Categories of Answer Providing Tools APTs Dr Dania

Categories of Answer. Providing Tools (APTs) Dr. Dania Bilal IS 530 Fall 2009

Biographical Sources n Information about people – Biographical dictionaries, directories, indexes – Adults, young adults, children – General and specialized Examples: Current Biography, Who’s Who, Biography Index, biography. com

Online Catalogs n List of titles held in a library collection – Location service/lead-in tool n Directs users to information about subjects, authors, etc. but does not provide the information itself – Type of questions: Person, subject, specific publication

Dictionaries n Information about terms, language, historical background of a term, syllabication, pronunciation, etc. See Text, chap. 7 – Adults & children – Abridged & unabridged – General & specialized – Print and online

Encyclopedias n Articles on subjects in a general or specific field of knowledge – Multi-volume & one volume set – Adult/adult-young adults/children – Subject or specialized encyclopedias n See Text, chap. 7

Encyclopedias n Type of questions answered in encyclopedias – Background information on events – Overview of a topic – Profile of a person – Outline/chronology of events – Other

Geographical Sources Information about places n Atlases, maps, gazetteers, guidebooks n – Each provides a different type of information about places Adults, young adults, children n Print & online n

Gazetteers Geographic dictionaries n Places, physical features and information about them n Spelling, pronunciation of place names, history of name changes, population, industries, agriculture, climate, and history n

Maps Pictorial representation of earth’s surface or a section of it. n Physical/historical/political information n Information is more tabular and pictorial than narrative n Print & online n

Atlases Collection of maps n Simple depiction of a geographical area to detailed information about aspects of an area, such as population, mineral and energy resources, and agriculture n Articles, tables, weather, geology, zip codes n

Guidebooks Information about a specific country, region, city, building, museum, travel information, etc. n Unique information appropriate for answering specific reference questions n

Guides to the Literature Specific subject area or discipline n Cover available sources related to subject or discipline n May cover more than one subject area n

Guides to the Literature Lead-in tools n Selection and evaluation tools n May include bibliographies, guides, indexing & abstracting services, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources along with annotations of each title n

Handbooks & Manuals Compact sources n Information on a specific area/discipline or discipline in a concise or comprehensive form n Compilations of literary, historical, and statistical data n

Handbooks & Manuals Narrative information with charts, tables, graphs, formulae, etc. n Directed toward specialist or practitioner Examples: Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), APA Style Manual, U. S. Government Manual n

Indexes Guides to the contents of a source of knowledge n Systematic arrangement of contents using different schemes Examples: Book index, journal index, online catalog n

Bibliographies n Bibliographic control and access tools – Used to identify, verify, locate, and select Trade: limited to materials published within a given country (e. g. , BIP) n National: NUC – all books published by LC and member libraries (locally and overseas) n

Indexing & Abstracting Sources Indexes with citations and abstracts of articles and other materials n Journal, magazine, and newspaper indexes n User language vs. system language (Subject headings lists & thesauri) n

Indexing & Abstracting Sources n Types of indexes – General n Print and online – Reader’s Guide; Expanded Academic ASAP – Specialized n Print and online n Social Science Index; Social Science Citation Index (Social. Sci. Search – Dialog; Web of Science)

Yearbooks & Almanacs General or specialized n Current information in descriptive and statistical form n Information about people, places, organizations; numeric information, measurements, etc. (almanacs) n Chronology of world events and other info. n

Non-biographical Directories with no emphasis on people n Information about organizations, agencies, societies, clubs, official bodies, institutions, manufacturers, businesses, professions, regions, and the like n

Demo of RR Sources: IPL Go to www. ipl. org n Explore the features n Explore RR collection n

Class Activity Match the question to the most suitable APT: n n n n n Address of the White House Synonyms for the verb negate Date of assassination of president John Kennedy Causes of death of Kennedy, Jr. Name of the CEO of Coca Cola Co. Citation for latest article published by Bilal & Wang Meaning of IEEE Calories of an average size bagel Conversion formula from Centigrade to Fahrenheit A review of the movie Fahrenheit 911