Week 4
Week 4
REFERENCE SOURCES/BOOKS
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A reference source provides answers to brief facts, statistical information, background
information, or directs you to additional information source. The reference sources are standard
works that are used to locate specific type of information.. Reference books are referred to or
consulted only, and are not meant for continuous reading. For example, you normally use a
dictionary to find the meaning of a word, you do not read it page-by-page as you do with a text
book or a story book. Librarians usually provide reference services on the basis of reference
books in their collection. Various reference sources covered in this lesson are:-
• Dictionaries
•Encyclopedias
• Handbooks
• Yearbooks
• Almanacs
• Biographical sources, and
• Geographical Sources
⚫ Manuals
⚫ Directories
⚫
DICTIONARY
A modern dictionary is a book containing words of a language arranged alphabetically
with their meanings. Most dictionaries tell us much more than meaning of the words. Many list
pronunciations, grammatical labels, illustrative quotations, synonyms, antonyms, usage notes
and other information. Some dictionaries include etymology i.e., origin of words and history of
words also. Example of dictionary is The Chambers Dictionary. There are two types of
dictionaries: general dictionaries and subject dictionaries.
General – cover all subjects, abridged (shorter version, may not cover all meanings
for each word, and may not include more obscure words) or unabridged.
Foreign Language – translate foreign words into English i.e. Le Mer = "The Sea".
Desk – omit archaic terms and place an emphasis on modern pronunciations and meanings
of words.
Abbreviations and Acronyms – list full names/give short forms of societies, institutes.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
It is a reference material that are published in volumes give information on all branches
of knowledge or on certain wide fields with articles arranged alphabetically. An
encyclopedia contains information about people, places, events, and things. It may deal with all
areas of knowledge or it may be limited to just one subject area. Specialized encyclopedia is
also known as subject encyclopedia. Most encyclopedias are arranged alphabetically from A to
Z. Some are topically arranged, such as one volume may be devoted to ‘ Animals’ , another to
‘ Plants’ , ‘ Earth’ and ‘ Universe’ , or some other subjects.
Types of Encyclopedias
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Encyclopedias can be broadly divided into two types:-
• General Encyclopedia; and
• Subject Encyclopedia
i) General Encyclopedia: Covers all fields of knowledge. For example
Encyclopedia Britannica.
ii) Subject Encyclopedia: Covers either single subject such as
Encyclopedia of Physics or group of subjects such as Encyclopedia of
Science and Technology.
They use indexes and “ see also' to help the user find the information
Biographical Sources
Direct biographical sources provide the information about the person. Examples:
Directories list people and organizations, supplying contact information – the most well
known directory is the telephone book. E.g Yellow pages published by Akwa Ibom State.
Almanacs usually deal with the information of a particular country from a current and historical
perspective (may include comparative world history and current data); it contains very practical
information.
For example, what if you think the design of one of the flags for the confederate army during the
civil war included a palm tree, but your friend thinks it had a snake on it. You could find out by
looking in the World Almanac
Handbooks or Manuals are handy guides to a subject; they often include examples or
illustrations, or both.
Examples:
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Yearbooks contain facts and statistics for a single year
Europa World Year Book – has summary of or complete constitution for each country and much
more
Bibliographies compile comprehensive lists of resources that share one or more common
attributes about a particular subject, person, geographical area, etc. Some bibliographies also
briefly describe the resources that are listed. One should consult a bibliography when they want
citations that will guide them to specific resources.
REFERENCE SERVICE
Reference service is a personalized service which is provided in response to the request
from the user. Request may be for locating an answer to the fact finding question; for
literature search for solving research problem; for compiling a bibliography; or for general
help. Ranganathan defines reference service as
⚫ “ Personal service to each reader in helping him to find documents, answering his interests
most pin-pointedly, exhaustively and expeditiously.” It is also he says,
⚫ “ To provide the right book to the right reader, in the right personal way.”
⚫ To provide the service the librarian may utilize the resources available in the library as well
as those available outside the library.
Depending upon the user’ s requirement, librarian may give information itself or the documents
containing the information. Basic services under this category are a) Ready Reference Service,
and b) Long Range Reference Service.
a) Ready Reference Service : This service deals with providing answers to fact-finding
questions from the users. Questions such as - What is the capital of Nigeria? Where can I
find information on planet Mars? Who is the Vice– Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State
University? When will the next academic session begin? When was. To provide answers to
these what, why, where, who, and when types of questions, standard reference sources like
dictionaries, encyclopedias, yearbooks, almanacs, gazetteers etc are consulted and answers
provided. The time taken to find answers to these questions is very short, ranging from a few
minutes to half an hour or so. That is why this type of reference service is known as “ Ready
Reference Service or Short Range Reference Service’ .
Ready reference service is not limited to the users who visit the library personally to ask
questions, many libraries offer this service on the telephone, through correspondence, via e-mail,
or Internet as well.
b) Long Range Reference Service This service is generally required by specialists, such
as business executives or professionals like doctors, engineers etc. They seek
information for solving a research problem, for delivering a lecture, for writing a paper or
for some other purpose in hand. To provide this service, information may be searched in many
sources including printed as well electronic sources such as Internet and databases. At times,
depending upon the query, organizational and informal sources are also consulted to provide the
service. Since to provide this service a wide range of sources are consulted, the time taken to
provide this service is much longer than the ready reference service. That is why this service is
known as long range reference service. The type of information required may be highly
specialized in nature, or information sought may involve an opinion or point of view on a
particular topic, or information required may be in foreign language sources for which translation
services are to be arranged. Depending upon the type of query, it may take an hour or two to
couple of weeks’ time to search and provide the information.
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Virtual Reference Service
Many libraries offer reference services in an online mode where the user can communicate with
the librarian from a remote location face-to-face as they normally do in traditional reference
service. Many libraries provide a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and their answers on
their website, which users can access anytime and from anywhere using Internet.
Websites of libraries provides virtual library guide to the physical facilities including collections,
services and infrastructure available in the library. The combination of library maps and floor
plans, library departments and photographic views are used for the tour.
Ask-A-Librarian
Ask-A-Librarian services are Internet-based question and answer service that connects
users with individuals who possess specialized subject knowledge and skill in conducting
precision searches. Most “ Ask-a-Librarians” services have a web-based question submission
form or an e-mail address or both. Users are invited to submit their queries by using web forms
or through e-mail. Once a query is read by a service, it is assigned to an individual expert for
answering. An expert responds to the query with factual information and or a list of information
resources. The response is either sent to the user’ s e-mail account or is posted on the web so
that the user can access it after a certain period of time.
A new and exciting method of digital reference service that libraries are attempting to provide
more and more now is live reference. These are real-time, interactive reference services in
which the users can talk to a real, live reference librarian at any time, from anywhere in
the world. User and librarian can interact using chat technologies, and unlike with email
reference the librarian can perform a reference interview of sorts by asking the users to elaborate
or clarify if needed before proceeding to answer the question.
Web guides and teaching tools are found everywhere on the Web because they are easily
updated, accessed, and printed on demand. The web-based user education provides a high
degree of interactivity and flexibility to the users. The library web sites can use web-based user
education for imparting training to users in teaching the basic library skills along with glossary of
library terms, using Library OPAC, locating books, magazines, biographical data and other library
materials.
* Based on the reference interview, the reference librarian is often able to filter the retrieved
information in order to pick up the most appropriate sources for the given user at the given point
of time.
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Preservation is necessary because a library is a repository of wisdom of great thinkers of the
past and present. The past records constitute a natural resources and indispensable to the
present generation as well as to the generation to come. Any loss to such materials
is simply irreplaceable. Therefore preserving this intellectual, cultural heritage becomes not
only the academic commitment but also moral responsibility of the librarian and
information scientists who are in charge of these repositories. Preserving library
collections protects and chronicles the past, communicates the present, and helps shape the
future.
CHEMICAL FACTORS
In the manufacturing of paper sometimes, fibers are used with low cellulose contents and some
chemical compounds like alum, rosin etc. are used for sizing paper which cause acidic effect and
facilitate chemical deterioration of the paper with the passage of time. Beside, in the atmosphere
among various constituents unwanted materials such as oxides of carbon, sulphur, nitrogen, and
hydrogen sulphides are also present. Because of the moisture absorbed by paper, the materials
get affected.
HUMAN FACTORS
Human beings also handle books roughly and this often leads to rapid deterioration,
especially when they are defaced. The standard care and handling of books by custodian and
users is often pretty low, improper storage, faulty repairs, rough handling, deliberate abuse,
folding the fore-edges of pages as a mark of reading, marking by pen, mutilation, vandalism are
all examples of deterioration of books by human beings.
DISASTERS
No library is exempted to the devastations that can occur as a result of natural or
man made disasters. Disasters such as fire and floods are also major causes of deterioration.
Wars, civil strife, high winds, cyclones, earthquakes are also agents of deterioration for library
collections.
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Fumigation, is one way to preserve library materials by smoking smoke library materials so that
fungi do not grow, animals die, and destroyers of other library materials are killed;
4.Filming or scan the best available copy once and then reproduce it, than to de-acidify all the
copies.
5 Digitization: digital imagery permits considerable reprocessing: adjustment of contrast,
adjustment of image size, and so on.
Emerging technologies provide librarians with a unique opportunity to substantially enhance user
centered services and to facilitate and promote collaboration between libraries and their users in
this digital era. Adapting into some of these trends and implementation of some of the emerging
web technologies are likely to improve reputation and standing of libraries in the community.
Some of them may successfully attract new patrons to the library, others may help to retain
existing members or make libraries even more important as centers of the culture and history of
their cities and academic institutions. These new services and ongoing changes are likely to
make libraries more interesting, more relevant, and better acceptable place.
* Instant Messaging (IM): Instant messaging or IM is a form of real-time, virtually
instantaneous communication between two or more people using textual format. Libraries are
already deploying IM for providing “ real-time reference” services, where patrons can
synchronously communicate with librarians much as they would in a face-to-face reference
context. Libraries can benefit greatly by adopting this technology as it evolves since it facilitates
reference services in an online mode quite similar to
traditional reference services of the physical library.
RSS Feeds: RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. The technology,
on one hand allows a web site (or e-publisher) to list the newest published updates (like table of
contents of journals, new articles) through a technology called XML; on the other hand, it
facilitates a web user to keep track of new updates on chosen website (s). Like a personal
search assistant, RSS feed readers visit pre-defined web sites, look for updated information and
fetch it automatically on to the user’ s desktop. It provides users a way to syndicate and
republish content on the Web. Users republish content from other sites or blogs on their sites or
blogs, aggregate
content on other sites in a single place, and ostensibly distil the Web for their personal use.
Libraries are already creating RSS feeds for users to subscribe to, including updates on new
items in a collection, new services, and new content in subscription databases. They are also
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republishing content on their sites.
*Social Networks: A social network service is web-based software that facilitates creation
of virtual social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities or
who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network
services are web-based interfaces that facilitate community of users to interact with each other
deploying tools such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging,
discussion groups,
etc. FaceBook, WhatSapp, YouTube, etc. while Face Book and What Sapp enable users to
share themselves with one another (detailed profiles of users' lives and personalities), YouTube
enables users to share Videos on the web resources. Social networking services could enable
librarians and patrons not only to interact, but to share and exchange resources dynamically in
electronic environment. Users can create accounts with the library network service; see what
other users have in common to their information needs, recommend resources to one another.
Besides, libraries can also recommend resources to users through their network, based on
similar profiles, demographics, previously accessed resources, and a host of data that users
provide.
Tagging: A tag is a keyword or term or subject heading assigned to a piece of information (a
picture, a geographic map, a blog entry, a video clip etc.,), thus describing the item and enabling
keyword-based classification and search of information. Tags are usually chosen informally and
personally by author/creator or by its consumer/viewers/community. Tags are typically used for
resources such as computer files, web pages, digital images, and Internet bookmarks.
Social Bookmarking Services: Social bookmarking is a method of storing, organizing,
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searching and managing bookmarks of web sites using descriptive metadata. In a social
bookmarking system, users can save links to web pages that they want to remember and /or
share with other users. These bookmarks can be made public, or saved privately or shared
only with specified people or groups of people.
LIBRARY AUTOMATION
Library automation is the technology that enhance electronic service delivery with print
resources in libraries.
The word automation has many connotations but central to them is mechanical forces. In the first
place, it can be described as a technique by which mechanical processes are subjected to
some degree of automatic control without human intervention. Automation should be seen as
something mechanical without human intervention. Our major concern here however is to
understand the concept of Library Automation.
Digitization and Library
Digitization refers to the process of scanning and uploading a piece of information such
as a book, sound recording, for electronic access and uitilization. Bits are the fundamental
units of information in a computer system. Turning information into these binary digits is called
digitization. To build a ‘ digital library’ requires that the content of a collection be available
electronically.
VIDEO CONFERENCING
Video conferencing is a live connection or a visual communication session involving two
or more users regardless of their location for the purpose of communication, usually
involving video and audio and transmission in real time. It is a special case of
teleconferencing, it implies that live video stream is been used. It is the use of multimedia
application that involves two different media in digital form.
Types of electronic resources in libraries( concentrate on the highlighted topics for notes,
mention and explain others)
Bibliographic Databases:
Open Access Resources: Open access is a publication model wherein neither a reader nor the
reader's institution is charged for access to articles or other resources. Users are free to read,
download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles
2 E-Journal : An e-journal is very important part of every library collection. These are electronic
format of journals that are published online and are accessed with information technology
facilities
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These are many Dictionaries, Almanacs, and Encyclopedias, which are available on
internet in electronic format.
8 Statistical database
These databases contain the numerical data useful for the mass
community.
9 Image collection
Due to adventure of e-images facility this type of databases is
developed.
10. E-Patents E-patents is the exclusive right granted by the government to make use of an
invention for a specific period of time.
14 E-Standards Written definition, limit rule, approved and monitored for complains by
authoritative agency.
What is internet?
8. Real-Time Interactions
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10. Preserve Knowledge for the Future Generation
Disadvantages of Internets
1. Availability of unverified sources of information
2. Information overload.
3.Hacking is the most common disadvantage of the internet.
5) Virus threats on the internet can damage your data and information.
6) Too much addiction to internet leads to time wastage, affecting our productivity and health.
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