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Sources of Information

Documentary

Non-Documentary

Classification of Documantary Sources of Information

      C. W. Hansan

               Primary Source

               Secondary source

               Primary/secondary sources of information

      Denis Grogan

               Primary Source

               Secondary source

               Tertiary sources

      S.R. Ranganathan

               Conventional Documents

               Neo-conventional documents

               Meta- documents

                                                                                                                                                                       

                          Sources of Information                  

 Information source is a source of Information for provide knowledge to somebody Inyonmation sources may be observations, People speeches, Documents, Pictures organizations etc. There are mainly two types of information sources. They are 

 1. Documentary                                                                                    

 The documentary sources are physical or printed sources of information that are fit for physical handling at they are the record in some physical form. Documentary or Traditional Information Sources are books, Periodicals, and new paper, major part of all transactions of information is taking place through these media. 

 2. Non- Documentary                                                                          

 The Non-Documentary, sources of information are live sources that provide information instantly or they are the record in some electronic form. The non- documentary, sources of information include research institute, university learned and professional bodies, universities human source, etc. 

 Classification of Documentary Sources of Information                    

 Different authors classified the documentary sources of information into different categories, some popular classifications are listed bellow 

 A.                   C.W. Hansan                                                                                                

 C.W. Hanson (1971) in the article 'introduction to science information work' Published by ASLIB divides documentary sources of Information into two categories. Primary and secondary. 

   i. Primary Source   

 The Primary documents exist of their own and usually contain original information on the first formulation of any new observation, experiment, idea etc. Thus, according to Hanson, a monograph an article in periodical, text book, and Encyclopaedia are all primary document. 

  ii. Secondary source  

 All secondary publication present the contents of primary document in a condensed form or list them in a helpful way so that the existence of a primary document can be known and access to it can be made. 

  iii. Primary/secondary sources of information  

 Conference, Proceeding, theses and dissertation monographs, etc. have the characteristic of both primary and secondary source of information. Those of documents representing new facts can be regarded as primary publication and those having the character of reviews can be grouped as secondary publication, As a result of such mixing of primary and secondary sources of information. Some expert doesn't consider this division to be much practical utility. 

  B.                Denis Grogan (1982)                                                                                      

 Grogan, on the basis of level of reorganization, has classified the documents into three categories, they primary, secondary, and tertiary. 

   i. Primary Sources   

 Primary publications are those in which the author for the f irst time supplies evidence, describes a discovery, makes or drives a new position or brings forward new evidence about. previous proposition. It was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. It is a fundamental, authoritative document related to a subject of inquiry, used in the preparations of a later derivative work. Thus, the primary sources of information are basic sources of new information which are not passed through any filtering mechanism like condensation, interpretation or evaluation and are the original work of the author. 

 UNESCO (1968) defines a primary publication as "original Scientific Paper describing new research techniques or apparatus" Primary does the mean superior. It refers to the creation by the primary players and is distinguished from a secondary source, which is a historical work, like a scholarly book or article, built up from primary sources. 

 Primary sources may include *periodicals, *patent, *standard, *report, *reprint. *trade journal, *classic book, *letters, *diaries, *and other personal paper, *photographs, *interviews, *transcript goverment and historical records, *news paper clippings, *and other original sources. 

  ii. Secondary Sources   

 A document concerning a particular subject of inquiry which is derived from or based on the study and analysis of the primary source of information is called the secondary source of information. In the secondary of information, the original information is selected, modified and arranged in a suitable format for the purpose of easy location by the user. The secondary sources of information thus provide digested information and also serve as bibliographical key to primary sources of information. Secondary publication includes text book, reference book, review of the literature, etc. 

   iii. Tertiary sources   

 The tertiary sources of information are last to appear and mostly do not contain subject knowledge. It is designed to provide information about information and so acts as a guide to the primary and secondary sources of information. The tertiary sources of information are the bibliography of bibliographies, guides to libraries, other organizations; indexing and abstracting periodicals, list of accession, list of research in progress directions etc. 

 C.                              S.R. Ranganathan                                                                             

 Based on the physical characteristics of documents s.r. ranganathan classified documentary sources of information into four categories. These also reflect the chronological order of their development. They are -  

   i. Conventional Documents   

 Conventional documents are those which are usually recorded on paper in a natural language by writing, typing, printing or some near printing process. There are the most popular documents in use. These include books, periodicals, map, atlases etc. 

   ii. Neo-conventional documents   

 Neo-Conventional documents are a new class of micro-documents, such as standards, specifications, patents, data etc. iii. Non - Conventional documents Non-Conventional documents are a record in non-conventional size, shape or material audios, visuals, audio-visuals, microforms etc. are included in this category. 

   iii. Meta- documents   

Meta-documents are a record of phenomena made directly, unmediated by the human mind. They are an instrument-record of natural and social phenomena made possible by instrument technology photography, radar, etc. (Direct records unmediated by human mind or instrument technology record.)

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