LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

Chapter 41 – Reference and Information Sources

41.1 Reference Sources and Basic Types
ALA defines reference sources as materials designed by the arrangement and treatment of its subject
matter to be consulted for definite items of information rather than to be read consecutively. These are any
publication from which authoritative information can be obtained, including but not limited to reference books,
catalog records, printed indexes and abstracting services, and bibliographic databases.
There are two basic types of reference sources:
1. Control-access-directional reference
These reference sources compile information that refer the user to other information sources.
Included in this group are:
 bibliographies
 library catalogs
 indexes
 abstracts
2. Ready reference
These reference materials are used most often in answering ready reference questions (a
reference question that can be answered by the reference librarian in just a few moments by providing
a fact or piece of information found in a single source). These include the following.
 encyclopedias
 dictionaries
 thesauri
 general factbooks
 handbooks
 manuals
 concordances
 directories
 biographical information
sources (e.g. biographies)
 geographical information
sources (e.g. maps,
atlases, gazetteers, travel
guidebooks)
 serials (e.g. magazines, journals,
periodicals, newspapers, etx.)
 government publications
 company and trade literature
 technical reports
 standards
 specifications
 dissertations
 theses
 LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

The following titles are examples of guides to reference sources.

 Guide to Reference Books
 Walford’s Guide to Reference Materials
 Gale Directory of Databases
The next three chapters are dedicated to control-access-directional reference sources. The succeeding ones
will cover ready reference sources.
41.2 Bibliographies
Strictly speaking, a bibliography is a systematic list or enumeration of written works by a specific author or
on a given subject, or that share one or more common characteristics (language, form, period, place of publication,
etc.). When a bibliography is about a person, the subject is the bibliographee. A bibliography may be comprehensive
or selective. Long bibliographies may be published serially or in book form. The person responsible for compiling a
bibliography is the bibliographer.
In the context of scholarly publication, this refers to a list of references to sources cited in the text of an
article or book, or suggested by the author for further reading, usually appearing at the end of the work.
Bibliographies are covered in greater detail in the next chapter.
41.3 Library Catalogs
Library catalogs are comprehensive lists of the books, periodicals, maps, and other materials in a given
collection, arranged in systematic order to facilitate retrieval (usually alphabetically by author, title, and/or subject).
In most modern libraries, the card catalog has been converted to machine-readable bibliographic records and is
available online. The purpose of a library catalog, as stated by Charles C. Cutter in Rules for a Dictionary Catalog
(1904), later modified by Bohdan S. Wynar in Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (8th ed., 1992), is to
offer the user a variety of approaches or access points to the information contained in the collection. Specifically,
they aim the following::

To enable a person to find any work, whether issued in print or in nonprint format, when one of the following is
known:
a. The author
b. The title
c. The subject
1. To show what the library has
d. By a given author
e. On a given and related subjects
f. In a given kind of literature
2. To assist in the choice of a work
g. As to the bibliographic edition
h. As to its character (literary or topical)
The preparation of entries for a library catalog (called cataloging) is performed by a librarian known as a
cataloger. Particulars about library catalogs and aspects of cataloging are already covered in the previous chapters.
41.4 Indexes and Abstracts
An index is a tool used to locate information in a document or in a group of documents. It is an
alphabetically arranged list of headings consisting of the personal names, places, and subjects treated in a written
work, with directional indicators (page numbers or some other sort) to refer the reader to the point in the text at
which information pertaining to the heading is found. In single-volume works of reference and nonfiction, any
indexes appear at the end of the back matter. In a multi-volume work, they are found at the end of the last volume.
In very large multivolume reference works (such as encyclopedias), the last volume may be devoted entirely to
indexes.
Works of fiction are rarely indexed. The publisher of a periodical may provide an index to each volume at
the end of the last issue of the publication year. For best results, indexing should be done by a professional indexer.
Index also refers to an open-end finding guide to the literature of an academic field or discipline (e.g.
Philosopher's Index), to works of a specific literary form (e.g. Biography Index) or published in a specific format
(e.g. Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature), or to the analyzed contents of a serial publication (e.g. New York
Times Index). Indexes of this kind are usually issued in monthly or quarterly paperback supplements, cumulated
annually. Citations are usually listed by author and subject in separate sections, or in a single alphabetical sequence
 LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

under a system of authorized headings collectively known as controlled vocabulary, developed over time by the
indexing service. I
An abstract is somehow the same as an index. However, it has a brief, objective summary of the essential
content of a book, article, speech, report, dissertation, or other works, presenting the main points in the same order
as the original but with no independent literary value. An abstract can be indicative, informative, critical, or written
from a particular point of view (slanted).
41.5 Encyclopedias
An encyclopedia is a book or numbered set of books containing authoritative summary information about a
variety of topics in the form of short essays, usually arranged alphabetically by headword or classified in some
manner. The term encyclopedia is derived from the Greek word (derived from Greek enkyklios paideia (all-
embracing education).
The encyclopedia is an effort to bring together information from all branches of knowledge or from a single
subject area and arrange it in an alphabetical order for ready reference. An entry may be signed or unsigned, with or
without illustration or a list of references for further reading. Headwords and text are usually revised periodically for
publication in a new edition. In a multivolume encyclopedia, any indexes are usually located at the end of the last
volume.
Encyclopedias may be general (e.g. Encyclopedia Americana) or specialized, usually by subject (e.g.
Encyclopedia of Bad Taste) or discipline (e.g. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science).
The oldest complete encyclopedia extant is the Historia Naturalis (Natural History, c. ad 79) of Pliny the
Elder. It is an encyclopedia of natural science. Another encyclopedic work held in great esteem for many centuries is
the Etymologiarum, seu Originum Libri XX (Twenty Books of Etymologies, or Origins), compiled in 623 by the
Spanish ecclesiastic and scholar Isidore of Seville. The modern encyclopedia began with the 21-volume
Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiers, compiled and edited by Denis Diderot
and Jean d'Alembert, an expression of the rationalism of the 18th-century Enlightenment (Cornell University
Library). In electronic publishing, encyclopedias were one of the first formats to include multimedia and interactive
elements (e.g. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia).

There are many companies who are responsible in publishing encyclopedias. Among them are the
following:
 Encyclopedia Britanica Educational Corp.
 World Book International
 Grolier, Inc.
 Macmillan Educational Corp.
 Funk & Wagnalls
Encyclopedias can be grouped according to the following categories. Each group enumerates a few famous
titles.
 Adult encyclopedias
 The New Encyclopedia Britanica
(familiarly known as Britannica 3, which consisted of three parts – Propaedia, which outlines the
“circle of modern knowledge”; Micropaedia with contains ready reference entries; and
Macropaedia, which contains longer articles offering “knowledge in depth”)
 The Encyclopedia Americana
 Popular adult and high school sets
 Academic American Encyclopedia
 Collier’s Encyclopedia
 Funk & Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia
 Juvenile and young adults’ Encyclopedia
 World Book Encyclopedia
 Merit Students Encyclopedia
 Compton’s Encyclopedia and Fact Index
 Compton’s Picture Encyclopedia
 Oxford Children’s Encyclopedia
 New Book of Knowledge
 Children’s Britanica
 One-volume encyclopedias
 LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

 Concise Columbia Encyclopedia

 The Cambridge Encyclopedia
 The Random House Encyclopedia
 Foreign published encyclopedias
 Grand Dictionaire Encyclopedique Larousse (French)
 Brockhaus Enzyklopadie (German)
 Enciclopedia Europea (Italian)
 Encyclopedia Italiana
 Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan
 The Great Soviet Encyclopedia
 Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana – Espasa (Spanish)
 Subject specific encyclopedias
 International Encyclopedia of Information Library Science
 Encyclopedia of Philippine Art
 Encyclopedia of Social Work
 Non-print encyclopedias
 Academic American Encyclopedia Online
(first online encyclopedia)
 Grolier Encyclopedia (in CD)
(first encyclopedia in CD-ROM format)
 Compton’s MultiMedia Encyclopedia
(first multimedia encyclopedia)
 Microsoft Encarta
(multimedia encyclopedia on CD-ROM based initially on text published in the 29-volume Funk &
Wagnalls New Encyclopedia)

41.6 Dictionaries and Thesauri

Both dictionaries and thesauri deal with definition of terms. A dictionary is a book containing a selection of
words of a language or of some special subjects. It may be a single-volume or multivolume reference work
containing brief explanatory entries for terms and topics related to a specific subject or field of inquiry, arranged
alphabetically (e.g. Dictionary of Neuropsychology). The entries in a dictionary are usually shorter than those
contained in an encyclopedia on the same subject, but the word "dictionary" is often used in the titles of works that
should more appropriately be called encyclopedias (e.g.: Dictionary of the Middle Ages in 13 volumes). In a more
general sense, the term “dictionary” is also applied to any alphabetically arranged compendium of special aspects of
a language such as abbreviations, slang, or etymology, or in which the special terms of a subject are defined.
A glossary is somewhat similar to a dictionary. It is an alphabetically arranged list of the specialized
vocabulary of a given subject or field of study, with brief definitions, often appearing at the end of a book or at the
beginning of a long entry in a technical reference work. Long glossaries may be separately published (e.g. The ALA
Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983). Glossaries are also available online.
The earliest known dictionaries were found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal at Nineveh
(7th century B. C.); consisting of clay tablets inscribed in columns of cuneiform writing (oldest system of writing
introduced by the Sumerians).
A dictionary can be classified as either unabridged or abridged. Abridgement is basically a shortened
version or edition of an originally written work that preserves the overall meaning and manner of presentation of the
original but omits the less important passages of text and usually any illustrations, notes, and appendices. Often
prepared by a person other than the original author or editor, an abridged edition is generally intended for readers
unlikely to purchase the unabridged version because of its length, complexity, or price. The following are some
sample titles of unabridged and abridged dictionaries.
 Unabridged dictionaries
 Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary
 The Random House Dictionary
 Abridged dictionaries
 The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
 LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

 Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary

 Webster’s New World Dictionary of the English Language
 The Random House College Dictionary
Dictionaries that are limited to a maximum of 60,000 entries are referred to as reduced word dictionaries.
Specialized dictionaries are more inclined to a specific aspect of language, languages used in specific disciplines, or
to a special interest on a certain language. Example titles of these two are given as follows.
 Reduced word dictionaries
 Oxford American Dictionary
 Specialized dictionaries
 Dictionary of American Regional English
 The Random House Cross-Word Puzzle Dictionary
There are certain types of specialized dictionaries. Etymological or diachronic dictionaries provide
information about the history of each word in their entries. Slang dictionaries are dictionaries that deal with the
variations of meaning of a given slang terms or words and trace their history. They can define an expression well,
aiding authors in finding words which will convey the background, class, or occupation of a given character in their
work. Slang dictionaries are also just for curiosity and interest about popular slang words used in a given society.
There are also dictionaries for abbreviations and acronyms. Subject dictionaries explain particular meanings for
particular words/items for professions, occupation, or areas of subject interest. Foreign language dictionaries deal
with languages other than the English language. The following enumerates some sample title of these types.
 Etymological/diachronic dictionaries
 The Oxford English Dictionary(20 vols.)
 Slang dictionaries
 Dictionary of American Slang
 Thesaurus of Slang
 New American Dictionary of American Slang
 Subject dictionaries
 Harrod’s Librarian’s Glossary of Terms
 Dictionary of Library and Information Science
 Foreign language dictionaries
 Casell’s series
 Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Abbreviations
 Dictionaries published by Larrousse
Dictionaries classified as encyclopedic dictionaries do not only define words but also explain things
(though the explanations are relatively short compared to those found in encyclopedias).
Although similar to the general form of a dictionary, a thesaurus can be treated as a reference distinct from
dictionaries. A thesaurus is basically a reference that lists words related to each other in meaning, usually giving
synonyms and antonyms. They can either be dictionary in form or in a classified form (arranged according to some
scheme of classification).
Here are sample titles of encyclopedic dictionaries and thesauri.
 Encyclopedic dictionaries
 Grand Dictionnaire Universel (17 vols., 1865-1890)
 Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (revised ed., 12 vols., 1911)
 Thesauri
 Roget’s International Thesaurus
 Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
 Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus
 Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms
41.7 Compendiums – Almanacs and Yearbooks/Annuals
A compendium is a work that presents in condensed form the main points of a longer work, prepared by a
person other than the original author. Also, it is a work that treats a broad subject or entire field of knowledge briefly
and concisely, sometimes in the form of an outline. Almanacs and yearbooks are sometimes lumped together in this
category since they many qualities in common.
Originally, an almanac is a book introduced by the Moors to Spain, listing the days, weeks, and months of
the year and providing information about festivals, holidays, astronomical phenomena, etc. In modern usage, the
almanac is an annual compendium of practical dates, facts, and statistics, current and/or retrospective, often arranged
 LIS 103 – Information REsources and services -WF- 8:00-10:00

in tables to facilitate comparison. Almanacs can be general or related to a specific subject or academic discipline.
An almanac is a compendium of useful data and statistics relating to countries, personalities, events, subjects, and
the like. Here are some popular almanac titles.
 Almanacs in printed formats
 World Almanac and Book of Facts
 Almanac of American Politics
 Whitaker’s Almanac (or An Almanac)
 Almanacs in electronic format
 Information Please (also in printed format)
An almanac may also be a yearbook if it satisfies the latter’s definition. A yearbook/annual is a annual
documentary, historical, or memorial compendium of facts, photographs, statistics, etc., about the events of the
preceding year, often limited to a specific country, institution, discipline, or subject (example: Supreme Court
Yearbook published by Congressional Quarterly). Optional yearbooks are offered by some publishers of general
encyclopedias. Newspaper indexes often serve as yearbooks. Here are some popular yearbook titles.
 Government and international yearbooks
 Annual Register: A Record of World Events
 Europa World Yearbook
 The Statesman’s Yearbook
 Chase’s Annual Events
 Newspaper indexes
 New York Times Index
 Facts on File Index