इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

11 Electronic Databases In the Field of Social Sciences

1.Objectives

To familiarize the students with different types of  Electronic Databases in Social Sciences.

2. Introduction

The emergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) during last two decades have profoundly impacted all walks of life including teaching learning and research. This has led to development of reading material in electronic format which is available to readers online through the Internet. A stage has arrived where bulk of reading material in printed form is being digitized and made accessible commercially by publishers in the form of databases. During  the last   decade  several databases of  journals, books and other scholarly materials have  been  subscribed to by  libraries and made  available  to  their scholars. Academic Institutions and scholarly societies are producing their research output digitally and making them available to public freely through their institutional repositories.

. Background

In fact, changes in the procedures or practices that have been introduced in the recent past in the provision of access to information or databases have been truly dramatic.  Now most of the librarians have considered the option of replacing significant portion of primary hard copy material with electronic resources.  Three major changes that have occurred during the past four decades can be identified

 i) First, in the early 1970’s abstracting and indexing services i.e. ERIC and Chemical Abstract which provided access to the proint literature were made available as online databases.  In electronic form the records were more widely available.  They had more access points and search was quicker than the print version.  Though libraries cancelled some printed indexing and abstracting subscription, these early databases could not fully replace primary hard copy source material.  A fair amount of full text material were later added to the early online systems.  These were plain ASCII text. Though this was fine for searching information, it could not replace the original richly formatted, illustrated printed pages.

ii) Second; the next major change was the CD-ROM revoluation of 1980’s and early 1990’s.  The feature of CD-ROM as well as facilities like graaphical user interface allowed more refined database implementations.  In spite of the limitation that one disk could hold oly 650 megabytes data, CD-ROM was able to provide a significant amount of fully formatted page images.  And due to low cost production, there was an explosion in the full text electronic reference works consisting of smaller databases. In just 10 years (1985 to 1996) the number of CD-ROM the number of CD-ROM increased from two titles to 5379 titlesThese CD ROM disks could replace some of the primary print material.  In fact CD-ROM disks were mostly secondary sources like bibliographic or small scale primary sources.

iii) Third; the next major change was brought by the Internet.  One can say that the Internet changed everything or more accurately it can be said that it brought many of the promises of earlier technologies to the full potential.  The developments like graphical user interface, cheaper computers at home, and a computer literate population finally provided the environment for extensive end user searching.  As a result, information became widely available and cheap.  With decreasing cost of scanning and storage of full text data, and ever increasing number of Internet users, the publishers of scholarly periodicals could justify mounting  long runs of primary material often with the facility of full text searching.  These developments has forced many librarians to go virtual; substituting significant portions of hard copy collections with electronic only versions. 

4. The Electronic Age: Benefits and Losses

How do we asserts the gains and losses of this electronic age? These are certainly a number of gains for the information service provides and libraries particularly due to the versatility of the World Wide Web.

• There is no time barrier.  Twenty four hours/seven days a week is the code word of the current electronic age.  One can access information any time.
• Similarly, there is no distance barrier.  In a sense, world wide access menas team member can share inforamtio and work on projects regardless of geographic or institutional boundaries.
• Timely and centralized updating of information/databases eliminates the problem of outdated information and errors that were difficult to overcome with print and CD-ROM products.  Also flat rate access has become the preferred model for most of the organizations.  At the same time, due to cheap server equipment and storage, information on the databases can be given free of cost by the organizations for the purpose of publicty.  Also, corrections can be made in the databases quickly on the basis of feedback received from the users. 
• Hyperlinks were part of the web from the very beginning allowing the users to navigate across databases and find related material.  This hyper linking facility is now getting more popular with cooperative efforts of institutions and database producers who are constantly developing new tools and techniques.  New enhanced features of databases are now becoming increasingly available as interfaces nature.  They take better advantage of the power of computers to create and analyse relationships within the database.
• Now a days, databases have the ability to add supplementary material such as various types of audio-visual resources in a wide variety of formats.  Data in the form of interactive graphs and spread sheets add totally new dimension to the reading of documents. These are all very important gains.

 However, on the other hand there are certain visible losses also.

• Perhaps, the most significant loss is transition of a library form ownership model to licensing model.  As librarians and administrators of institutions, many of us are greatly concerned about the increasing amount of  material that is licensed rather than owned by libraries.  This also leads us to contract law (in lieu of copyright law) which means loss of the first sale doctrine that allows libraries to freely lend or give away the specific copy purchased.  It is doctrine that allows libraries to freely lend or give away the specific copy purchased.It is true that a number of database vendors allow their customers to buy the back files of their material through the investment needed is often quite significant.
• Another loss is the fact that in case of sudden interruption in access to database even for a day or so, there is no alternative to offer the user.  There could be a reason like faulty Internet connection, problem with vendors downloading by the users etc.
• Also, rapidly changing standards and formats leads to legitimate concern about long time use of material.  One can say that an upgrade path is always technically available.  However, the real question is the cost of the format conversion compared to the value of information.  How many of us find it necessary to maintrain a DOS based on windows version computer? Data/information in a particular format can be transferred, imaged, re-keyed or verbally read into a new format if that information is needed badly by the users.
• The emergence of large number of interfaces or retrieval systems used in databases is an important disabling factor in the electronic age.  A reader or a regular visitor to a library has lost the age old card catalogue. Many of us have not thought about the card catalogue for a long time.  The card catalogue was essentially a universal interface prominently on display in every library of the world.  By using card catalogue the library users may not have found what they actually wanted, but they at least knew they were looking at right resource and has some idea as to how the catalogue worked.

The Internet has changed the information retrieval scenario to a great extent.  The way people access data or information has dramatically changed.  Now information is widely and inexpensively available.  There are notable gains as the users are allowed to uncover obscure facts, quotes, organizations and practical information (e.g. weather report, traffic conditions, maps etc.) with a few clicks.  Previously, locating such information would have required number of phone calls or consulting print resources. One can say that lack of barriers to publication on the web has been found to be good in terms of previously hidden information.  It has created problems in terms of determining whether the information located on the Internet is authentic or of high quality. 

5. Important Features of Databases

The electronic databases have the following important features.

• Huge information reservoir
• Up-to-date information
• Multimedia format
• Quick information retrieval
• Multidisciplinary approach
• Peer-reviewed Information sources
• Various search options
• Special services i.e. Selective Dissemination of Inforamtion (SDI), Alerts, etc.

These databases contain virtually millions of records and   keep increasing on daily basis. They not only contain textual information but also have images, audio and videos. All these databases have inbuilt search engines which allow a user to carry out search by author, title, subject and keywords. It also leads to quicker retrieval of information.

Electronic databases allow a user to have additional value added services like SDI and article alerts. As and when an article or information appears in the database of a reader’s choice or interest, he or she is immediately informed by email. This saves a lot of time of user and also leads to effective utilization of resources.

6. Contents of Databases:

An electronic database may consist of following

• Journal Articles
• Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Book reviews/chapters/citations
• Dissertations/theses
• Citation and Analysis
• Abstracts of articles/theses 

7.0 Kinds of Databases

Electronic databases can be divided in following broad categories:

• Aggregators
• Subject specific
• Full text
• Abstract only
• Citation only

7.1 Aggregators

Databases of full-text articles defined by subject area and sold as a single product, rather than as individual subscriptions. An aggregator is essentially a vendor or distributor who provides access to several databases of different kinds. Proquest (www.proquest.com) and Ebsco Publishing (www.ebsco.com) are to major aggregators.

7.2 Subject Specific Databases

Databases which are confined to a particular subject and are brought out mostly by learned societies or organizations are described as subject databases. Databases brought out American Psychological Association, American Marketing Associations are good examples of subject specific databases which are available for subscription as single product.

7.3 Full Text Databases

Full text database consist of complete text of the subject covered by the database like journals, books and magazines. Business Source Premier and ABI –INFORM   are full text databases of   journals in the area of business and management.(www.ebscohost.com/academic/business-source-premier) (www.proquest.com/products/pt-product-ABI.shtm)

7.4 Abstract only Databases

Some databases like econolit contain only abstracts of articles but allow one to access full text by providing links. (www.aeaweb.org/econlit)

7.5 Citation Databases

Citation databases like Scopus and Web of Knowledge are citation analysis data bases allowing one to know as to how many times a particular research paper has been cited by other  researchers. (www.scopus.com)(www.wokinfo.com)

8. Guidelines for Databases

Following steps are involved in creating a database.

• Journal article is published
• “Content Providers” / Publishers/copyright holders
• Sold/licensed to vendors
• Indexers and Abstractors added to database
• Vendor sells/licenses database to libraries
• Subscriptions paid yearly

9. Some important Databases in Social Sciences

Some important databases in the field of social sciences are described below with their features.

H.W.Wilson provides a number of subject-based indexes  with a substantial full-text content.  Citations typically include abstracts and in many cases link out to the library’s OPAC, other databases and Web sites.  Subject-specific titles include:

• Education Full Text
• General Scince Full Text
• Humanities Full Text
• Social Sciences Full Text
• Wilson Business Full Text

These and more are included in Wilson’s OmniFile full Text database, which covers more than 4,000 journals, nearly 60 percent of them full-text ( a ‘Select Edition” carries full-text records only).

On Line Index Indian Periodicals.

As regards, social science journal articles published in India, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi has developed a package containing index of articles that have appeared in 105Indian periodicals.  The database is known as on-line Index (OLI).  The OLI is made available to the scholars free of cost through the Internet. On the basis of suggestions received from scholars, ISID has also brought out print version of the index to certain important periodicals.  The first volume published in print form contained articles published in Economic and political weekly(EPW) (1966-1996). The second volume in the series brought out in 1997 contained index to articles published in major sixteen economics journals.  Later, a revised and consolidated edition for EPW articles appeared covering the period 1966-2006 with author and subject index.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Database.

In India, the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre , an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the university Grants Commission (UGC), is presently involved in creating infrastructure for sharing of library and information resources among academic and research institutions.  Under the project ‘Shodhganga’, the INFLIBNET programme is developing a digital repository of Phd Theses and dissertations that have been submitted to University departments. It would be accessible to all institutes and universities in the country ‘Shodhganga’ is using D-Space open source digitial repository software for this purpose.  In 2009, the UGC passed a resolution for submitting M.Phil and Phd Theses on-one.  This project was launched in 2010 and so far 40 universities across the country have joined this project and as a result, INFLIBNET has been able to create a repository containing approximately 15,000 Theses and dissertations from all subject fields; natural science, social sciences and the humanities.

 Current Abstracts

(http://search.ebscohost.com)

Current Abstracts offers complete bibliographic citation information for nearly 9,800 scholarly academic journals. This database provides up-to-date table of contents, abstracting and indexing for all included journals.

 Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, (LISTA) 

(http://search.ebscohost.com)

It indexes more than 600 periodicals, plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back files as far as the mid-1960s.

 ABI/INFORM Complete

(http://proquest.umi.com/login/ipauto)

The Database Includes: ABI/INFORM Dateline, ABI/INFORM Global, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. It provides a comprehensive coverage of business and economic events from across the globe.           

It offers nearly 3,000 full-text titles covering business and economic conditions, corporate strategies, management techniques, as well as competitive and product information.

The Database includes 3970 journals and provides access to 14,000 full-text doctoral dissertations and master’s theses; 5,200 documents available from the publishers Ivey, Thunderbird, Idea Group, and Darden; The Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition; the premier business newspaper in North America, with back file coverage to 1984; and linking to Safari Business Books Online.

 Academic Search Premier

(http://search.ebscohost.com)

ASP covers nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more.

It is the world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database containing full-text of 4,650 serials, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed publications. It offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,200 journals in the collection. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and it provides searchable cited references for more than 1,000 titles.  Emerald Management Xtra

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/

Emerald Management Xtra is the largest, most comprehensive collection of peer reviewed management journals and online support for librarians, faculty, researchers and deans.

By bringing together integrated access to journals, reviews and user-centric support resources, Emerald Management Xtra helps position the library at the heart of a university's service provision.

It offers much more than journals in a library or papers online; Emerald Management Xtra provides the opportunity to exchange ideas and information, get to know what is happening in the world of research work-in-progress, find out what relevant conferences are being planned and read reviews of previous ones.

•           190 full text journals

•           Reviews from the world's top 300 management journals

•           Access to over 75,000 full text management articles of the highest calibre

Emerald Management Xtra offers an extending collection of 75,000 full text articles from journals published by Emerald, which include more peer-reviewed primary journals in management than any other publisher.

 Humanities International Complete

(http://search.ebscohost.com) 

Humanities International Complete is a comprehensive database of humanities content, providing full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world.  This database includes all data from American Humanities Index and Humanities International Index (over 2,000 titles and 2 million records). The database includes full text for more than 770 journals. 

HIC is an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and educators interested in all aspects of the humanities, with worldwide content pertaining to literary, scholarly and creative thought.

 Sage Journals Online

(http://online.sagepub.com/)

The SAGE Full-Text Collections are award-winning, discipline-specific research databases of the most popular peer-reviewed journals in Communication Studies, Criminology, Education, Management & Organization Studies, Materials Science, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Urban Studies & Planning published by SAGE Publications and participating societies.

These comprehensive databases include more than 256 journals, 360,000 articles, book reviews, and editorials, with all the original graphics, tables, and page numbers. The Collections provide researchers and students with a research environment that is easy to use and complete with the most up-to-date content and back files back to volume 1, issue 1.

 Soc Index with Full text

(http://search.ebscohost.com)

SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. The database features more than 1,910,000 records with subject headings from a 19,300 term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 397 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1908, and 150 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 720 books and monographs, and full text for 6,743 conference papers.

SocINDEX with Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology including abortion, criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others.

 Cambridge University Press (CUP) 

http://journals.cambridge.org/

In line with the CUP commitment of Cambridge University Press (CUP)to advance learning, knowledge and research worldwide, the CUPv currently publishes over 220 peer-reviewed academic journals for the global market. Containing the latest research from a broad sweep of subject areas, Cambridge journals are accessible worldwide in print and online

 J-STOR         

http://www.jstor.org/

J-STOR is a not–for–profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive of over one thousand academic journals and other scholarly content

.

JSTOR was founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. Today, it works with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources.

With participation and support from the international scholarly community, JSTOR has created a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive of scholarship, is actively preserving over one thousand academic journals in both digital and print formats, and continues to greatly expand access to scholarly works and other materials needed for research and teaching globally.

JSTOR offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to support scholarship and teaching. It includes archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.

The archive is unique in terms of scale, content, and the significant use it receives. It is recognized specifically for:

•           offering a unique, interlinked aggregation of scholarly works

•           facilitating interdisciplinary and historical research

•           exemplary standards for digitization and completeness

•           interfaces and functionality that support academic use

•           highly reliable access

•           Long-term preservation

 Oxford University Press       (OUP)

http://www.oxfordjournals.org

Oxford Journals is a division of Oxford University Press,  (OUP)which is a department of Oxford University. It publishes well over 230 academic and research journals covering a broad range of subject areas, two-thirds of which are published in collaboration with learned societies and other international organizations.

Oxford Journals is working with over 100 society partners to maximize the global reach of journals published by us on their behalf. It engages with librarians through advisory groups and other means to ensure that it continues to meet their changing needs.

The American Psychological Associations’s (APA) PsycInfo indexes more than 2,100 journals, along with books, book chapers and dissertations.  Some citations date back to the nineteenth century and coverage is international in scope.  PsycInfo is available directly from the APA or from a variety of vendors including EBSCO, OCLC First Search and ProQuest.

During the past twenty years, several new periodcal databases and indexes have been added in the list of available sources.  There are now many databases to choose from and it sometimes become confusing.  How do we identify or know the coverage of databases in details so that we can satisfy the need of a specialized user.  There are tools now available to help us to know which journal titles are included in which indexes. 

For example Serials Solutions (nttp://www.serialssolutions.com) work from a customized list of databases provided by a library to the readers.  When the title of a periodicals is entered, it will tell the library which of the databases contain full text articles from that particular periodical and for what years.  A library can also subscribe to its article linker feature which allows one to provide more information about a particular article.  The reader is looking for and also in certain cases provides direct links to the article in the database.

Similarly, EBSCO A to Z (http://www.ebsco.com(a to z)) offers this type of solutions to the libraries.  One can customize the list of databases so that users searching to AtoZ product will find which of libraries databases cover which journal.  One can also list of print journals that are subscribed to by the library.  The readers will be able to know which titles are available only in print.

Another ijportant source for periodicals is the Ulrichs’web.com.  It offers a comprehensive listing of information of all kinds of magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, etc. it has alist of over 2,50,000 titles that are published from 200 countries.  The details provided  include pricing and publishers information as well as where they are indexed. By using this directory, libraries can also set up the capability of link from journal titles to full text (Through Serials Solution or several other tools) or to the holding record of the library. There are links to the full text version in many cases.  A handful of companies i.e. Wilson, Gate ProQuest, BESCO, Lexis Nexis, OCLC Produce most of the database so that many of the interfaces look similar to each other.

As a matter of fact, social sciences have become home for evershifting constituency of disciplines.  Several inter-disciplinary topics have found place in it.  Internet and other electronic media are having a major impact upon both the subject area and its library and information services.  Finding information is not a problem the difficult task lies in locating relevant high quality resources.  Today, almost all libraries subscribe to web based periodical indexes and abstracts to help their user locate articles.  The web based indexes are clearly superior to their print counterparts in many ways; searching is easier, faster and more flexible, and there are links to the full text version in many cases.A handful of companies i e Wilson,Gale,Pro Quest,EBSCO,Lexis Nexis,OCLC produce most of the databases so that many of the interfaces look similar to each other. 

 

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

10 Yearbooks, Ecyclopeadias And Handbooks   

1. Introduction

Yearbooks, Encyclopedias and Handbooks are important source of social science information and are brought out by prestigious learned and scholarly societies as well as by commercial publishers. These sources provide complete background of a subject and also current state of research. Some of the important sources are described below.

2. Annuals And Yearbooksyearbooks

A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a publication brought out annually to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year’s development. The term here   basically refers to a book of thoughts, ideas, knowledge, statistics or facts..A year book is an important source of information in a particular area. In such publications, the entires are generally alphabetical so that user may read the desired portion easily. In some yearbooks entries are also recorded in chronological order.

Some important yearbooks in the area of social sciences are as under:

The Annual Register:      A record of World Events (Bethesda, Midland: Keesing’s Worldwide) is a very old annual published since 1758.  The first editor was Edmond Burke.  It will remain an authoritative chronicle of events from every country of the world.  Apart from country specific coverage of significant events, it also provides global perspective on religion, the sciences, law, the arts and sports.  In addition, international organizations, obituaries of important people and key documents are included.

Whitakers’ Almanack (London: The stationery Office) was initially published in the year 1868 by Joseph Whitaker.  The annual publication provides detailed converge of the United Kingdom on different topics like parliament, religion, education, social welfare, transport, the environment, lotteries and gaming, taxation the media and organization.  However, data on rest of the countries of the world are brief and sketchy.  The annual also provides information on European Parliament, European Union, a brief A-Z compendium of facts (and maps) about the countries of the world and a profile of world events from the past year.  The Almanack also includes a bibliography of annual reference books.

Europa World Year Book 2011-London: Routledge, 2011 2v. Contents: Vol 1 Pt.1 (International Organisations), Pt.2. (Afghanistan-Jordan ), V.2 (Kazakhastan-Zimbabve)

First published in 1926, the Europa World Year Book is renowned as one of the world's leading reference works, covering political and economic information in more than 250 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The Europa Regional Surveys of the World offer in-depth, expert analysis at regional, sub-regional and country. (http://www.europaworld.com/pub/)

1. India 2012:A Reference Annual. 56^th ed. /Compiled and edited by Research Reference and Training Division-New Delhi: Publication Division, 2012.

India 2012 is an updated and comprehensive edition of the Reference Annual edited, published and marketed by the Publications Division. The Research, Reference and Training Division (RR&TD) of the Ministry collects the base material for the Year Books. The material is collected from Central Ministries/Departments, State governments and Union Territories, PSUs and autonomous bodies.

The reference annual gives a panoramic view of country’s progress in the fields of rural and urban development, industry & infrastructure, science & technology, art & culture, economy, health, defense, education & mass communication. It incorporates sections on general knowledge, current affairs, sports, events of the past year and latest ones too.

It has been chronicling India's march to prosperity and strength over this period. The main features covered in this edition of the year book, are Census 2011 which is the 15th Census of India since 1872, village electrification, MNREGA, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, National Rural Health Mission, empowerment of women etc. It is a useful handbook for students, civil services aspirants, research scholars, academicians, authors, journalists and above all the general public. (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80551)

2. Statesman Yearbook, 2013 : The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World 2013/edited by Barry Turner-Hampshire:Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

                        Now in its 149th edition, The Statesman's Yearbook continues to be the reference                             work    of choice for accurate and reliable information on every country in the                                             world. Covering political, economic, social     and cultural aspects,    the Yearbook                           is also available online for subscribing institutions: (www.statesmansyearbook.com),

(http://us.macmillan.com/thestatesmansyearbook2013/BarryTurner)

3. World of Learning 2013-63^rd ed. –London: Europa, 2012.2v.

A comprehensive guide to 33,000 academic institutions and 250,000 staff and officials across the whole spectrum of higher education, research and learning. No other source provides such comprehensive international coverage.

Now in its 63rd edition, The Europa World of Learning is one of the world's leading reference works. Updated to the highest editorial standards, entries are sourced directly from the organizations to ensure accurate and reliable information. The accreditation status of every university and college is verified before its entry is approved.

Every type of academic institution is covered, including over:

                        7,800 universities and colleges

                        5,800 research institutes

                        3,400 museums and art galleries

                        5,000 learned societies

                        3,600 libraries and archives

                        850 regulatory and representative bodies

Separate chapters for countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe each feature an introductory survey of the country's higher education system. A separate section covers international organizations concerned with higher education and scholarship.

New essays feature each year on themes around international and comparative higher education. Subscribers may download these online at www.worldoflearning.com alongside an archive of essays from past editions. (http://www.worldoflearning.com)

4. Yearbook of International Organisations: Guide to Global Civil Society Network, edited by Union of International Associations-

Unchallenged in this field of reference since 1910, the Yearbook of International Organizations provides the most extensive coverage of non-profit international organizations available today. Directly reflecting a dynamic international arena, it contains entries on 65969 civil society organizations in 300 countries and territories, in every field of human endeavour.

The Yearbook profiles international non-governmental(INGOs)and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs). There are all types of organization, from formal structures to informal networks, from professional bodies to recreational clubs – regardless of ideology. However, it does not include for-profit enterprises. The compilation of the Yearbook by the Union of International Associations has received the full approval and support of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

All work for the Yearbook is part of UIA's ongoing research into international organizations and civil society.(http://www.uia.be/yearbook)

3.0 Encyclopedias

An encyclopaedia is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as the “circle of learning” and less poetically as “a literary work containing extensive information on all branches of knowledge encyclopaedia is a source which is used by most of us to get authoritative used to our everyday questions.  Even today it has a dominating presence in every library as well as in many homes.  Print encyclopaedia are still issued although sales of this format Britannica has decided to discontinue its print version.  Most of the encyclopaedias follow the basic layout i.e. with alphabetically arranged entries supplemented by an index.  The articles or entries are normally written by  experts.

They are sometimes followed by a bibliography major encyclopaedias have all gone digital and they are now available over the web. In addition to important traditional general encyclopaedias i.e. Britannica, Americana, World Book, Compton etc. certain other subject based titles have also been published.

These are also fully digital encyclopaedias e.q. Microsoft’s Encarta and recently launched Wikipedia.  One can say that digital versions of encyclopaedias have a number of advantages.  They are searchable by keyword.  They also provide link to related topics of interest.  Also, they can be kept updated with latest information and multimedia files are normally available with them to illustrate concepts. 

Whether in print or in electronic version the encyclopaedia remain a valuable starting point for research on a number of topics.  It is a source where one can gain a basic understanding of the subject and also learn where to look for more information.

3.1 Types of Encyclopedias

There are different types of encyclopedias that can  be used when searching for      information depending upon the subject matter, accessibility,   and the amount of information that they provide. Users may use any of these or all when researching a particular topic.

3.1.1. General Encyclopedia

A general encyclopedia provides information on a wide range of subjects. The write upsare brief and do not include in-depth information on the subject. A general encyclopedia contains information that is factual and written by a variety of experts .These are valuable research tool when looking for background information on a subject or when trying to locate a specific fact, date, or concept. Encyclopedia Britannica is one of the best known general encyclopedia.

3.1.2. Subject Encyclopedia

Subject encyclopedias contain information on a particular subject of study by subject experts. The information is scholarly and detailedserving as complete note. The entries are in-depth and provide much more information than found in a general encyclopedia and are supported by references. Subject encyclopedias are important reference tool for individuals that need an overview of informationonspecialized topics and are backed up by references and bibliographies. Subject encyclopedias are available on broad range of subjects like psychology, education, medicine, technology and others.

3.1.3. OnlineEncyclopedia

With the emergence of commercially available online databases a vast majority of encyclopedias are now available online. There are several online reference sites that provide access to full articles from both general and subject encyclopedias. Some of the most popular general encyclopedias including Columbia, World Book, and Britannica can be accessed online. Several commercial database vendors like credo reference provide access to several important encyclopedias.

Also, community or user-contributed encyclopedias are coming up online. These are largely free and allow anyone from around the globe to contribute and edit information on different topics and subjects. However in some cases information is not authenticated and   users need to keep in mind that the information found on these sites is not very much reliable and accordingly should not be used for research purposes. Wikipedia is one of the best examples of such encyclopedia.

Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org)  is an on-line encyclopedia set up by Jimmy Wales in 2001 as a free web-based encyclopedia that is collaboratively written and open to editing by anyone with an Internet connection.  It is a favourite source of general information for many web-surfers; providing up-to-date information on a tremendous range of topics.  Wikipedia is available in 10 major languages; it is extensively hyperlinked, easily searchable and browsable and articles from the website can be retrieved through major search engines such as Google or Yahoo.  One can say that Wikipedia does provide a useful starting point for information on some topics with no costs.

3.2 Some Important Encyclopedias

The Encyclopædia Britannica published by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.is one of the most important and widely regarded general knowledge English-language encyclopedia. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors, including 110 Nobel Prize winners and five American presidents. It is regarded as one of the most scholarly encyclopediasof English language.

The Britannica is the oldest English-language encyclopedia still being produced. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in Scotland as three volumes. The 15th edition has a three-part structure: a 10-volume Micropædia of short articles (generally fewer than 750 words), a 19-volume Macropædia of long articles (two to 310 pages) and a single Propædia volume to give a hierarchical outline of knowledge and two volume index. The Micropaedia is meant for quick fact-checking and as a guide to the Macropaedia; readers are advised to study the Propaedia outline to understand a subject's context and to find more detailed articles. In March 2012 on account of   decreasing sales, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. stopped its printing and is now bringing out online version only, Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Its final print edition was in 2010, a 32-volume set.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)

The Encyclopedia Americana

It was first published in 1829–33, with subsequent editions in 1911 (20 volumes) and 1918–20 (30 volumes), and continuously revised thereafter,Americana is international in scope and detailed coverage of American and Canadian geography and history. It is also strong in biography and scientific and technical subjects. All major articles are signed, many by scholars preeminent in their fields.

Because of its volume-by-volume revision, some parts of the set are less current than others. The last complete revision and total resetting occurred in 1918–20 becoming the basis for its successors. Encyclopedia is accompanied by an alphabetical index (volume 30) which is kept up to date with each printing, however, and serves as an instructional as well as an updating device.

Other organizational features include tables of contents for lengthy articles and boxes that highlight specific data. It  include numerous glossaries; separate articles evaluating particularly important literary, artistic, and musical compositions; and separate articles summarizing world, and particularly Western, history and culture for each century. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186656/The-Encyclopedia-Americana)

3.3 Social Science Encyclopedias

During the 20^th Century two major social science encyclopedias have been published.  They are i) Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 15 V., Edited by RA Seligman and Alvin Johnson (London and New York, Maemillan, 1930-35).  And iii)International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 17 V.  Edited by David L Sills (New York, the Macmillan Co & the Free Press; London, Collier Macmillan, 1968). The second one also published a supplementary biographical volumes published in 1979 and also a dictionary of quotations in 1991.  Both these encyclopedias present insightful overviews of the state of knowledge of their respective generations.  However, due to new developments in the field of social sciences, their value has now become historical.  The editor David Sills has written in his introduction : “Because an encyclopedia reflects a generations contributions to and perspectives on knowledge, it must be revised, updated or supplemented if it is to maintain its intellectual credibility.

The Social Science Encyclopeida -2^nd Ed, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper (London and New York, Routledge, 1946) is a revised version of the first edition published in 1985.  The new edition has taken into account the rapidly changing and fluid state of contemporary social science.  The single volume encyclopedia contains around 600 concise entries (which also include contains references and suggestions for further reading) written by an international panel of contributors.  The volume covers all the major disciplines of the social sciences and also deals with the new trends such as development of environmental economics, cultural geography and psychological anthropology. The volume also contains certain amount of debates and controversies in the entries that make the social sciences stimulating. 

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential 4^th ed, 3V Edited by the Union of International Associations (Munich, K.G Saur Verlag, 1944-45).  The contents of the three volumes are i) World Problems ii) Human Potential – Transformations and values iii) Actions, Strategies and Solutions.  The publishers have also made the volumes available in a single CD-ROM format which enhances the speed which the 3000+pages of text can be searched.  This encyclopediaendeavours to focus on wrold’s problems. It is a resource that could be value to a broad spectrum of social scientists. 

Encyclopedia of Social History 10V. Edited by Pter N. Stearns (New York, Garland, 1994) is of interest to all social scientists.  The alphabetically arranged entries provide brief overviews of certain important topics like the family, industrialization , multi culturalism and nationalism.  See also references are also given in addition to a name/subject index.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy 10V. Edited by Edward Craig (Lond, Routledge, 1998) is international, multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary in scope.  It will be of assistance to social scientists seeking information on the philosophies of Western and non-western culture.

In the beginning of the 21^st Century, a new encyclopedia has been published i.e.International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, ed. By Neil J. Smelser and paul B. batter, (Elsevier, 2001).  The purpose of this project was to see that there is ‘quality control’ of knowledge in the field and also to document new areas of social sciences new modes of publication such as  the Internet with its tremendous increase in the quantity of publicly available information justifies the need for better control of quality of knowledge produced.  The primary strategy for achieving good quality in an encyclopedia is a peer-based selection of experts as authors and a peer-review system for submission.  The following reasons were cited as the basis of the new intellectual endeavour.

• Remarkable growth and specialization of knowledge since the 1960s.
• Rapid development in the inter-diciplinary subjects.
• Expansion of interest in policy and application.
• Internationalization of research as a result of globalization.
• Impact of computer and information revolution on theory and practice.
• Growing relation between i) the social and behavioral science; and ii) biological or life siences for the purpose of study and research.

According to the established practice, the encyclopedia listed its entries in alphabetical order.  A large number of biographical entries have been included on the basis of significant contributions made by the persons in their respective subject fields.  In total, there are 26 volumes.  The list of articles and list of subject experts/social scientists whose biography have been included are given in volume. 1.  Alphabetical entries to topics/subjects related to social sciences are in volume 2 to 23.  Other details such as list of contributors, names index, classified list of entries and subject index have been provided in volume 25 and volume 26.  The contents include 4000 signed articles, 90,000 bibliographic references and 150 biographical entries making it the largest social science reference work ever published.  

For additional information on the scope, quality and range of encyclopedias available on all the fields, one can consult Subject Encyclopedias: user Guide, Review Citations and Keyword Index, compiled by Allan N. Mirwis (Phoenix, A2; the oryx Press, 1999) This provides quality rating for each encyclopedia.

There are several other social science encyclopedias which provide information to library users. Some of these are briefly described as under:

1. Collier’s Encyclopedia with Bibliography and Index. Ed. By William  D.Halsey and Bernard
2. Encyclopedia of World Cultures Ed. By Terence E.Hays.Boston, G.K. Hall, 1991. 10 v
3. Encyclopaedia of Bioethics. 3^rd ed. Ed. By Stephen G.Port.NewYork,Macmillan Reference, 2004
4. International Encyclopedia of Business Management. 2^nd ed. Ed. By Malcolm Warner. London. Thomson Learning 2002.8v.
5. International Encyclopedia of Economics Ed. By Frank N. Magil.London, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, 2v.

There are several ‘guide to literature’ and handbooks which provide information about various reference sources on social sciences.  The world Social Science Report, 1999 (Paris, UNESCO, Publishing/David Makinson is one of the sries of reports pensive review of the role of the social sciences on a global scale. 

Other important publications which contains bibliographic and other details about various types of  reference sources in the field include i) Guide to the Social Sciences. Edited by Jonathan Michie.  (London Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001) ii) Wlaford’s Guide to Reference Material. Volmue 2 Social and Historical Sciences, Philosophy and Religion 8^th ed. Edited by Alan Day and Michal Walsh (London, Library Association, 2000) iii) Social Sciences Reference Sources: A practical Gude. 3^rd ed. Edited by Tze-Chung Li(Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000) iv) The Social Sciences : A cross Disciplinary Gude to Selected soruces edited by Nancy L Herron (Engle wood co: Libraria Unlimited 1989). Iv) Sources of Information in the Social Scinces: A Guide to the Literature by William H Webb and other (Chicago IL, American Library Association 1986).

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbook

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80551

http://us.macmillan.com/thestatesmansyearbook2013/BarryTurner

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186656/The-Encyclopedia-Americana

http://www.definitions.net/definition/abstracting+and+indexing+as+topic

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_indexing

http://www.europaworld.com/pub/

http://www.gale.cengage.com

http://www.uia.be/yearbook

http://www.worldoflearning.com

www.statesmansyearbook.com

Web links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbook

http://www.europaworld.com/pub/

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

09.Social science reference sources: Role of bibliographies  

Objectives

• To inculcate  the knowledge about  international exchange of records
• To promote the conversion of bibliographic records into machine-readable format
• To  know to  organize information about materials on a given subject so that students of the subject may have access to it

3. Introduction

Bibliographies, Indexes and Abstracting services constitute important sources of reference for social science researchers.  These sources allow a   scholar to find out relevant material before starting their    research so as to understand the already existing pattern and trend of research in a given field. Hence it is important to study these sources.Bibliographies constitute an important source of information for research scholars and other users of libraries. Generally speaking a bibliography is a list of books on a particular topic or subject prepared for the reference of a particular library user. Bowers (1949) refers to bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production. Basic bibliographic information includes title, author or editor, publisher, and the year the current edition was published or copyrighted. Bibliography, also known as works cited, reference list is basically an orderly study and referencing of books and source materials used in academic research.

4. Bibliographies

Bibliographies constitute an important source of information for research scholars and other users of libraries. Generally speaking a bibliography is a list of books on a particular topic or subject prepared for the reference of a particular library user. Bowers (1949) refers to bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production. Basic bibliographic information includes title, author or editor, publisher, and the year the current edition was published or copyrighted. Bibliography, also known as works cited, reference list is basically an orderly study and referencing of books and source materials used in academic research.

The purpose of bibliography is to organize information about materials on a given subject so that students of the subject may have access to it. A descriptive bibliography may take the form of information about a particular author's works or about works on a given subject or on a particular nation or period. Critical bibliography, which emerged in the early 20th century, involves meticulous descriptions of the physical features of books, including the paper, binding, printing, typography, and production processes used, to help establish such facts as printing dates and authenticity. Thus a bibliography is a list of books or articles related by way of authorship or subject, and sometimes annotated. Large bibliographies may be published as books in their own right.

A bibliography is also a list of books, articles, and other sources which a scholar uses when researching a topic and writing a paper. The bibliography appears at the end of research paper and is also called Works Cited or Works Consulted.

4.1 Need for Bibliographies

The need of bibliography is to organize information about materials on a given subject so that students of the subject may have access to it. A descriptive bibliography may take the form of information about a particular author's works or about works on a given subject or on a particular nation or period. Critical bibliography, which emerged in the early 20th century, involves meticulous descriptions of the physical features of books, including the paper, binding, printing, typography, and production processes used, to help establish such facts as printing dates and authenticity. Thus a bibliography is a list of books or articles related by way of authorship or subject, and sometimes annotated. Large bibliographies may be published as books in their own right.

One of the purposes of a bibliographic entry is to give credit to other authors whose work one has consulted in research. Another objective of a bibliography is to make it easy for a reader to find the source

5. Bibliographies Importance

A bibliography is an important source of information for a research scholar. It serves as a ready reference and directs him or her towards right kind of material which helps in research and studies. A bibliography helps in organizing research material properly and saves the time of user. Preparing a bibliography is a specialized job and requires some knowledge and understanding of the subject.

5.1 Kind of Bibliographies

Over the years bibliographies have evolved into several categories. This evolution of bibliographies has essentially taken place on account of value additions of different kinds to the basic concept or model. Carter (2010) describes bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline -- the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic, description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). Some of the important categories of bibliographies can be described as below:

5.2 Enumerative Bibliographies

Enumerative bibliography is simply a lists of books, articles and other writings on a given theme or subject, Bowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production. Enumerative bibliography provides a list, rather than to describe minutely. Little or no information is likely to be provided about physical aspects of the book such as paper, type, illustrations, or binding. A library's card catalog is an example of an enumerative bibliography, and so is the list at the back of a book of works consulted

5.3 Analytical Bibliographies:

The analytical bibliographies consider books as physical objects rather than as academic contents and contain the details of their production, the effects of the method of manufacture on the text. Analytical bibliography largely deals with the historical background of printers and booksellers, with the description of paper or bindings, or with textual matters arising during the progression from writer's manuscript to published book.

5.4 Annotated Bibliography:

An annotated bibliography contains an annotation of book or article in the form of an abstract, note[s] intended to describe, explain, or evaluate the publication. This is a specialized kind bibliography for special kind of users.

5.5 Current Bibliography:

A current bibliography records recently published material, for the purpose of reporting the recent literature in a particular subject like   current list published by American Centre Library.

5.6 National Bibliography

A national bibliography of documents published in a particular country like Indian National Bibliography.

5.7 Period Bibliography:

A period bibliography lists works about a given time period.

5.8 Retrospective Bibliography:

A retrospective bibliography can be described as alist of documents published in previous years, as distinct from a current bibliography.

5.9 Serial Bibliography:

A serial bibliography appears at fixed intervals of time, e.g. weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually. Its objective is the reporting of publications as they appear.

5.10 Subject Bibliography

A subject bibliography provides details of publications on a given subjec

5.11 Bibliographical Formats

As is evident from above that bibliographic record can be created for any independent bibliographic item (book, journal, newspaper, audio cassette, video cassette, cartographic publication etc.) and for component part (article from the journal or newspaper, chapter from a book, map, sheet, illustration etc.

To render bibliographical information correctly it is necessary that some standard is followed. The objectives of following a standard are as under

• To ensure the international exchange of records and
• To promote the conversion of bibliographic records into machine-readable format.

Over the years several standards for bibliographic citations have been evolved by different organizations which are   described below briefly.

1. APA Style of Referencing
2. Chicago Manual of Styles
3. Harvard  Style of Referencing
4. BIS Style

6. Guidelines for Bibliographies

There are several national, international and subject bibliographies being published both by governmental and non-government organizations in the area of social sciences. Some of the guidelines are as under.

1. Indian Books in Print 2005: A Bibliography of Indian Books Published in English Language/edited by Sher Singh and Bhawana Singh. Delhi: Indian Bibliographies Bureau, 2005.
2. Indian National Bibliography. Calcutta, Central Reference Library, 1957-Monthly- (With Annual Cumulation)
3. International Bibliography of Economics- London: Routledge, 1991. 44v (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences).
4. International Bibliography of Political Science- London: Routledge, 1984. 35v (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences).
5. International Bibliography of Sociology- London: Routledge, 1991. 45v (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences).
6. International Bibliography of Social and Culture Anthropology- Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1973. 17v (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences).
7. London Bibliography of the Social Sciences. London: Mansell Publishing, 1970. 31v.

7. Salient Feature of Bibliographies

Some of the salient feature of Bibliographies is as follow:

1. Bibliography is an important source of information for a research scholar.
2. It serves as a ready reference and directs him or her towards right kind of material which helps in research and studies.
3. Bibliography helps in organizing research material properly and saves the time of user.
4. Preparing a bibliography is a specialized job and requires some knowledge and understanding of the subject.