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Reference Sources and Services

The document discusses reference sources, which are materials consulted for information on various topics and are categorized into types such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, fact sources, biographical references, geographical sources, and literature search tools. These sources provide direct answers, are arranged in various formats, and are essential for research and information retrieval. Examples include general and specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and bibliographies, each serving distinct purposes in aiding users' inquiries.

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11 views

Reference Sources and Services

The document discusses reference sources, which are materials consulted for information on various topics and are categorized into types such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, fact sources, biographical references, geographical sources, and literature search tools. These sources provide direct answers, are arranged in various formats, and are essential for research and information retrieval. Examples include general and specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and bibliographies, each serving distinct purposes in aiding users' inquiries.

Uploaded by

lawal.victor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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REFERENCE

SOURCES AND
SERVICES
The word “reference” is derived from
the
verb refer which means, to turn to for
aid
or information. Therefore any source
consulted for aid or information on a
topic, theme, person, date, place,
word or an event is a reference
source (Ojedokun 2007)
These sources contain facts and
miscellaneous information, there by
providing direct answers to users in
any topic, on request.
Reference sources are not meant to be
read from cover to cover, but are
expected
To be consulted as and when
necessary in order to supply
information desired by a user
• Due to the importance of these
materials, they are usually separated
from the regular non-fiction books in
the library.
• Reference sources are of two types.
Those which contain the information
that
• is readily needed such as Dictionaries,
Handbooks, Encyclopaedias etc.
• Those which tell the user where the
information can be found, such as the
Indexes, Abstracts and
Bibliographies. They are also referred
to as Information Access Tools.
• Reference sources can also be either
general or specialized sources or
subject specific (devoted to a specific
subject area such as literature, Art,
science etc.These can be in printed
or electronic format and are arranged
in either alphabetical, classified,
chronological, reverse chronological
order or as database.
• When arranged in alphabetic order,
entries are usually by the first letter of
the topic or a person’s last name, and
may be supported by an index and
cross-reference between related
topics or people.
• Classified order of arrangement
divide entries into categories by topic,
geographical region, group identity or
some other principles that requires
the use of an index to find references
to specific topics.
• In a chronological order of
arrangement, entries are organized
by date. Sometimes, entries may be
in reverse chronological order. In
essence the most recent date
appears first. This is usually the case
with databases, they give a list of the
current information first in the entry.
Example of reference sources includes;
Dictionaries: The term “dictionary” was
derived from the word “dictionarius”
meaning a collection of words (Gates in
Ojedokun 2007). Dictionaries deals with all
aspect of words, such as meaning,
spelling, pronunciation, etymology,
synonyms,
• Syllabication, grammatical information
and even origins of some words.
• There are general and specialized
dictionaries. The general dictionaries
cover all aspects of words in all fields
of knowledge while the specialized
dictionaries deal with certain aspects
of words such as slang,
Synonyms, antonyms abbreviations and
acronyms. The following are examples of
general dictionaries:
Webster’s New Third International Dictionary
The Chambers Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
While examples of specialized dictionaries
includes:
• Cllins Roget’s International Thesaurus
• Dictionary of American Slangs
• Cambers Dictionary Science and
Technology
• French Dictionary etc.
• Encyclopaedia: an encyclopedia contians
information on all branches of knowledge.
They are good research starting point.
they can be of single or multiple volumes.
the articles are usually written by experts
in the field and the topics are arranged
alphabetically.
Encyclopaedias ,summarize event, topics,
and provides a broad overview of the
topic, significant dates, names, locations,
facts, statistics and related areas of
interest (a list of references pertaining to
the topic).
They also provide synonym or other terms
that are related to the topic.
An encyclopaedia could be general e.g.
Encyclopaedia Britannica or a subject
specific e.g. Encyclopaedia of the social
sciences.
FACT SOURCES

• These reference sources provide facts on


a wide range of issues. They consist of
sources such as Yearbook, Almanacs,
Handbooks and Directories. The fact
stated in these sources are usually
accurate as at the time of production,
• And are very useful in providing answers
to ready-reference questions like, which is
the largest town in Africa?, which country
has the largest population in the world?
• Almanacs are the most popular among the
fact sources. They provide basic data and
statistics on any topic such as countries,
personalities subjects e.t.c. They are
published annually and they usually
contain retrospective materials. Examples
are:
• World Almanac and Book of Facts
• Whitakers Almanac
• Yearbooks: these are also similar to
almanacs, but they are restricted to the
events of a particular year. Examples are:
• Europa World Yearbook (formally Europa
Yearbook).
• Statesman Yearbook
• Handbooks are very useful reference
materials because of their content. They
are a collection of miscellaneous facts on
a particular theme or subject. Handbooks
generally assume knowledge, hence they
are used to provide answer to specialists’
queries.
By nature, handbooks are limited in scope.
The most common handbook is:
Guinness World Record (formerly Guinness
Book of Records).
• Directories: These provide a list of persons
and institutions in an alphabetical order.
They contain information such as
addresses, brief information on individuals
or institutions. There could be city
directories, telephone directories or
directories in major areas of specialization.
A good example is the
• World of Learning.
Biographical references
These are special reference sources
that provide information on individuals
whether dead or living. There are
three major categories of biographical
sources. These are universal and
current biographies, national and
local biographies, and professional
and subject biographies.
The universal and current biographies
are usually unrestricted in terms of
coverage. The entries cover all parts
of the world. They include
biographical dictionaries and “Who is
Who”. Some of the entries cover only
living persons while some are
restricted to only dead persons.
• Examples of biographies are:
• International Who’s Who (universal).
• Current biography (current).
• Africa Who’s Who (national).
• Newswatch Who’s Who in Nigeria
(local).
• Who’s Who in Library and Information
Science Training Institutions in Africa
(professional/subject).
Geographical Sources
These are reference sources that
provide information on places, like
towns, cities countries geographical
features etc. They include atlases
gazetteers and travel guides. Atlases
are a collection of maps bound
together.
Atlases provide information on physical
and climatic conditions of different
places, e.g.
The times atlas of the World.
Gazetteers usually provide information
on latitude, longitude, description and
statistics about places, e.g.
The Columbia Gazetteer of the World.
Webster’s New Geographical Dictionary.
• Travel guides provides information to
a traveler about places of interest and
features of a particular place the
wishes to visit. Thus information on
transportation, hotels restaurants etc.
is usually provided.
Literature Search Tools
• This category of reference sources consist
mainly of access tools. They are locational

and they are very useful for answering


research queries. The following are search
tools.
Bibliographies
Library catalogues
Indexes and Abstracts
Bibliographies
• These provide a list of articles, books,
technical report, conference
proceedings, and dissertations on a
particular topic. They may be
delimited by subject, geographical
scope, historical period or a particular
individual.
• They only provide bibliographic
records of each item listed in the
bibliography. The bibliographic record
will include Author, title of a book or
article, place of publication,
publisher’s name and date of
publication.
If it is a journal article, it will provide the
name of the journal, volume number,
place of publication, pagination,
International Standard Book Number
(if it if a monograph/book) or
International Standard Serial Number
(if it is a journal).
• Bibliographies can be categorized
into the following:
• Universal Bibliographies
• National and Trade Bibliography
• Subject Bibliography
• Bibliography of Bibliographies
• Guides to reference Books
• Library Catalogue; this is the first port
of call to users in accessing
documents of interest, hence they are
useful literature search tools. They
contain information on all materials
held by a library. They perform the
same function as bibliographies
except that while the entries in a
bibliography are entered only once
under the main entry,
• Those of a catalogue can be by
author, title, subject or keywords.
– Indexes; These are guides to all
documents relevant to a particular
subject or discipline. The various
aspects of the subject are given
and all documents on a particular
aspect of that subject are listed
together regardless of the form of
the items.
– These could be books, journal
articles, conference proceedings,
reports e.t.c, The various items are
arranged alphabetically
• Each item listed contains the full
bibliographic information, such as the
author, title, publication details,
pagination, e.t.c.
• Abstracts: The abstracts are similar to
indexes. They generally perform the same
functions except that in addition to listing
the bibliographic record of each item, they
also give a summary of each item listed.
The two common examples of abstracts in
the field of library and information studies
are:
• Library and Information Science Abstracts.
• Information Science and Technology
Abstracts.
Thank you

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