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Session 2 and Session 3

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11 views

Session 2 and Session 3

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Information Sources

Session 2
Expected Learning Outcomes
• Identify different types of information sources and
formats commonly used in academic research.
• Compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of
different information sources and formats for academic
inquiry.
• Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of information
organizations in meeting information needs.
• Apply principles of information organization and
management to classify information resources
effectively in academic and professional settings.
Information sources
• information sources can be broadly grouped into primary, secondary and
tertiary. a) Primary Sources Primary sources of information are sources of
information. They record events as they happen therefore they display
original thinking, discoveries and fresh information without commentary
or interpretation. Examples include research journal articles, theses,
dissertations, government reports, proceedings from conferences,
artworks, photographs, poems, letters, memos, personal narratives,
diaries, interviews, autobiographies, and correspondence. b) Secondary
Sources Secondary sources of information analysis, describe, summarise,
interpret, reorganise or explain primary sources. Examples of secondary
sources include books, review articles, biographies, literary criticism, and
commentaries. c) Tertiary Sources Tertiary sources of information provide
references to primary and secondary sources examples include indexes,
abstracts, and other secondary sources that provide factual information
such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, fact books, almanacks, bibliographies,
directories, guidebooks, manuals and handbooks.
Information organisation
• Information organisation refers to a set of activities such as classification,
document description, and indexing. It is a deliberate attempt to arrange
knowledge to facilitate ease of access and retrieval in information centres. We will
focus on classification to illustrate a scenario in an academic library.
• Classification
• Books in the library are organised by subjects according to internationally
recognised classification systems such as the Library of Congress Classification
(LCC) and the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).
• The organisation of books using these systems is referred to as the classification of
books. In the MUT library books are organised according to LCC, which groups
subjects into 21 major subjects and uses alphabetical numbers to represent
subjects as outlined below:
• A -- GENERAL WORKS
• B -- PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. RELIGION
• C -- AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY
• D -- WORLD HISTORY AND HISTORY OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW
ZEALAND
Information organisation
• E -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
• F -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
• G -- GEOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLOGY. RECREATION
• H -- SOCIAL SCIENCES
• J -- POLITICAL SCIENCE
• K -- LAW
• L -- EDUCATION
• M -- MUSIC AND BOOKS ON MUSIC
• N -- FINE ARTS
• P -- LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
• Q -- SCIENCE
• R -- MEDICINE
• S -- AGRICULTURE
• T -- TECHNOLOGY
• U -- MILITARY SCIENCE
Information Organisation
• V -- NAVAL SCIENCE
• Z -- BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION
RESOURCES (GENERAL)
• Call Numbers
• To help organise books and locate them easily in the library
each book is assigned a unique number called a call
number. A call number is like an address: it tells us where
the book is located in the library. Call numbers appear on
the spines of books and journals and in the library's
catalogue.
• Call numbers are read from left to right.
• The figure below explains how to read and understand a
call number
Summary
• Information sources are grouped into three primary,
secondary, and tertiary. Primary sources contain
original information, secondary sources are based on
primary sources, and tertiary information sources list,
summarise, or repackage other information sources.
Information can be accessed from different sources
such as people, organizations, books, newspapers,
journals, radios, and television. Information sources
can be either in print or analogue, digital or electronic
format. Libraries are an important repository for
information. Libraries use standardized systems to
organise books. Library books are classified by subjects
and they are located by use of call numbers.
3. Information Search and Retrieval
Tools
• Databases: a database is a collection of electronic information or data
stored in a computer system and controlled by a database management
system (DBMS). Databases allow storage, deletion, modification and
retrieval of data or information. Murang’a Univesity of Technology Library
has subscribed to information databases that provide access to research
journal articles and eBooks.
• Follow this link https://library.mut.ac.ke/ and click on e-resources to
access the databases.

• b) Web search engine: a web search engine is a software program used to


find information online. You can use keywords or phrases or a combination
of both to search for online information using the search engines. Once
you enter a search term, the search engine will search web pages It has
indexed and will rank the results according to relevancy, with the most
relevant results listed on top. Examples of search engines include Google,
Bing, and Yahoo.
• c) Discovery services: Discovery services are
online tools used by libraries to search for a
wide range of information sources both online
and print. Discovery services allow a search of
diverse databases from a single search box.
For example, Primo Central, Sumon, EBSCO
Discovery Service, and WorldCat.
• Library catalogues also known as Online Public
Access Catalogues (OPAC): A library catalogue
contains salient information about sources of
information in a library that help in the search
and retrieval of the sources. In modern library
catalogues, there are often possibilities to make
reservations for books and ask for books to be
transported between different libraries within a
library network. In a library catalogue, you can
search for titles, authors/ editors and sometimes
keywords and indexes of books.
Effective searching strategies and
techniques
• Developing effective strategies and techniques
is critical to saving time and getting accurate
and satisfying search results. Search strategies
are approaches used to locate and retrieve
information using information access tools
such as search engines, library catalogues and
online databases. Some of the search
strategies and techniques include:
• Use of search terms – involves identifying key or most important
terms or words that best describe the topic. When using the
keywords for search it is important to consider synonyms, broad
and narrow terms, plural, singular, abbreviation, acronyms, and
spelling variations of the terms used for the search.
• Boolean operators- these are logical operators, AND, OR, and NOT,
typed in capitals, used to link concepts or terms by search engines
and databases. “AND” and “NOT” narrow your search
• Truncation or wildcat search- use of An asterisk (*) or A question
mark (?) to expand or narrow a search by shorting the words for
example poli* or Wom? N
• Parentheses ()- these give shorter and better results by only
returning results with the words in the parentheses.
• Phrasing searching- use of phrases as search
terms example ‘air pollution’
• Snowballing- involves finding one key landmark
paper and using the references to find the articles
cited.
• Nesting or grouping – is using a combination of
search strategies to search. For example, placing
alike terms in parentheses and then linking them
with a Boolean operator for example ( Kenya OR
Africa) AND famine will search Kenya or Africa
first.
Session Summary
• The information is increasingly being born digital.
We have looked at some of the tools that are
used to search for electronic information. We
have gone through databases, Web search
engines, Discovery services, and Online Public
Access Catalogues (OPAC). The following are
some of the search techniques you can use to
effectively and efficiently search for online
information: Use of search terms, Boolean
operators, Truncation or wildcat search,
Parentheses, Phrases, Snowballing and Nesting or
grouping

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