people who want to visit various places in their own country or any other part of the world. The main purpose of a guidebook is to guide the travelers when to visit a particular place, how to reach, where to stay, what to see, and what to buy. The travel guide include information on historical sites, museums, parks, and other places worth visiting in that city or a country, other aspects covered are information on the routes and travel facilities, best time to visit the place. The types of hotels, restaurants and shopping complexes, etc. Maps, illustrations and distances are also provided to enhance the usefulness of a guidebook. In addition, information regarding visa, money exchang weather etc. is also given for the benefit of the foreign visitors. Usually a guide book covers a region, a country or a city. ex Fodor's India, 6th edition, New York : Fodor's 2008 Fodor's London 2011, Near York: Fodor's, 2010, Fodor's Pari's 2011, New York: Fodor's, 2010
v. Biographical Sources
A biography is a description or account of the series of events making up of someone's life, which is usually published in the form of a book or an essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written on told by that same person. The biographical information also can be obtained from almanacs, biographical dictionary, directories encyclopedias, etc. Examples include International who's who, Dictionary of National Biography etc.
A biography by definition is an account of a person's life, usually written by someone else and published or intended to be published. Biographical, sources are publications listing biographical details of famous people. Such sources cover biographies of world leaders. people holding key positions in international organisations, people with outstanding performance in sports, music, dance, acting and other professional fields like science and technology, medicine, etc. A biographical source may contain a biography of an individual or biographies of groups of people (called collective biographies) A book containing collective biographies is also called a biographical dictionary for example The Dictionary of international Biography.
The type of information covered in such sources also varies from a brief factual type of data to a details essay type of biography for each entry. Some biographical sources cover famous people from all walks of life. Such sources are call general biographical sources. In some, the coverage of people is based on a single discipline or some other special criteria. Such biographical sources are called subject / special biographical sources. Again a biographical source may be international or national in scope depending upon the coverage of persons. Some biographical sources cover living persons only eg. who is who, some cover persons who are no langer living e.g. "Who was who", and some sources cover life sketches of both, living and dead persons e.g. Webstar's biographical Dictionary.
vi. Statistical Sources
The statistical information is distributed in other reference sources. The dictionaries may contain population statistics. The encyclopedia may provide socio-economic data about large geographical areas, which may be updated by their year book, the statistical yearbook may provide some other kinds of statistics over a longer period of time and so on. example includes demographic yearbook, state man's yearbook, etc.
Statistic is science of collecting and using numerical data or facts such as population about people, weather or business condition. These facts are collected, collated, interpreted and presented in a usable and understandable form to show particular trends. Economic, social and environmental statistics of a country are very useful in drawing plans for future action in any field or in making assessment of a situation in one or more fields of human activity.
The primary and secondary sources providing reliable and up to date statistical information are very much in demand in libraries. Yearbooks and almanacs are useful in providing statistical information. These sources are easier to use than the primary sources from which they derive data. Yearbooks and almanacs mainly depend on governement sources for statistical information. But information provided by them is relatively old and for latest information one has to depend on primary sources.
Generally it is the government of a country which collects different types of statistics for different purpose and for better governance. Most of the data collected by them is published, such as census data. other important statistic sources of information are those produced by international organisation such as united nations, world health organisation, world bank etc. A series of publications are produced by these organisation which give statistical information about various countries of the world.
* National statistical sources,
* International statistical sources
vii. Current Sources
Current sources of information are brought out on annual basis that depicts some important happening in the previous year. It may take the form of the following.
As you are aware, newspapers, a radio and television are important sources of information for current events. Every morning you look forward to read the newspaper of your choice to know what is happening in your city, nation and around the world. In print version of the newspaper you get news once in every 24 hours. At present, electronic version of all important news papers are available on the internet, where news items are updated continuously with no time lag. Newspapers feature articles on wide range of topics covering politics, sports, social problems, business and arts.
Information published in back issues of newspaper is frequently sought by researchers, journalists, feature writers and students. Searching information in back issues of newspapers is fairly difficult, whereas, response time for news related information is expected to be very short, at time immediately or within a few minutes for this newspaper indexes serve as useful sources of information.
There are indexing services covering an individual newspaper or a number of newspapers. A part from newspaper indexing services. There are news digest services as well where brief summaries of the news items are provided.
These days most of the important newspapers have both print as well as internet edition of their newspapers. For example, Times of India is available both in print as well as in electronic form on the internet. Full text archives of times of India (From January 2001 to 2011) can be searched online by date on the internat.
viii. Thesaurus
It is designed for drawing distinctions between similar words and assisting in choosing exactly the right word. So entries in a thesaurus should not be taken as a list of synonyms and antonyms. It also does not define words. That work is left to the dictionary. A formal definition of a thesaurus designed for indexing is : a list of every important term (single-word or multi - world) in a given domain of knowledge arranged in a systematic order and manifesting various types of relationship existing between the terms; and a set of related terms for each term in the list. The word "thesaurus more more commonly means a listing of words with similar, related, or opposite meanings (this new meaning of thesaurus dates back to Roget's Thesaurus). For example, a book of jargon for a specialized field or more technically a list of subject headings and cross-references used in the filing and retrieval of documents (or indeed papers, certificate, letters, cards, records, texts, files, articles, essays and perhaps even manuscripts), film, sound recordings, machine readable media etc. Some examples of the thesaurus are Thesaurus of English words & Phrases (ed. P. Roget); The Synonym Finder (ed. J. I. Rodale); websters New World Thesaurus (ed. C. Laird); etc.
ix. Bibliographical Source
The term "bibliography was first used by Louis Jacod de Saint charles in his Bibliographia Parisiana. It is a technique of systematically producing descriptive list of written or published records of human communications. In its most general sense it is the study and discription of books or other multimedia material. Bibliographical words are almost always considered teriary sources of information. They differ from library catalogues by including all relevant publications rather than the items actually found in a particular library. However, the catalogues of some national libraries also serve as national bibliographies as they contain almost all the publications of the concerned country. Standard citation formats are used in writing the bibliographies. The main advantages of bibliographic entries are that they contain enough information for readers to locate the materials and are presented in a consistent format. In many cases bibliography is the end result of any literature search. For example, Indian National Bibliography, Indian Books in Print etc.
A. Bibliography of Bibliographies
A bibliography of bibliographies lists the bibliographies which direct the reader to useful bibliographies through subject, place, institution etc. The bibliographies refered to may be in the from of a separately published book or part of the work or part of the periodical article or some other type of document, Bibliography of bibliography of bibliographics is highly selective in nature. For example, Bibliographic Index.
x. Indexing and Abstracting Periodical
An index is a systematic guide to i. item contained in or ii. concept derived from a collection. These items and derived concepts are represented by entries arranged in a known or stated searchable order. According to Allen Kant, "an abstract is a summary of a publication or articles accompanied by an adequate bibliographical description to enable the publication or article to be traced".
The indexing and abstracting periodicals present a condensed form of the literature of the subject and provide a scientific or specialist bird's eye view of the progress and development of the subject so that the inquirer can select the most relevant documents relating to his work in the hand. An indexing and abstracting periodical helps to find out specific information in the literature of a subject.
A. Citation Index
A citation index is an index of citations between publications. It allows the user to easily establish as to which later documents cite which earlier documents. It is an ordered list of cited articles each of which is accompanied by a list of citing articles. The cited articles are ancestors and the citing articles are descendents and this descending relation of subject is reflected through the citation index, articles are descendents and this descending relation of subjects is reflected through the citation index. Citations provide a further reading list besides paying homage to the pionners and giving credit for their work; some times it also criticises, corrects and disputes the previous contribution. The first citation indices were legal citators such as shepard citations (1873). In 1960, Eugene Garfield's Institute for scientific Information (ISI) introduced the first citation index for papers published in academic journals, starting with the science citation Index (SCT), and later expanding to produce the social sciences citation Index (SSCI) and the arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCl); Examples include ISI citation indexes (available online under the name 'web of Science'). Scopes published by Elsevier published (available online only), citeseer system publish, Google Scholar (GS), etc.
xi. List of Research in Progress
A list or directory of research in progress covers the research activities of a single institution, a laboratory or a group of institution i.e. universities. The information content usually is a short description of projects, names of investigators, period of investigation and names of funding agencies and, in some cases, reference to sources where preliminary results have already been published or likely sources of publication of results.
List of research in progress helps an individual information seeker to get in touch with the investigation, to get additional information about the work or can anticipate as to when and where to get the full report or results of an investigation and thus to avoid duplication in research Ex. current research project in CSIR Laboratories, 1972 and 1976 compiled by INSDOC, R and D projects in documentation and librarianship of FID.
xii. Notification of Forth Coming Conference
The knowledge of forth coming meetings, conferences, symposia, seminar etc. on a specific field should be notified to the members belonging to that specific domain, keeping this purpose in view some organizations publish small booklets giving essential general information about forth coming seminar, about forth coming seminar conference and workshop in a specific field. Ex. Forthcoming international scientific and technical conference, quarterly published by ASLIB.
Some of the reference sources overlap. For instance a supplement to an encyclopedia can be considered as a part of encyclopedia or separately. Similarly, the sources of statistics can be considered under yearbook or as a separate category.
Many of the above sources are now available in audio-visual format or as an online publication but still they can be include under their respective categories. Besides, the traditional reference sources, search engine, Meta search engines can also be considered as reference sources of modern times.
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