14. Reviews, State-of-the-Art Reports, Trend Reports, etc P- 05. Information Sources, Systems and Services

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

14. Reviews, State-of-the-Art Reports, Trend Reports, etc

P- 05. Information Sources, Systems and Services *

By :Dr.Renu Arora,Paper Coordinator

MODULE 14: REVIEWS, STATE-OF-THE-ART REPORTS, TREND REPORTS, etc. 

Content Writer: Prof. Vara Lakshmi Rudrabhatla Email id: rvsn1234@hotmail.com Structure of Module/Syllabus of module(Define Topic of Module and its subtopics) Reviews, State-of-theArt Reports, Trend Reports, etc. Introduction, Reviews as Sources, Types of Reviews, Reviews as Services, State-of-the-Art Reports, Trend reports 

1. DESCRIPTION OF THE MODULE

 Description of the Module Subject Name Library and Information Science Paper Name Information Sources, Systems and Services Module Name/Title Reviews, State-of-the-Art Reports, Trend Reports, etc. Module Id LIS/ISSS/14 Pre-requisites Information Sources, Information Analysis, Consolidation And Repackaging Objectives To explain Reviews as sources of information and to highlight importance of State-of-the-art-reports and Trend Reports Keywords Information Sources-Reviews, Reviews- Information Sources, Information Services-reviews, State-of-the-art-reports, Trend Reports, Information Consolidation 

2. INTRODUCTION 

Information is recognized as a vital resource. Various users require scientific, technical, marketing, commercial, financial and related information for carrying out various activities. Besides this, there is too much information on a topic and the potential user is overloaded with the amount of available information. This involves too much time and effort on part of users and often leads to unwillingness to use information in available format. Besides this, information may be in a language, context and format outside the users’ area of activity. These are some serious barriers which hamper effective use of information. An important solution to this problem is bibliographic organization, classification, indexing, abstracting and other related secondary information services. However, these mentioned above, do not address directly many of the critical barriers to information use. A solution to these problems, others solutions are required. The products of information consolidation, viz. reviews, state-of-the-art reports, trend reports and technical digests have been found to be the best possible solution in this regard. 2 In this module, you will learn about reviews as information sources, the techniques of preparing reviews as products for serving the defined users, the importance of state-of-the-art reports and need for trend reports. Further, information products such as reviews, state-of-the-art reports, trend reports, digests, etc. are prepared as products of information service and they play a vital role in scientific, research and corporate organizations in retrieving the current developments in an encapsulated form. Such synthesized information products naturally increases the utility of information. 

3. REVIEWS AS SOURCES

 Reviews are another important information source and are classified as secondary sources as they are prepared extracting the information from primary sources. You might know about book reviews wherein the comprehensive information is compressed to give a brief summary of the totality of ideas. Another related term in literary circles is ‘peer review’ that refers to the evaluation of academic/scientific works by others working in the same field for publication in journals. However, from LIS point of view, the reviews are the literary works in condensed form that provide overview of the current progress of a subject by gathering related information from primary sources. They are compiled after retrieving and integrating data/information from multiple information sources. Reviews basically assess the related concepts from articles, gather, summarize and present them in an abridged form that help the user to understand either the whole gamut of a subject or the recent advances in a subject or the growth trends of a subject area. Thus reviews are important as information sources as well as services. Reviews provide a ‘coherent picture of the development or progress of a subject’ and present information in a ‘more easily digestible form’. According to Bimalendu Guha, “a reviews is actually a narrative account of progress of a particular field of study prepared by an expert in the field.” S.R. Ranganathan referred to it as a narrative bibliography. Reviews, based on the primary literature, correlate the literature and provide a digest of knowledge. It may also appear as collection of articles at regular intervals (e.g., annual reviews) or may be in the form of review article in a periodical. Essentially, the reviews provide background information and link them to the current developments. Online Dictionary of LIS defines review as “An evaluative account of a recent artistic performance or exhibit, or of a newly published literary or scholarly work, usually written and signed by a qualified person, for publication in a current newspaper, magazine, or journal. The account can be descriptive, reportorial, comparative, or critical or serve as a vehicle for a lengthy essay in which the reviewer discusses several recently published works (omnibus review) or a broader topic for which the works reviewed serve as a springboard.” However, as an information source, review is a critical synthesis of the state of knowledge in a given subject or topic. It is also a critical examination of information and literature on a subject or topic accommodated in its broader format. Within the scope of various information consolidation products, reviews take a special and most significant place. They are the highest level of intellectual reprocessing of information. By ‘review’ it is meant, of course, the critical, evaluative review and not just a summary of who said, wrote or did what. The review here is also different from a book review which is an assessment of a document or publication. In other words, a 3 bibliographic essay, an annotated bibliography or a fact report are not a review in the true sense of the word. A review thus sifts, evaluates and puts the significant contributions in condensed format eliminating irrelevant information. It also includes full bibliographical details to facilitate further reading, if necessary, by the user. It offers the users an expert view on the subject without any need to refer back the mass of primary literature. These are generally prepared by subject experts in the field and are not a work of library professionals or information officers. However, if the information officer is a subject expert he/she is competent to do the job. The basic characteristics of reviews are:  analyses research studies about the same topic  analyses original documents or archival material  puts each contribution in perspective  indicates inter-relationship of ideas  indicates significance and possible areas of application  presents an integrated picture of development and progress Reviews are the highest level of intellectual reprocessing of information. By ‘review’ it is meant, of course, the critical, evaluative review and not just a summary of who said, wrote or did what. One of the main activity before preparing a review is a selection of the subject or topic in which the review needs to be carried out. The subject or topic has to be clearly defined and the boundaries set, otherwise the act of reviewing becomes unmanageable. The review should be on a subject or topic for which there is a need for review, either because the literature and information has grown tremendously with many unconnected items or the users specifically require the same in the particular topic. Besides this, the review can be carried out only on a subject or a topic for which there is enough material to review, otherwise there is nothing to review. Thus, these prelimi Functions of reviews According to A.M. Woodward, the reviews have two distinct functions, which are, historical and contemporary. i) Historical – that describes the development of a subject or a topic. For example, the peer evaluation of published literature; Collection of information from different sources; compaction of existing knowledge; etc. ii) Contemporary – those beneficial to individual users. For example, Information notification of published literature; Current awareness of related field; Back-up for other literature searching etc. Now reviews are available as online in general periodical databases. Reviews can also be deliberately structured to emphasize some of the functions and encourage some of the uses. The patterns of use of reviews for various individual functions may 

3.1 Types of reviews 4 Reviews can be enumerative, evaluative or summarizing.  enumerative—listing with brief descriptions  evaluative—judging worth of the publications included  summarizing—providing a state-of-the-art summary (Wikipedia) Reviews are categorized based on their subject coverage, frequency, material included, time and format. The LIS profession considers them as information sources based on their material scope like books, journals, etc. Some important review sources are briefly presented below: 

3.1.1 Book Reviews These are the critical reviews of a recently published book. They primarily review books from major publishing houses. Examples of book reviews: Kirkus Reviews (1833 - ), Kirkus mesia LLC: Kirkus reviews is semimonthly review publication covering books for adults, young adults, and children. ISSN: 0042-6598. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ Publisher's Weekly (1872 - ), PWxyz LLC: This is a weekly news magazine focused on the international book publishing business. It is targeted at publishers, booksellers, librarians, literary agents, authors and the media. It offers feature articles and news on all aspects of the book business, bestsellers lists in a number of categories, and industry statistics, but its best known service is pre-publication book reviews, publishing some 8,000 per year. http://www.publishersweekly.com/ Book Review Digest (1905- ), H.W.Wilson & Co.: It provides excerpts from, and citations to, reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction. It also includes descriptive summaries of the books. Virtually every book has at least one substantial review excerpt, and most have at least two. The print version is offered by Salem Press. Book Review Digest is available as databases with access support from EBSCO. It is available as  Book Review Digest plus - includes reviews that are serious, academic works. The database has broad subject coverage and diverse range of review sources http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/book-review-digest-plus  Book Review Digest Retrospective (1903 – 1982): This database provides excerpts from and citations to reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction, representing decades of H.W. Wilson's Book Review Digest. http://www.ebscohost.com/documents/flyer/public/book-review-digest-retrospective Online book reviews There are book review sites online that help the librarians and readers to be aware of the recent publications and also their worthiness. 5 E.g. Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers—from the trusted experts at the American Library Association. http://www.booklistonline.com/ Online Review of Books and Current Affairs: Reviews books from small publishers, independent publishers and traditional publishers. http://www.onlinereviewofbooks.com Further online book shoppers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble et al facilitate customer reviews.

 3.1.2 Review Journals A scholarly journal devoted to the publication of articles providing analysis of trends in an academic field or summaries of the current state of research on topics of particular interest within the field (OADL). “A review journal in academic publishing is an academic journal devoted to the review of progress in some particular area or topic during a preceding period often through the means of its publishing review articles.” (Wikipedia) According to Wikipedia, review journals can be divided by  the frequency of publication  the format  the subject scope of the review  the time period  the type of review they provide These are usually separate journals publishing review articles or in many cases, the scholarly journals may carry review articles on regular or irregular basis. Their frequency is usually annual, quarterly, monthly or fortnightly. Examples: Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1890- ), Reed Business Information, U.S.A.: It is a reference guide to recently published articles in periodical magazines and scholarly journals, organized by article subject. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature delivers comprehensive indexing of 472 of the most popular and important periodicals published in the United States and Canada, thereby indexing articles about topics of current and historical interest. There are two online database versions of Reader's Guide available from H. W. Wilson Company: Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature which covers 1983 to the present, and Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982. http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/readers-guide-to-periodicalliterature. Journal of Scientific Review (JSR)-an Open Access Journal (2009 - ), Science Review Board, An Open Access Publisher: It is an international interdisciplinary research journal on all aspects of science and technology. It provides a unique forum to place ideas, articles of general interest, research article, commentaries, book reviews, review articles, and anything of interest to the scientific community. Articles from different branches of science and technology are promptly made available to the wide range of readers after peer review. Being an open access journal, articles are freely available online. http://www.srbmag.org/ 6 

3.1.3 Annual reviews A serial publication that surveys the most important works of original research and creative thought published in a specific discipline or sub discipline during a given calendar year (example: Annual Review of Information Science and Technology). In most academic libraries, annual reviews are placed on continuation order. (ODLIS) Annual Reviews (1932 - ), Annual Review: It is the non-profit publisher of a collection of more than 41 review series in specific disciplines in science and social science with five more to be introduced from the year 2014. Annual Reviews critically reviews the most significant primary research literature to guide researchers to the principal contributions of their field and help them keep up to date in their area of research. Each article is its own search engine, providing a gateway to the essential primary research literature referenced within each topic. Online Access is included with personal print subscriptions. “Each review series contains 12 to 40 authoritative comprehensive review articles, covering the major journal articles on a specific topic during the preceding few years. The major topics in each subject are covered every few years, and special topics appear as appropriate.” (Wikipedia) The journals covered are with high impact factor. The series started in 1932 with Annual Review of Biochemistry. http://www.annualreviews.org Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) (1966), American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) and Information Today: ARIST provides scholarly reviews of current topics in information science and technology. ARIST began in 1966 with the financial support of the National Science Foundation. Each annual issue covers current topics of the field and not confined to a single topic. The reviews are narrative as well as critical and present the contributor's opinion concerning activities, developments, and trends within the subject area reviewed.

 3.1.4 Advances / Recent advances series These are the publications indicating the progress of a subject or a subfield based on its current research findings. These publications are usually in succession, either regular or irregular intervals, the issues being continuously numbered. The editors of each volume are usually experts of that particular field. The 'Recent Advances' series, 34 volumes, Royal Society of Medicine Press: The series provides timely reviews on current topics of interest in medical sciences. Advances in Librarianship, 37 Volumes (1969 - ) Emerald: Each book provides information that is current and provides models and recommendations that can be applied by practitioners. The series provides an historical and permanent record of developments in the field of LIS for the last four decades. The Advances in Library and Information Science (ALIS) Book Series, 24 Volumes (2012 - ), IGI Global: The series aims to expand the body of library science literature by covering a wide range of topics affecting the profession and field at large. The series also seeks to provide readers with an essential resource for uncovering the latest research in library and information science management, development, and technologies. http://www.igi-global.com/book-series/advanceslibrary-information-science 7 

4. REVIEW SERVICES

 The accelerated growth of information is a well recognized fact. The specialist reader finds large collection even in a narrow subject area. He wants selected, sieved and repackaged relevant information to save his time. Thus preparation of reviews became a part of library services. Documentation activity involves preparation of variety of reviews like state-of-the- art, trend, technical reviews, digest, subject analysis reports, etc. as their service products. Information services aims to reach user community and cater their information needs and demands. However the user needs and demands vary as per the work they are associated with. You are aware of the different types of services from the previous modules. In this module, the review type of services are discussed. In traditional library system, the focus is on document access. However, in science and technology, the growth of information is vast and diversified and access to relevant subject content is primary than accessing document. This is evident in scientific, industrial and corporate organizations. Therefore, presenting the synthesized tailor-made information to the information use pattern of the user community became practice in these organizations. As a result, reviews like the state-of-the–art reports, trend reports, digests, market reports, etc. became a necessity and are developed as products to serve the users with customized information. 

4.1 Evolution of the concept The information services like indexing, abstracting were developed to control the published primary literature. These are the bibliographical control tools to overcome the information explosion of the universe of knowledge. However, the volume of indexing and abstracting service is growing with the growth of primary literature. As a result, the specialist community finds it difficult to scan for information even from the highly compressed devices like indexes and abstracts. The reasons are:  Proliferation of literature even in a narrow subject area  Scattering of related information in wide variety of publications.  The available literature is not understandable because of multiplicity of languages  The form of presentation is too technical, for e.g., chemical formulas Therefore, users expect to have analyzed, synthesized, compressed/consolidated and repackaged information capsules to make a quick understanding of the contents and apply the same at work. To resolve this difficulty, information analysis and consolidation centres emerged with subject experts as product developers. The consolidation type services are also made available in special libraries/information centres/technical information centres/learning resource centres. The objective behind this is to customize the information to facilitate the same for its intense use. According to Kertsez, the process of evaluation of information and compilation was a practice of scientists of 19th century to control the flooding of information. The products were the handbooks, compilations, etc. However the term ‘Information Analysis and Consolidation’ is introduced by UNESCO General information Programme (PGI). The aim is to improve information access and utility in developing countries through analysis and consolidation activities.

 8 4.2 The terminology UNESCO sponsored three meetings (1975,1978, 1983) to discuss the issue and published documents that were prepared by Saracevic and Woods. These handbooks/manuals provide clear definitions of the concept. Seracevic and Wood (1981) defined consolidation as: “CONSOLIDATED INFORMATION is a text(s) or message(s) purposefully structured from existing public knowledge to affect the private knowledge and decisions of individuals who otherwise may not be able to effectively and efficiently access or use this public knowledge from the original amounts or in the original structure and form.” Seracevic and Wood (1986) observed that: "analysis comprised a wide range of functions, such as abstracting, indexing, translation, reviewing, consolidation, etc. However, a number of analysis centers do not always perform the consolidation function. It was also pointed out that information consolidation activities can be performed within institutions or systems other than information analysis centers, even by individuals or group of individuals.” The purpose of consolidation is to provide the defined user community with new knowledge in concise form, and thus bring the accumulated knowledge within the reach of the users. The consolidation work is being done to bridge the gap between user and information. The information consolidation products are appropriate for a variety of users in various organizations (small, medium, large industries; local and state Governments; Mass urban and rural population; News media; Academic and research institutions) and relate to the five stages in the diffusion of innovations of ideas viz. awareness, interest/knowledge, attitude formation, trial/ decision, adoption/confirmation. (Saracevic and Woods, 1981). More specifically they serve the information needs of –  Scientists and researchers in academic and research institutions  Engineers, Medical and other professions  Policy makers decision takers and executives of Government, business and industrial organizations  Technocrats and technicians of industry and corporate sector 4.3 Need for review services The existing information tools like bibliographies, union catalogues, indexing and abstracting services do not enable a scientist to make full use of information as they do provide only sources of information. Therefore, there was need to develop tools that include digesting, evaluating, condensing the scattered bits of information into coherent and comprehensible packages. Distilling the relevant bits of intellectual content from literature and presenting it in a repackaged form thus became a necessity. Reviews have a significant role in consolidating the totality of current information and providing an overview of the subject. The inferences made in integrative research reviews are as central to the validity of behavioral science knowledge as those made in primary research. Therefore, research 9 reviewers must pay the same attention to rigorous methodology that is required of primary researchers. State- of-the –art and trend reports are two types of products of reviews. 4.4 Designing of reports A report generally embodies a review of its ideas in a particular subject published during a specific period. Hence a report is a systematized body of ideas, expressed in a manner easily digestible to user. Designing of report traditionally has to distinct steps – a) authorial or intellectual work, i.e., work consists the three planes – idea, verbal and structural; and b) physical production of the document. With the application of computer technologies, the distinction is a little blurred as production of electronic document is easier than a print one. The work in idea plane includes perusing relevant information, selection and organizing the selected ideas. The work in verbal includes expressing the ideas for the purpose of communication. The work in structural plane consists of formulation and use of notational system to preserve the sequence or structure of ideas. There are guiding principles to follow while preparing a report such as principles of helpful sequence, canons of context etc. the conscious use of the principles help the librarian in preparation of review reports of quality.

 5. STATE- OF-THE ART REPORTS

 The term "state of the art" refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time.” (Wikipedia). Saracevic and Woods explained the state-of-the art reports as follows: “These are type of reviews which do not have an all-encompassing scope and historical orientation. They emphasize recency and up-to-datedness. Their aim is to describe a very recent situation when they reach their audience. Thus, they are timelier than the traditional review, so they are mostly a current awareness tool. In order to achieve this currency, state-of-the-art reports are often published as informal reports, prepared on demand, oriented to a restricted audience, sold at high prices, and becoming obsolete quite fast.” The state-of-the-art report is used mostly in relation to technological topics and in business and commerce. Some if the general features of a state-of-the-art reports should include: i) Completeness – this is the degree to which the subject and literature on the subject are covered. ii) Perspective - this involves the direction, purpose, subject orientation, the degree of appropriateness in relation to both a given subject and for a given user group. iii) Analysis – with regard to thoroughness, depth and extent of analysis. 10 iv) Synthesis – this if the degree of compactness and consolidations from various collected sources of information. v) Value addition – related to the requirements of the users which in this case are the subject specialists. vi) Utility – the degree to which the state-of-the-art report serves multiple functions. 5.1 Characteristics of State-of-the-Art Reports  Relates to the interest/knowledge stage of diffusion  Used mostly in relation to technological topics and in business  Summarize, compare and evaluate the current advances, characteristics and/or utilizations of a given subject 5.2 Types of State-of-the-Art Reports The state-of-the-art reports are usually categorized based on the purpose they serve. Saracevic and Woods categorized them as:

 1. State-of-the-art -of a technology: these summarize, compare and evaluate the advances, characteristics and/or utilizations of a given technology or technological product or process. They may focus on technical and engineering, use, management and strategic aspects. Thus they differ in accordance to the focus of an aspect.

 2. Market reports: these summarize a state of an industry or a market in terms of its existence, financial strength, economics, profitability, deployment, growth, characteristics, gaps, trends, potential, etc. Their focus may be on different uses and clientele. Market reports are useful in market planning and decision making. 

3. Statistical composites: these are statistical correlations in a wide variety of technical, market, demographic, scientific and other areas. 5.3 Preparation of state-of-the-art report The principles governing the preparation of consolidation products are the guiding principles for state-of-the-art reports also. According to Seetharama, basically the process involves work in three planes – the idea, verbal and notational. 

The work in idea plane involves: 

1. Initiation work – recognition of the need for the product; initiation of work. 

2. Scope determination – determination of scope of the subject, audience, and type of product. 11 

3. Collection of information – this step involves: a. identification of information sources and selection of information from primary and secondary sources; and b. Abstracting the collected information following the prescribed guidelines and criteria; present the abstract in an elegant form to facilitate its immediate utilization. 

4. Appraisal of information collected – verifying the relevance of collected information and its value to the user. 

5. Scope re-defined – based on the collection, the subject scope may be redefined in consultation with subject experts. 

6. Preparation of draft text of the state-of-the art report – document plan, arrangement of ideas following principles of helpful sequence, integration of information, sorting the information with the application of classification principles, and presentation of information following basic parameters and principles of technical writing. This step is vital in the process of preparation of the state-of-the-art report. Hence Sarasevic and Wood (1981) suggest that restructuring of information in the consolidation products should be in consonance with the communication practices of users on the one hand and on the other should reliably reflect the state of knowledge on the given subject. They have suggested the criteria to be followed for restructuring. 

7. Testing of draft text –for assessing the quality and effectiveness of the state-of-the- are report it may be assessed by subject expert or may be field tested with the beneficiaries 8. Finalization – incorporating the suggestions from the feedback and finalizing the report with text and graphics. Examples: 1. UNICEF (1999). The State of Art Report on Fluoride in drinking water and resulting endemicity in India. 2. IFLA. Information literacy state-of-the art report (2012). The series published from Columbia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and United Kingdom. http://www.ifla.org/publications/information-literacy-state-of-the-art-reports 3. Highway Research Board State-of-the-art reports. “State-of-the art: Lime Soil Stabilization – 2000” HRB Special Report No 1 (2000 Rev). http://irc.org.in/ENU/Pages/HighwayResearchBoard.aspx 12 

6. TREND REPORTS 

A trend report is a very useful product of information analysis, consolidation and repackaging especially for the subject specialist. Its chief objective is to fulfill the specific subject requirements of the specialist users requiring information. Trend reports are also considered as a useful form of documentation service. “A trend report is an exposition of a subject, giving account of the general direction of reserch in the subject, based on an assessment of current development.” (DRTC, 1971). In earlier times trend reports were prepared by subject specialists. Now LIS professionals developed necessary techniques in subject analysis and identifying the development and able to prepare trend reports. In the present electronic environment, especially the e-commerce, many organizations compile trend reports every season to stay competitive with the changing marketplace or industry. Though the principle is same, the trend reports prepared by information centres aims at their target group like scientists, executives, et al.

 6.1 Need for Trend Reports We are all aware that the present day users are facing problems of information explosion due to increase in number of available documents. It is also not possible to satisfy the users’ requirements with the available documentation services that include indexing and abstracting services especially needs related to specific subject requirements of the specialist readers. A trend report thus is a tool which is designed to help the specialist reader by acquainting him/her with the recent developments and research conducted in the particular subject. Besides this, with the help of trend reports, a specialist reader can utilize his time more effectively in research.

 6.2 Features of a Trend Report  Refers to analysis of changes in direction of a subject over a period  Attempts to spot a pattern of growth of a subject  Helps tp predict future developments of a subject 6.3 Preparation of Trend Report LIS professional being alien to the subject in which a trend report is being prepared needs to put in additional effort in addition to compilation techniques. Some of these are:  Familiarity with different aspects of the subject  Familiarity withusers’ information requirements  Knowledge of helpful method of presentation of ideas in a technical report (DRTC, 1971) The working Paper on trend reports in DRTC Seminar volume, 1971 dscribes the steps involved in the preparation of a trend report. Similar to the state-of-the-art reports the work in trend report can be demarcated into three planes, namely, idea, verbal and notational. The work in idea plane involves 13  The choice of the specific subject – to be done in consultation with the specialist for whom it is intended. At this stage the precision of the subject scope and time period have to be decided.  The collection of ideas from documents – selection of relevant documents especially from periodicals by scanning the articles, recording and ranking. The next step is to prepare an informative abstract for each selected article.  Arrangement of ideas in helpful sequence – there can be several ways of arrangement but it should be based on its helpfulness to the user.  Integrating the information into an organized text – in the process of integration, perspective approach to subject, the core objective of a trend report, should be followed. The flow of ideas should be logical, step by step through structural elements of the text. The work in verbal plane involves  Use of homonym free, synonym free terminology  Expression of ideas – the language should be simple, precise, and transperant. As the standard of comprehension has to be done keeping in view the comprehension level of the user. The work in notational plane involves  Using an expressive notation for the representation ideas in accordance to hierarchical level. Generally arrangement of ideas is carried out in a sequence that is helpful to majority of users of the trend report.  Structuring the text by providing title page, contents page, informative abstract and an expressive index. Examples: 

1. IFLA Trend Report (2013). Open Access Scientific publishing and the developing world http://trends.ifla.org/. 

2. Science Watch. (2010). Science in India 2004-08. Science Watch – tracking trends and performance in research since 1989. Thomson Reuter http://sciencewatch.com/articles/science-india-2004-08. 3. Reserve Bank of India. (2013) Report on trends and progress of banking in India 2012-13. Mumbai, RBI, 2013. 

7. CONCLUSION 14

 Due to overabundance of information in any given subject, users are facing information problems especially with regard to non-use of information. Besides this, there are also several barriers to effective use of information. For this, solutions have been offered by analysis, consolidation, condensation, evaluation, packaging and repackaging information. Some of the repackaged products of information consolidation, namely, the reviews, state-of-the-art reports and trend reports help to solve many problems of users. All the information sources discussed here have one thing in common, which is that they are directed towards fruitful use of information. To achieve these, they promote cooperation between subject specialists and information specialists. Most of these products have been directed towards specialists, that is, scientists, engineers, medical professionals, educations, etc

ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION A

. Multiple Choice Questions with Answers 

1. Which of the following type of information sources are used for the preparation of reviews? a. Primary b. Secondary c. Tertiary 

2. Which of the following is not a type of review ? a. Enumerative b. Evaluative c. Contemporary Ans. 1. b 2. c B. 

Match the Column A with Column B

. 3. Match the following reviews (column A) with suitable example(Column B) Column A Column B i) Annual Review a) Kirkus ii) Book Review b) ARIST i) Review Journal c) JSR 

1.

 Match the following reference services (column A) with corresponding characteristic (column B). Column A Column B i) Market Survey a) Recency and up-to-dateness ii) State-of-the-Art b) Direction of a subject iii) Trend Report c) Analysis of niche group ii) Abstracting Service d) Exponential growth of literature 

Ans. 4. i) b ii) a) iii) c) 2. i) c) ii) d) iii) b) iv) a) C. Fill in the Blanks 3. The term ‘Information analysis and consolidation’ was introduced by ------------. 

4. The publisher of ‘Journal of Scientific Review’ is ----------------------------. 

Ans. 6. UNESCO 7. Science Review Board 

D. True or False 5. ‘Annual Review’ is a non-profit publisher. 6. Subject specialists are not required for preparation of Trend Reports. Ans. 8. True 9. False 

E. Arrange the following is proper sequence. 7. Arrange in sequence the following publications in order of their emergence. Order No.

 Answer 1. Journal of Scientific review a. Readers Guide to periodical Literatures (1890) 2. Annual Reviews b. Book Review Digest (1905) 3. Readers Guide to periodical Literatures c. Annual Reviews (1932) 4. Book Review Digest d. Journal of Scientific review (2009)

A.      INTERESTING FACTS

 Interesting Facts Information analysis and consolidation is an evaluative activity and is the exclusive domain of specialized information centres Reviews does not involve creation of new ideas, rather requires search and selection of documents on topic of user interest and presenting the ideas in them in a manner helpful to the user. The canons, postulates and principles play a vital role in the preparation of reviews.

B. GLOSSARY Starting Character Term Defination Related Term Digest Compilation or summary of information Market review Collecting market related information of a product Review Critical appraisal of book, journal articles State-of-the-art Most recent stage in the development of a subject Trend A general direction in which something developing or changing Progress

B.      WEB LINKS / REFERENCES

References 1. Guha, B. Information and Documentation: services, techniques and systems. Calcutta, World Press, 1983

2. D.R.T.C. Seminar on Reference Service (1971) Chapter BL: Trend Report. Bangalore, DRTC., ISI.

C.      3. Kertsz, F. (1983). Draft Guidelines for the Establishment of Information Analysis Centres and Information Consolidation Units. Paper presented at the third meeting of UNISIST Working Group on Information Analysis and Consolidation. Kuala Lumpur. 12-16 September, 1983.

D.      4. Saracevic, Tefco and Wood, J. (1981). Consolidation of Information: A Handbook of Evaluation, Restructuring and Repackaging of Scientific and Technical Information. Paris: UNESCO. (PGI-81/WS/16).

E.       5. Saracevic, Tefco (1986). A Course in Information Consolidation: A Handbook for Education and Training in Analysis, Synthesis and Repackaging of Information. Paris: UNESCO. (PGI-86/WS/14).

F.       6. Seetharama, S. (1997). Information Consolidation and Repackaging- Framework, Methodology, Planning. New Delhi: Ess Ess Publications

G.     7. Woodward, Anthony M. The roles of reviews in information transfer. Journal -o-f the American Society for Information Science 28(3):175-180, May 1977. Quoted In Consolidation of Information: A Handbook of Evaluation, Restructuring and Repackaging of Scientific and Technical Information. Edited by Tefco Saracevic and J. Wood. Paris: UNESCO. (PGI-81/WS/16).