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Directories, Almanacs, Yearbooks. LIS 704 Summer 2009 Reference & Online Resources. The evolution of reference resources. By tradition and practice, reference resources either answer a question, or lead to other places where the answer might be found.
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Directories, Almanacs, Yearbooks LIS 704 Summer 2009 Reference & Online Resources
The evolution of reference resources • By tradition and practice, reference resources either answer a question, or lead to other places where the answer might be found. • Usually reference resources are developed by librarians, experts, publishers, organizations, public agencies, or other interested parties • By library tradition and practice, reference resources are usually organized into types of collections: “ready” and “regular”
Landscape of Reference Resources • Directories, Almanacs, Yearbooks • Quick facts, simple questions, confirmation of data, overview of an event • Biographical Sources, Dictionaries • More details on individuals; more complexity on words, topics, and issues. first level of contextualization • Encyclopedias, Geographic Sources • Next level of details on topics, giving much information context within time or space; second level of contextualization • Indexes, Abstracts • Overview is minimal; subject terms, boolean searching, concept linking dominate. User must bring much of the contextualization to the table. • Specialized Sources • All kinds of reference tools that demand an expert’s perspective to know how to use. For instance, i.e. Chemical/Biological/Radiological Incident Handbook.
Aspects of Authority • Publisher/Author reputation; respect; expertise • When (or how often) the source is issued • How many other libraries collect the source • Is the source on a “core” list of material for a particular library, collection, subject area; i.e. “Women's Studies: Core Books (ACRL/WSS)” • Cost and overall expense of the source
General; Special Almanacs • Answer.com -- http://www.answers.com/topic/almanac?cat=technology • Wikipedia’s Perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_almanacs
General; Special Yearbooks • Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/Yearbooks • Encyclopedia Yearbooks • Association Yearbooks • Professional Organization Yearbooks • Specialist Yearkbooks
General; Special Directories • Open Directory Project: http://dmoz.org/ • Telephone and City Directories in the Library of Congress: Current Directories http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/telephon.html
Other ways of finding reference sources • Using the Library of Congress Subject Headings "Handbooks manuals etc.“ ; Yearbooks • Oxford Reference Online: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/GLOBAL.html?authstatuscode=202