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Comprehensive Reference Tools Guide

This guide provides information on various categories of answer-providing tools, such as biographical sources, dictionaries, encyclopedias, geographical sources, maps, guidebooks, literature guides, handbooks, indexes, bibliographies, and more.

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Comprehensive Reference Tools Guide

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  1. Categories of Answer-Providing Tools (APTs) Dr. Dania Bilal IS 530 Fall 2009

  2. Biographical Sources • Information about people • Biographical dictionaries, directories, indexes • Adults, young adults, children • General and specialized Examples: Current Biography, Who’s Who, Biography Index, biography.com

  3. Online Catalogs • List of titles held in a library collection • Location service/lead-in tool • Directs users to information about subjects, authors, etc. but does not provide the information itself • Type of questions: Person, subject, specific publication

  4. Dictionaries • Information about terms, language, historical background of a term, syllabication, pronunciation, etc. See Text, chap. 7 • Adults & children • Abridged & unabridged • General & specialized • Print and online

  5. Encyclopedias • Articles on subjects in a general or specific field of knowledge • Multi-volume & one volume set • Adult/adult-young adults/children • Subject or specialized encyclopedias • See Text, chap. 7

  6. Encyclopedias • Type of questions answered in encyclopedias • Background information on events • Overview of a topic • Profile of a person • Outline/chronology of events • Other

  7. Geographical Sources • Information about places • Atlases, maps, gazetteers, guidebooks • Each provides a different type of information about places • Adults, young adults, children • Print & online

  8. Gazetteers • Geographic dictionaries • Places, physical features and information about them • Spelling, pronunciation of place names, history of name changes, population, industries, agriculture, climate, and history

  9. Maps • Pictorial representation of earth’s surface or a section of it. • Physical/historical/political information • Information is more tabular and pictorial than narrative • Print & online

  10. Atlases • Collection of maps • Simple depiction of a geographical area to detailed information about aspects of an area, such as population, mineral and energy resources, and agriculture • Articles, tables, weather, geology, zip codes

  11. Guidebooks • Information about a specific country, region, city, building, museum, travel information, etc. • Unique information appropriate for answering specific reference questions

  12. Guides to the Literature • Specific subject area or discipline • Cover available sources related to subject or discipline • May cover more than one subject area

  13. Guides to the Literature • Lead-in tools • Selection and evaluation tools • May include bibliographies, guides, indexing & abstracting services, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources along with annotations of each title

  14. Handbooks & Manuals • Compact sources • Information on a specific area/discipline or discipline in a concise or comprehensive form • Compilations of literary, historical, and statistical data

  15. Handbooks & Manuals • Narrative information with charts, tables, graphs, formulae, etc. • Directed toward specialist or practitioner Examples: Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), APA Style Manual, U.S. Government Manual

  16. Indexes • Guides to the contents of a source of knowledge • Systematic arrangement of contents using different schemes Examples: Book index, journal index, online catalog

  17. Bibliographies • Bibliographic control and access tools • Used to identify, verify, locate, and select • Trade: limited to materials published within a given country (e.g., BIP) • National: NUC – all books published by LC and member libraries (locally and overseas)

  18. Indexing & Abstracting Sources • Indexes with citations and abstracts of articles and other materials • Journal, magazine, and newspaper indexes • User language vs. system language (Subject headings lists & thesauri)

  19. Indexing & Abstracting Sources • Types of indexes • General • Print and online • Reader’s Guide; Expanded Academic ASAP • Specialized • Print and online • Social Science Index; Social Science Citation Index (SocialSciSearch – Dialog; Web of Science)

  20. Yearbooks & Almanacs • General or specialized • Current information in descriptive and statistical form • Information about people, places, organizations; numeric information, measurements, etc. (almanacs) • Chronology of world events and other info.

  21. Non-biographical Directories • Directories with no emphasis on people • Information about organizations, agencies, societies, clubs, official bodies, institutions, manufacturers, businesses, professions, regions, and the like

  22. Demo of RR Sources: IPL • Go to www.ipl.org • Explore the features • Explore RR collection

  23. Class Activity Match the question to the most suitable APT: • Address of the White House • Synonyms for the verb negate • Date of assassination of president John Kennedy • Causes of death of Kennedy, Jr. • Name of the CEO of Coca Cola Co. • Citation for latest article published by Bilal & Wang • Meaning of IEEE • Calories of an average size bagel • Conversion formula from Centigrade to Fahrenheit • A review of the movie Fahrenheit 911

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