Library Sources: your guide

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The university library is packed full of information relevant to your course. You can find the information in the library on the shelves and in the library catalogue.

The information available comes from a range of different sources. There are many different types of information resources which we will explore here.

What Are Information Resources?

Information resources have been granted several identifications based on their use, type, and results. To help put things into perspective, here are the most common definitions of information resources:

● Materials that hold information such as library resources. These can be in written, print, or digital form and include sources like books, encyclopedias, journals, multimedia, the web, and more.

● The resources needed to generate information. These can include data, data systems, software, hardware, technical support, facilities, and users.

● A compilation of helpful information produced by human-oriented processes, including the involved staff, equipment, and property.

● The information and data utilized by an institution or agency to learn about certain topics or acquire knowledge in various fields. For example, customer information in banks.

Types of Information Resources

There are dozens of types of information resources that you can find in a university library. We’ll discuss each of these resources below.

Check out the explanations in alphabetical order or jump to a specific definition using the links below:

What Are Academic Journals?

Academic journals are collections of articles authored/written by experts in professional or academic domains. To decide which articles make it into the journal, the articles are subjected to reviewing by an editorial board.

Academic journals contribute significantly to knowledge dissemination and the scholarly conversation within various fields. Accessible through subscriptions or open access, they play a vital role in advancing understanding and fostering academic discourse.

What Are Audio Sources?

An audio source refers to any medium that produces sound, such as recordings, broadcasts, or live performances. It encompasses diverse formats like podcasts, music tracks, interviews, and spoken-word content.

Audio sources offer a lot of significance in various fields such as research, education, and entertainment. These components may be created intentionally or unintentionally.

You can typically find audio sources in the library’s subscription databases and the open web.

What is a Bibliography?

A bibliography is a curated list of sources, typically found at the end of a scholarly work, providing details about the references and resources used in creating the content.

It includes books, articles, websites, and other materials cited during research, allowing readers to locate and verify the information.

The bibliography serves as a comprehensive record, acknowledging the intellectual contributions of others and facilitating further exploration of the topic.

What Are Books?

Books are extended format sources of comprehensive overviews, groundings, and critical comparisons within a particular subject. They offer detailed context for both nonfiction and fiction topics.

Books require a relatively long time to write and publish, so they aren’t the best source for the most recent information. Textbooks, monographs, anthologies, and series are all types of books.

What Are Conference Papers?

Conference papers are records or a collection of reports on posters and/or presentations given at conferences, workshops, or seminars covering a certain topic. These are excellent outlets for current information and are considered primary sources.

Typically, you’ll know the location, timing, and organizing body of the conference event from the conference papers’ title.

What Are Conference Proceedings?

Conference proceedings are a collection of reports or papers on posters and/or presentations provided at conferences, workshops, or seminars covering a certain area.

They offer a snapshot of the latest developments, methodologies, and breakthroughs in disciplines ranging from science to humanities. As a valuable resource, conference proceedings provide researchers with a consolidated reference for staying abreast of current trends.

The location, timing, and organizing body of the conference event are typically mentioned in the conference proceedings’ title. Categorized as primary sources, they’re a great platform to obtain up-to-date information.

What Is Country Information?

Country information presents information on the history, land, government, political conditions, geography, people, economy, communications, military, national security, transportation, transnational issues, and foreign relations of countries and entities of the world.

Country information can be anything from brief articles to in-depth reports. These materials can sometimes be older information, but they make for ideal background information.

What Are Databases?

Databases are structured repositories where you can search for and find a diverse array of information sources in the form of citations to journal articles, magazine articles, multimedia, newspaper articles, books, blogs, videos, podcasts, and more.

Some databases provide full-length reports while others offer summaries of articles.

Whether for business transactions, scientific research, or everyday applications, databases are foundational tools that enhance data organization, accessibility, and overall efficiency in various domains.

What Are Dictionaries?

Dictionaries are valuable information resources, especially when you’re researching a new, unfamiliar topic.

You can use dictionaries to find definitions of words or specialist terms, translate words into foreign languages, and determine the context of certain content to allow for additional research.

What Are Ebooks?

Ebooks are the electronic format of conventional print books. Sometimes they’re an identical copy while other times they contain more features such as audio, video, and quizzes.

You can download ebooks (free or paid) on your mobile device to access them whenever necessary. An advantage of ebooks is that many people can use them at the same time, unlike their physical counterparts.

What Are Encyclopedias?

Often described as more detailed dictionaries, encyclopedias are brief entries of facts regarding a particular topic.

Typically arranged alphabetically, encyclopedias aim to be exhaustive, condensing facts, explanations, and context into concise entries.

They’re usually written by various knowledgeable contributors and are available in the following two categories:

● General encyclopedias — offer short summaries or overviews on diverse topics.

● Subject encyclopedias — offer in-depth reviews on a specific area

What Is Grey Literature?

Information classified as grey literature is produced via channels other than the conventional publishing and distribution outlets.

Sources of grey literature can include newsletters, reports, speeches, white papers, policy literature, official documents, working papers, and urban plans.

To find grey literature resources, you should first identify platforms that publish such sort of information on your given topics and then go online to search their websites.

What Are Images?

Images are visual representations of persons, living things, objects, or concepts. University libraries offer access to a variety of sources related to images, both physical and digital.

Typically, digital images are divided into categories for easier browsing such as art, history, advertising, photography, architecture, maps, and science.

What Are Journals?

Journals are a compilation of articles in certain fields or areas. They’re published regularly where a volume number indicates each year and the more publications are made, the fresher the information.

Compared to books, journals are more current. They’re available in print, but online is where you can find the more up-to-date articles.

What Are Journal Articles?

A journal article is either a research paper or a review.

A research paper is a traditional article that offers peer-reviewed, detailed, and concise primary findings in a particular area of a topic.

A review is an essay published in journals or in review series- that outlines a certain topic and offers reference points.

What Are Legislation & Official Publications?

Legislation is a broad term referring to laws enacted by the legislative body of government, the Congress or Parliament, as well as laws made by other parties that Congress granted law-making power.

Official publications are records or documents issued by the government, departments, institutions, municipalities, and other official public administration bodies.

Both are readily available online, in books, and databases.

What Are Law Cases?

Law cases are reports and records of the details of a court judicial decision for a case or law point that’s legally significant.

These are available on online platforms in both free and subscription sources where the principal body of the law case content is the same.

What Are Manuscripts & Archives?

Manuscripts and archives are unique articles or items that a person or body created or collected during their normal course of business and kept to provide evidence of time or action, or because they contain valuable, authentic information.

They’re categorized as primary sources and may be available in written, printed, or electronic format.

What Are Magazines?

Magazines are a compilation of articles and images geared toward the average person. They cover a wide array of popular topics and current events, typically written by journalists (not necessarily specialists).

While magazines could include "serious" information, journals are better for finding consistent scholarly information. Examples of magazines include Time, National Geographic, and Vogue.

What is Multimedia?

Multimedia is computer-controlled sources of information in the form of images, video, and audio. It also includes instruction, tips, and tools for creating, developing, and editing media, as well as data related to citing media resources.

Multimedia sources also consist of drawings, graphics, animations, still pictures, text, sounds, and any other form of media that contains information that can be digitally presented, processed, stored, and transmitted.

What Are Newspaper Articles?

These are articles published in a newspaper. Typically, they’re excellent sources for current information on local, national, and global events.

However, the lack of peer review requires you to check the accuracy of the provided information. Also, opinions and comments in newspaper articles may be biased.

What Are Newspapers?

Newspapers are collections of articles covering current issues and events with topic-oriented comments and opinions. They’re published daily or weekly and can be a valuable tool for primary research.

Newspapers are current, but they’re written mainly to sell copies which can affect their facts’ accuracy. Examples of newspapers include The New York Times, Daily Dispatch, and Sunday Times.

What Are Open Research Collections?

Open research collections encompass a large number of research materials that are free to browse by a wider segment of the public. The materials included can be in written, print, and digital formats.

Open search collections are the pooled output of the university’s research and academic community.

The provided information includes results, methodology, data, software, protocols, publications, and data. It can be in the form of books, images, journal articles, conference proceedings, papers, government submissions, and more.

What Are Patents?

A patent is legal documentation of an invention’s ownership and the owner’s exclusive rights to profit from it. The purpose of a patent is to prevent the exploitation of an invention by anyone except the patent owner and those in agreement with them.

Patents require years to obtain. They’re granted by international or national patenting authorities such as the WIPO (World International Property Office).

What Are Patents & Standards?

A patent is legal documentation of an invention’s ownership and the owner’s exclusive rights to profit from it. On the other hand, standards are agreements drawn up by a group of representatives of people who share a specific interest in a particular topic.

These people could be users, manufacturers, government bodies, or research organizations. A globally-recognized standardization is the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), which includes more than 150 national bodies that set international standards.

What Are Reference Books?

Reference books are created to be used for consultation on information regarding particular topics. These books can be in print or digital and they provide quick facts or overviews for specific subjects.

Also known as background, reference books include handbooks, dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, almanacs, bibliographies, and directories.

What Is Reference Material?

Reference material is any source of data that provides brief or detailed information or fact on a given matter.

There are various examples of sources that can be considered reference material, including encyclopedias, journals, dictionaries (both topical and language), books, ebooks, bibliographies, newspapers, handbooks, directories, atlases, and catalogs.

What Are Reports?

Reports are documents produced by departments, agencies, and organizations (such as research institutions and charity foundations) focusing on a particular issue or topic.

You can use reports to acquire up-to-date information, current opinions, and technical data.

What Are Research Databases?

Research databases are indexes where you can search for a wide variety of information sources in the form of citations to journal articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, books, blogs, podcasts, videos, and more.

Some databases may offer full articles while others provide summaries of articles.

What Are Special Collections?

A special collection is a selection of items that are rare, exceptionally valuable, or irreplaceable. They can be books, articles, or any other form of document in written, print, or digital format.

Due to their significance, special collections are usually stored in a separate location from regular library stock with certain security measures and environmental controls for optimal preservation.

What Are Statistics Sources?

Presented in numbers, statistics sources provide a specific type of information where numerical data undergo mathematical operations to generate result data. The data is then compiled via administrative record-keeping or research and summarized into statistics.

Statistics information resources are typically categorized as primary source of information.

What Are Theses & Dissertations?

A thesis or dissertation is usually the last piece of written work submitted as part of an academic course of study.

It is a substantial piece of research and writing which investigates a research question of the students’ choice.

Theses and dissertations are usually one of the last pieces of assessed work required for a degree course that investigates a research question of the students’ choice.

What Are Websites?

Websites are online platforms that you can access through an internet browser. There’s a vast number of websites on the web, covering pretty much every field and topic you can think of.

One of the best advantages of websites is providing researchers with quick access to information in the form of plain text, images, audio, and video.

When relying on information from websites, you must evaluate their authority.

Summary

As you can tell by now, library sources of information come in a wide variety of types and forms. So if you’re wondering which information resource is best, the answer will depend on what you’re researching.

Since each information resource serves different purposes and offers different advantages and drawbacks, there isn’t one source that’s always the best. It simply comes down to the sort of information you’re after.

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