Information Sources And Services - WordPress

Information Sources and ServicesNotesThere are accepted standards for specific applications in various fields, such as: Academic: Thesis, paper, journal Business and Accounting: Invoice, quote, RFP, Proposal, Contract, Packing slip, Manifest,Report detailed & summary, Spread sheet, MSDS, Waybill, Bill of Lading (BOL), Financialstatement, Nondisclosure agreement (NDA) or sometimes referred to as; Mutualnondisclosure agreement (MNDA) Law and Politics: Summons, certificate, license, gazette Government and Industry: White paper, application forms, user-guide Media and Marketing: Brief, mock-up, scriptSuch standard documents can be created based on a template.1.1.2 DocumentationDocumentation science, documentation studies or just documentation is a field of study and aprofession founded by Paul Otlet (1868–1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854–1943). Professionalseducated in this field are termed documentalists. This field generally changed its name toinformation science in 1968, but some uses of the term documentation still exists and there havebeen efforts to reintroduce the term documentation as a field of study.“The term documentation is a neologism invented by [Paul] Otlet to designate what today wetend to call Information Storage and Retrieval. In fact it is not too much to claim the Traité deDocumentation, 1934 as one of the first information science textbooks” (Rayward, 1994, s. 238).Berard (2003, p. 148) writes that the concept “documentation” is still much used in the Frenchspeaking areas and that it corresponds to information science in general. One explanation ofwhy this concept is well established in French-speaking countries is that there is a clear divisionof labour between libraries and documentation centres in those countries. The personal employedat those different kinds of institutions has different educational backgrounds. The differences inroles between libraries and documentation centres have, however, become less clear duringrecent years.In the English-speaking world, the term “documentation” was gradually replaced by the term“information science”. The most important expression of this change of terminology was in1968 when the American Documentation Institute (founded 1937) changed its name to AmericanSociety for Information Science (in 2000 name shift to American Society for Information Scienceand Technology). This name shift is not, however, a completely neutral designation, but is tosome degrees associated with a corresponding shift of focus within the field from a primaryinterest in the content and function of scientific documentation towards the application ofcomputers and information technology (IT).Buckland (1991, pp. 46-48) has analysed some important aspects from the history of documentation.During the early 1900s the documentalists felt a need for a general term, which could describethe content of the documenting activity. The concept “document” has been used a designationfor informative physical objects including not only texts but also natural things, artefacts andmodels which purpose have been to represent ideas and works of art. Buckland points out thatthe word originally meant tool for teaching or information, whatever a lecture, an experience,or a text was used. It is not until later in the history of the concept that it is narrowed to mean atextual object. Suzanne Briet, a major figure in the history of documentation, used an antelope toexemplify the meaning of the term. A wild specimen in Africa is not a document, but a specimenthat is captured and recorded in a Zoo is in her opinion a document (cf., Briet, 1951).4LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

Unit 1: Documentary Sources of InformationWhen the concept of documents is generalized in this way it includes both textual publications(the primary object of libraries) non-published records (primary object of archives) and physicalobjects (primary object of museums). It thus includes what Hjerppe (1994) designates the activitiesof memory institutions.NotesBefore 1990 – when CD-ROM-databases were introduced as tools for end-user searching – therole of documentalists was primarily to make searches in commercial online databases for endusers. Those databases were mainly based on a high cost per minute of use. The documentalistswere mostly associated with special departments of documentation with major research librariessuch as Karolinska University Hospital and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,Sweden or Technical Knowledge Centre of Denmark and Danish National Library of Scienceand Medicine in Copenhagen, Denmark. With the advent of end user based systems around 1990disappeared the most important role of documentalists and the use of the concept “documentation”declined in Scandinavia as it had earlier declined in the English-speaking world (cf., Hjørland,2000b).Did u know? Although the term “documentation” is still in use (e.g. in Journal ofDocumentation) the trend has been to replace it with information science (or other phrasesin which the word information forms a part).The goal of documentation is to explore the field of scholarly, scientific and professionalcommunication as well as cultural and educational intermediating in order to optimise the tasksof the producers and users of knowledge.Self AssessmentState whether the following statements are true or false:1.A library as a gateway of knowledge provides access to a variety of documentary sourcesof information.2.Original documents are scanned images of original legal documents.3.Any legal document can be related to any other document.4.Legal literature is writings that cover legal topics and carry the weight of a law.5.In the English-speaking world, the term “documentation” was gradually replaced by theterm “information science”.1.2 Printed and Non-printed SourcesThe print media reigned supreme and unrivalled for about 500 years when at the 2nd half of the20th century it faced a formidable challenge from non-print media. Now, a big question hascropped up before the world whether the print media will be able to withstand the threat fromthe non-print media and continue as usual in future, or it will yield to the pressure and graduallyvanish from the scene.1.2.1 Print SourcesPrint Source is a source of information that was originally published and made available to thepublic by being printed on paper. This would include books, magazines, newspapers,encyclopaedias, journals, letters, etc., anything that was originally made available to the publicthrough an ink-on-paper medium.LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY5

Information Sources and ServicesNotesNotes We always want our sources to be as close to first hand as possible. We also need toconsider the reliability of any source we use.Although more and more information resources are demanded and supplied electronically, wedo still hold an important amount of information in print form. This includes books and printjournals but also maps; photocopied articles and book chapters; theses and dissertations.Printing involves a minimum of four different items: (i) manuscript, i.e. the piece of writing tobe printed; (ii) composition of the matter either by hand or by machine; (iii) the physicalmedium, say, paper on which the matter is to be printed; and (iv) the ink with which the matterto be printed. For illustrations, blocks, etc., are also required. Products of printing are many andvaried.Example: Books, periodicals, newspapers, etc. are all products of printing and all ofthem represent one medium or the other. All these products taken together form the printmedia.Hence, in this Unit we are using the term print media instead of print medium.Types of Print MediaPrint media can also be categorised according to the physical formats on which the matter isprinted, say paper, plastic, cloth, metal sheet, and so on. In this writing, we are confiningourselves to such items as are printed on paper such as sheets, leaflets, booklets, books, periodicals,and so on.Printed SheetsA sheet is a piece of paper of varying sizes on which the written or typed matter is printed.Usually the printed sheets are used for advertising, campaigning and other purposes. The detailsof a product, items being sold at a shop, the opening of a new shop, showroom, restaurant, stall,etc. are printed on the sheet and the same is distributed to the prospective customers. Sometimesthese sheets are also pasted on the walls to attract the attention of the public. College anduniversity students and teachers, politicians of all levels, and many others fighting some electionuse printed sheets for propaganda. Printing of the sheets is neither time consuming, nor costly.Moreover, they can be distributed by hand and pasted on walls, tree trunks, and other placeswith ease.LeafletsA leaflet is a small sheet of paper folded once and printed to make two or four pages. The pagesfollow the same sequence as those of a book. It is neither stitched nor stapled. It may be notedthat in US and Canada, a leaflet or booklet is termed as a folder. At times, serials also appear inthe form of leaflets. Examples: Leaflet, Department of Agriculture, Bengal; Indian Forest Leaflet,etc. These leaflets contain product information, tourist information, road maps, and so on andgenerally distributed free. A tourist while proceeding on a journey can conveniently carry theleaflets and use them with utmost ease whenever necessary. Neither carrying nor using createsany difficulty. Many publishers send blurbs of their publications by post or courier to prospectivebuyers. The approach is personalised, not costly, but quite effective and can reach even the mostundeveloped and remote area of a country.6LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

Unit 1: Documentary Sources of InformationNotesPrinted CardsCards are printed to convey greetings, invite people to attend marriage and other ceremonies,and so on. During Deepavali, New Year, Christmas, etc. we purchase the greeting cards and sendthem to near and dear ones. At times, these cards become valuable source of information in asmuch as the card gives us information about somebody’s date of marriage, names of the brideand bridegroom and their parents and so on. If you see the cards in the archive of a celebrity, youwill know with whom he/she had connections during his/her lifetime. Pamphlets As perUNESCO’s definition a pamphlet is a non-periodic printed publication of 5 to 48 pages excludingcover pages. It is stapled/stitched and cut. Pamphlets usually provide information on a topic insimple language and are meant for wide range of users. Many textbooks of kindergarten andelementary classes as well as for neoliterates are pamphlets. They are printed usually with largefonts and colourful illustrations.BooksAccording to UNESCO, a book is a non-periodic printed publication of at least 49 pages exclusiveof cover pages. A book is usually stapled/stitched along one edge and placed within protectivecovers to form a volume. In general libraries, the collection is predominated by books. The sizesof books vary. The size of the New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the EnglishLanguage (Encyclopaedic ed.) is 28 x 21cm. Atlases are usually still bigger. Textbook in generalis of medium size. For example, Reference Service by Krishan Kumar measures 21 13cm.Computer Dictionary by Ian Scales and Geof Wheelwright goes to another extreme measuringabout 6 x 5cm. According to the intellectual content, books can be categorised as textbooks,monographs, treatises, reference books and so on.PeriodicalsYou have already read about various categories of periodicals in Unit 5 of this course. Theperiodical is a powerful medium for the dissemination of information. Researchers all over theworld publish their papers describing latest findings in primary periodicals. Secondary periodicalsgather information from primary periodicals and present the same in the form of abstracts,popular articles or reviews. Going through these periodicals a researcher, teacher, student, andothers keep themselves updated generally overriding the language barrier. Compared totextbooks, treatises or monographs, the information presented in periodicals is almost alwaysmore up-to-date.NewspapersFor centuries newspapers have been serving human community as a powerful medium ofcommunication. Newspapers appear from almost all parts of the world in numerous languages.In India also, newspapers appear not only in English and Hindi but also in numerous regionallanguages like Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, Oriya, and so on.1.2.2 Non-print SourcesNon-print sources are the media where information is available in non-conventional form.Example: To find out the current population of India, using a non-print tool would bebest. However, to find out what a giraffe prefers to eat, you might get better information froma print source, like an encyclopaedia.LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY7

Information Sources and ServicesNotesIt may be audio-visual and varieties of microforms. Even maps, atlases and globes, etc. aresometimes included. However, no suitable definition is available to encompass precisely theterm or it is difficult to provide a suitable and acceptable definition, therefore we would list thenon-print media that normally include:1.Photographs, film slides, transparencies;2.Realia, mock-ups, models and specimens;3.Phono-recordings, including discs;4.Audio tapes, cassettes and cartridges;5.Motion pictures, Video Tapes, Kinescopes;6.Portfolio, Kits;7.Maps, Atlases, Globes;8.Microforms;9.Magnetic Media; and10.Optical Media.Following are the difference between print and non-print sources of information:Print SourcesNon-Print Sources Dictionary (general and special) Internet website Thesaurus Encyclopaedia (general and special)Online database (subscription andInternet) Almanac Video, DVD, Blu-ray, etc. Atlas CD, CD-ROM, MP3, etc. Books, Periodicals, Maps and Charts, etc. TV/Cable programSelf AssessmentState whether the following statements are true or false:6.Non Print Source is a source of information that was originally published and madeavailable to the public by being printed on paper.7.A sheet is a piece of paper of varying sizes on which the written or typed matter is printed.8.A newspaper is a small sheet of paper folded once and printed to make two or four pages.9.A book is usually stapled/stitched along one edge and placed within protective covers toform a volume.1.3 Categories of Documentary Sources of InformationDifferent authors classified the documentary sources of information into different categories.Some popular classifications are listed below:(a)8C. W. Hanson Classification: C. W. Hanson (1971) in the article “Introduction to scienceInformation work” published in ASLIB (previously Association of Special Librariesand Information Bureau but now known as Association for Information Management)divides documentary sources of information into two categories i.e. primary and secondary.LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

Unit 1: Documentary Sources of Information(i)Primary: The primary documents exist of their own and usually contain originalinformation on the first formulation of any new observation, experiment, ideas, etc.Thus, according to C. W. Hanson, a monograph, an article in periodical, text book,and encyclopaedia are all primary documents. An article in encyclopaedia or textbook may not contain any new information on the subject but it presents theinformation in the particular form for the first time. The articles concerned are nota condensation or rewriting in any way of any existing document but has beenwritten specifically for the text book or the encyclopaedia.(ii)Secondary: All secondary publications present the contents of primary document ina condensed form or list them in a helpful way so that the existence of a primarydocument can be known and access to it can be made.(iii)Primary/Secondary Sources of Information: Conference proceedings, theses anddissertations, monographs, etc. have the characteristics of both primary andsecondary sources of information. Those of documents representing new facts canbe regarded as primary publication and those having the character of reviews can begrouped as secondary publication. As a result of such mixing of primary andsecondary sources of information some expert doesn’t consider this division to bemuch practical utility.NotesExample: Primary and secondary sources are:DisciplinePrimary SourceSecondary SourceArtOriginal artworkArticle critiquing the piece of artEngineeringPatentDerwent Patents indexHistoryExplorer's DiaryBook about explorationLiteraturePoemTreatise on a particular genre of poetryScienceOriginal journal articleBiological AbstractsTheatreVideotape of a performanceBiography of a playwright(b)Denis Grogan Classification: Denis Grogan, on the basis of level of reorganization, hasclassified the documents into three categories. They are: primary, secondary and tertiary.(i)Primary Sources: Primary publications are those in which the author for the first timesupplies evidence, describes a discovery, makes or drives a new proposition orbrings forward new evidence about previous proposition. It was created at or nearthe time being studied, often by the people being studied. It is a fundamental,authoritative document related to a subject of inquiry, used in the preparation of alater derivative work. Thus, the primary sources of information are basic sources ofnew information which are not passed through any filtering mechanism likecondensation, interpretation or evaluation and are the original work of the author.(ii)Secondary Sources: A document concerning a particular subject of inquiry which isderived from or based on the study and analysis of the primary source of informationis called the secondary source of information. In the secondary source of informationthe original information is selected, modified and arranged in a suitable format forthe purpose of easy location by the user. The secondary sources of information thusprovide digested information and also serve as bibliographical key to primarysources of information. Secondary publication includes text book, reference book,review of the literature, etc.LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY9

Information Sources and ServicesNotes(iii)Tertiary Sources: The tertiary sources of information are last to appear and mostly donot contain subject knowledge. It is designed to provide information aboutinformation and so acts as a guide to the primary and secondary sources ofinformation. The main function of tertiary sources is to aid the user in using primaryand secondary sources of information. The tertiary sources of information arebibliography of bibliographies, guides to libraries, other organizations, indexingand abstracting periodicals, list of accession, list of research in progress, directories,etc.Notes Eventually there is no rigid line of demarcation between primary, secondary andtertiary sources of information.(c)S. R. Ranganathan Classification: Based on the physical characteristics of documents S. R.Ranganathan classified documentary sources of information into four categories. Thesealso reflect the chronological order of their development. They are:(i)Conventional: Books, periodicals, Map etc.;(ii)Neo Conventional: Standards, specification, patent etc.;(iii)Non-Conventional: Audio visual, microcopy etc.;(iv)Meta Document: Direct records unmediated by human mind.Self AssessmentState whether the following statements are true or false:10.Documents representing new facts can be regarded as primary publication and thosehaving the character of reviews can be grouped as secondary publication.11.UNESCO (1968) defines a primary publication as “original scienti

Information Sources and Services Objectives: To study about the information sources and services, different types of resources, different types of services which are included in the field of library and information science. Knowledge regarding all this will help the student to manage the library and information sources and services. S. No .