Search Tools

This week in class we were taught about the tools we can use to seek out information.
The main search tools are the INTERNET, Databases and Library catalogs.

A Library Catalog is a file cabinet containing individual cards with bibliographic information about specific items in the Library. There is OPAC, an online catalog through which we can search for the items required. It provides details about the book, audio-visuals and other materials found in the Library. The use of OPAC is very effective making all our tasks very easy and less time consuming.

The INTERNET is also a very effective source of information in fact it is the widest source of information available in this world. Therefore it is also called the information superhighway This week's class taught us to use it effectively, introducing us to the weakness and strengths of the internet. It is designed to search for information on the world wide web. The tools we use in internet are search engines, meta-search engines, information gateways, subject directories and specialized database. Information are searched through a limited number of websites. It cannot directly access other computers.
Search engines are designed to use world wide web to search for information. For e.g. http://www.google.com/ , etc.
 Meta-search engines is multiple-data source. It searches from multiple search engines in one single search page. For e.g. metacrawler(http://www.metacrawler.com)
Information gateways provides a central access point to internet for many internet sites that cover popular news and information resources. It includes internet catalogs, subject directories, virtual libraries and gateways. It specializes in resources on a particular field. Example: ELDIS: The gateway to development information http://www.eldis.org/
Subject directories is a collection of links to a larger number of internet resources organized by topic area. Example: Infomine(http://infomine.ucr.edu/). There is also the specialized databases that are also known as the invisible web. It includes statistics, schedules, maps, figures. but now we can find it on most of search engines. It provides a reliable and up-to-date information. Some examples are the bibliographic database, google scholar, commercial database, etc.

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Structure of Information

Structure of Information (Information Format)

This week's lesson included the three sources of Information
- Primary Source
- Secondary Source
- Tertiary Source 

 Primary Sources :
A primary source is an original object or document, first-hand information. These sources produce materials in the time where one may be investigating. It enables researchers to get the most accurate information of an historical event or time period.
The following also represent the primary sources of information,
Contemporary Accounts of an event written by the person who experienced or witnessed it.
Original Documents.
Published works written soon after the event.
Primary source includes
Diaries, Journals, Letters, Photographs, Interviews, Speeches, Audio or Video recordings, Manuscripts, Research reports, Autobiographies, etc.

"Diary of Anne Frank"- A diary written by Anne during the WWII is a primary source
"Long Walk to Freedom- The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela"- The life story of Nelson Mandela written by himself is a primary source.
"Gettysburg Address"- The speech given by Abraham Lincoln is a primary source.
 "Declaration of Independence"- A historical document of America is a primary source.
Others are Birth Certificates, Military Records,etc.
"Published First-hand accounts or stories"- John McCain's experience of being a war-prisoner in Vietnam.
"Sound Recordings and Interviews"- Live Addresses from Radio and Records of Face to Face talks are also primary sources.
"Photographs and Videos"- Photographs and Videos from WWII  are primary sources.
"Letters"-  A written form of communication that is usually sent through postal service.

Secondary Sources:

Something written about the primary source is a a secondary source. It is like a Second-hand information which are written sometime after the fact. There are also people who study the primary source closely and later interpret it in their own way. It is also a Secondary Source.

" If I tell you and you tell another; I am the primary source and you are the secondary source, Simple!"

Some of the Secondary sources:
Published works such as Journal Articles, Books,etc.
Biographies- Life story of great people written by someone else, Almanacs, Encyclopedias, History Books, textbooks etc. are all secondary sources.

There is also the Newspaper which can be both a primary or a secondary source.


Tertiary Sources:

It is a collection of both the primary and secondary sources. Most of the References are included in Tertiary source.
Examples, Guide to the Literature, Bibliographies of Bibliography, Directories of Directory etc.

LIBRARY
It is a place where many books are available. It also provides many services such as  book lending, photocopy, information search, reading rooms, multimedia collection, e-journals and many more.

Encyclopedia: A book containing information on all the subjects or limited to specific field or subject. It has two types: General and Special.
General encyclopedia includes encyclopedia Britannica, encyclopedia Americana, Oxford Junior encyclopedia and so on. Special encyclopedia has International encyclopedia of Social sciences, encyclopedia of Indian literature etc.

Dictionaries: A book that provides the definition for a word and has many other uses as well such as spelling, pronunciation, etc.
     There are also some alternative names for it. They are Glossary, Lexicon, Thesaurus, Vocabulary. Although they have an identical purpose, their is slightly different.

Geographical Sources:
  Maps, Atlases, Gazetteers, Globes, Travel Guides.

Year Book: A book on the annual development of an organization, a subject or in a geographical area.
  Example,  Manorama year book, Europa Year Book, etc.

Government publications: Official publication issued by the government.
  Example,  Statutes, Acts, Debate of Parliament,etc.

 Periodicals: Published on a regular basis. It can be issued in print, microform and electronic formats. It is expected to provide up-to-date Information on topics. E.g. Popular magazines, scientific journals,etc.


Information Retrieval Systems
- OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog)
- Databases
- The Internet

OPAC: An online catalog of all the materials in a Library. Any material present in a Library can be searched effectively here. OPAC's can searched using author, titles, etc.

Databases: Collection of digitized information organized for simplified, fast searching and retrieval. It is updated regularly and contains bibliographic citations or references.

The Internet: A high-speed electronic network that connects all the personal computers and Organizational computers around the world. It is connected through fibreoptics. WWW. (World Wide Web) is an international network of internet servers that allows access to unlimited amount of information.

Multimedia:

Audio,Visual and Audiovisual materials:

The multimedia materials are used in every field. It is very useful for bringing out detail information on various topics.
Audiovisual media includes CDs, DVDs, Videos, etc.
CD-ROMs are also a media greatly used in various fields. We can find two types of this CDs,  CD-I(Compact Disk Interactive) and CD-WORM.

Classification Scheme:
A system used to systematically organize the documents, books, etc. They are mainly used in Libraries. Two types of systems are mainly used ,they are
LCC( Library of Congress Classification scheme) and DDC(Dewey Decimal Classification scheme)

Micro form, Micro print, Micro cards, Micro fiche are all medias which contain a certain type of  information. Their sizes are usually very small.

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Information Literacy

Why should we learn Information Literacy?

- IL skills are the Foundation of modern democratic society

- Using information and technology in an effective way

Problems faced due to lack of information skills

- Using Limited or inappropriate sources of information

- Being disorganized

- Finding incomplete information

- Communicating the information ineffectively

- Accessing outdated information

- Using inaccurate or misleading information

- Being inefficient and wasting time in research.

There are six types of IL which are relevant in understanding this subject. They are given below

1. Library Literacy

2. Media Literacy

3. Internet Literacy

4. Research Literacy

5. Critical Thinking Literacy

Information Literacy:

Information literacy is a framework to solve problems. There is a process to solve problems, called Big six(6).

Big six(6) is the processes we take to solve problems via information literacy, and consist of:

1- Task definition: In this step we define the problem and it's requirements, and we generate questions that helps in clarify and define the task.

2- Information seeking behavior: We seek information by following two strategies, Determine range resources, and prioritize sources.

3- Location and access: In this step we locate the sources by seeking the appropriate sources   and we find or select the understandable information.

4- Information use: We engage with information( read, hear, view, touch ), after that we extract the information.

5- Synthesis: It's about to organize the collected information before we present it.

6- Evaluation: It's the last step in the process where we judge the process we followed to
collect the information and we judge the product that we got as a result or a solution of following the six steps. There are six standards in which we evaluate the sources, currency, accuracy, content, relevant, authority, useful.

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