Information Sources II: Reference Sources by Type; Electronic Information Resources; Bibliographic, Numeric, Full-Text, Multimedia and Open Access Databases; Institutional and Human Resources; and the Evaluation of Reference and Web Sources

The second chapter of Unit III covers items 6 to 10. It groups reference sources by the kind of question they answer, bibliographical, biographical, educational, language and geographical; describes the electronic resources that grew around them, subject gateways, web portals, bulletin boards and discussion forums; classifies databases as bibliographic, numeric, full-text and multimedia and surveys the open access databases a researcher now uses first; explains institutions and people as information resources; and ends with how a librarian evaluates a reference work or a website before trusting it.

1. Reference sources: bibliographical, biographical, educational, language and geographical

A reference source is one designed to be consulted for a particular item of information rather than read through. William A. Katz divided reference sources into those that give the information directly (encyclopaedias, dictionaries, yearbooks, biographical and geographical sources) and those that direct the user to other sources (bibliographies, indexes, catalogues). The syllabus groups them by subject of the query.

TypeQuestions answeredExamples
BibliographicalDoes this book exist? Who published it, when, at what price? What has been written on this subject?National bibliographies (INB, BNB), trade bibliographies (Books in Print, Indian Books in Print), union catalogues (WorldCat, IndCat), subject bibliographies
BiographicalWho is or was this person? When were they born? What did they do?Current: Who's Who (since 1849), India Who's Who, Current Biography; retrospective: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Dictionary of National Biography (India) edited by S. P. Sen; universal: Chambers Biographical Dictionary
EducationalWhich universities offer this course? What are the admission rules, fees and scholarships?Universities Handbook (Association of Indian Universities), The World of Learning, the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, UGC and AICTE lists of recognised institutions, NIRF rankings
LanguageWhat does this word mean? How is it spelt or pronounced? What is its synonym or its equivalent in another language?General dictionaries (OED, Webster's), bilingual dictionaries, thesauri (Roget's Thesaurus, 1852), dictionaries of abbreviations, quotations, slang and usage
GeographicalWhere is this place? How far, how big, what is it like?Atlases (Times Atlas of the World, National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation atlases), gazetteers (Imperial Gazetteer of India, district gazetteers), Survey of India maps, guidebooks, geographic information systems
🧠 A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary
An atlas shows places on maps; a gazetteer describes places in alphabetical order with location, population, history and features. India's district gazetteers are among the richest local reference sources.

2. Electronic information resources: subject gateways, portals, bulletin boards and forums

A subject gateway is a quality-controlled, subject-organised catalogue of internet resources, selected and described by subject experts or librarians with metadata and often classified: examples were the UK's Intute (which ceased development in 2011), BUBL LINK, and the European Renardus project. A web portal is a single web entry point that brings together content, services and links for a community, often with personalisation and search: university library portals, government portals such as india.gov.in, and discipline portals. Bulletin boards (bulletin board systems, BBS) were early dial-up systems on which users posted and read messages and files; their descendants are online notice boards. Discussion forums and groups are topic-based communities: electronic mailing lists (listservs), newsgroups and web forums. In library and information science, India's LIS-Forum, hosted at the National Centre for Science Information, IISc Bangalore, has long served as the main national mailing list.

ResourceSelection and quality controlTypical use
Subject gatewayHigh: items chosen and described by expertsFinding trustworthy web resources in a subject
Web portalVariable: aggregates content and servicesOne-stop access for a community or institution
Search engineLow: automated crawling and rankingBroad, fast searches of the open web
Discussion forum or listCommunity moderatedAsking peers, sharing news, informal communication

3. Databases: bibliographic, numeric, full-text, multimedia and open access

A database is an organised collection of records that can be searched by computer. Databases are classified by content. Bibliographic (reference) databases hold descriptions of documents with or without abstracts and lead users to the documents themselves. Numeric databases hold statistical or measured data. Full-text databases hold the complete text of documents. Multimedia databases hold images, sound, video and other non-text objects, often with descriptive metadata. Many modern platforms combine types, linking a bibliographic record to its full text and data.

TypeExamples
BibliographicScopus, Web of Science, LISA, LISTA, MEDLINE, ERIC, INSPEC, AGRIS, IndCat
NumericCensus data, CMIE databases, Indiastat, World Bank Open Data, the Reserve Bank's database on the Indian economy
Full-textJSTOR (1995), ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, ProQuest, EBSCOhost full-text collections, SCC Online and Manupatra for law
MultimediaImage and video archives, museum collection databases, the Indian Culture portal, ArtStor-type image libraries, oral history archives
  • Open access databases and indexes: the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ, 2003, Lund University), PubMed Central (2000), arXiv (1991), CORE, BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), Google Scholar (2004), OpenAlex (2022), the Directory of Open Access Books.
  • Indian open resources: Shodhganga (theses), the National Digital Library of India, ePG-Pathshala (postgraduate e-content), the Indian Citation Index as a commercial complement, and institutional repositories.
  • Search features to know: Boolean operators, truncation and wildcards, phrase and proximity searching, field searching, limits and filters, citation linking and alerts.

4. Institutional and human resources

Much information is held not in documents but in organisations and people. Institutional resources are organisations that generate, hold or supply information: universities, research laboratories (CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, DRDO laboratories), government departments and statistical offices, professional associations, information and documentation centres, archives and museums, embassies, chambers of commerce and NGOs. Human resources are individuals with expertise: subject experts, consultants, technical gatekeepers, practitioners and knowledgeable community members. A referral service (next unit) connects a user to such a resource when the library itself cannot answer. Directories of research institutions and expert databases, such as INFLIBNET's Vidwan database of experts, make these resources findable.

🎯 Why human sources are often preferred
Studies of engineers and scientists (notably Thomas Allen's) found they turn first to colleagues because people are accessible, interactive and can interpret and filter information, even when documents are more accurate. Victor Rosenberg's 1967 study made the same point: ease of access outweighs the amount of information expected. Libraries respond by making documentary sources as easy as asking a colleague.

5. Evaluation of reference sources and web resources

CriterionQuestions for a reference work
AuthorityWho is the author, editor, publisher? What are their qualifications and reputation?
ScopeWhat subjects, period, geography and types of material are covered? What is excluded?
TreatmentIs it accurate, objective and balanced? Is the level suited to its audience?
ArrangementIs the order (alphabetical, classified, chronological) logical, with indexes and cross-references?
CurrencyWhen was it published or revised? How often is it updated?
Format and special featuresPrint quality, illustrations, maps, bibliographies; for electronic versions, search features and interface
CostIs the price, or the licence, justified by use and by alternatives?

Web resources need the same questions plus some of their own, because anyone can publish online. The CRAAP test, developed by Sarah Blakeslee at the Meriam Library, California State University, Chico (2004), asks about Currency (when was it posted and updated; do links work?), Relevance (does it meet the need; who is the audience?), Authority (who is the author or publisher; what are their credentials; what does the URL domain reveal?), Accuracy (is it supported by evidence, reviewed, free of errors?) and Purpose (to inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade; is there bias?). Newer approaches such as lateral reading (checking what other sources say about a site rather than reading only the site itself) and Mike Caulfield's SIFT moves respond to misinformation that looks authoritative on the page.

⚠️ A .org or .in domain is not a guarantee
Domains such as .gov.in, .nic.in, .ac.in and .edu signal institutional ownership, but .org, .com, .in and .net can be registered by anyone. Authority comes from the identifiable author and publisher behind the page, not from the domain alone.

Key takeaways

  • Reference sources are grouped as bibliographical (INB, Books in Print, WorldCat), biographical (Who's Who since 1849, ODNB), educational (AIU Universities Handbook, World of Learning), language (OED, Roget 1852) and geographical (atlases, gazetteers).
  • Subject gateways are expert-selected catalogues of web resources (Intute, BUBL); portals are single entry points; bulletin boards and discussion lists (LIS-Forum) support informal communication.
  • Databases are bibliographic (Scopus, LISA), numeric (Census, CMIE), full-text (JSTOR) or multimedia; open access databases include DOAJ (2003), PubMed Central (2000), arXiv (1991), CORE, BASE and Shodhganga.
  • Institutions and people are information resources; referral services and expert databases such as Vidwan connect users to them.
  • Reference works are judged by authority, scope, treatment, arrangement, currency, format and cost; web sources by the CRAAP test (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose), lateral reading and SIFT.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

  1. A reference source that describes places in alphabetical order, giving location, population and history, is a:

    1. Thesaurus
    2. Gazetteer
    3. Atlas
    4. Almanac
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Gazetteer

    A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary. An atlas presents places on maps, an almanac is a compendium of miscellaneous facts, and a thesaurus groups words by meaning.

  2. Scopus and Web of Science are best described as:

    1. Institutional repositories
    2. Multimedia databases
    3. Bibliographic (citation) databases
    4. Numeric databases
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Bibliographic (citation) databases

    Both index journal articles and other documents with abstracts and cited references, leading users to the full text elsewhere; they are bibliographic and citation databases. Numeric databases hold data, multimedia databases hold images and video, and repositories hold an institution's own output.

  3. The CRAAP test for evaluating web sources has how many criteria? Type the number.

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 5

    CRAAP stands for five criteria: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose. It was developed at the Meriam Library, California State University, Chico, in 2004.

  4. Which of the following are biographical reference sources? Select all that apply.

    1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    2. Who's Who
    3. Roget's Thesaurus
    4. The Imperial Gazetteer of India
    Show answer

    Answer: A — Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; B — Who's Who

    Who's Who (current) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (retrospective) are biographical. Roget's Thesaurus is a language source and the Imperial Gazetteer a geographical one.

  5. A quality-controlled catalogue of internet resources in a discipline, selected and described by subject specialists, is a:

    1. Subject gateway
    2. Meta search engine
    3. Search engine
    4. Bulletin board system
    Show answer

    Answer: A — Subject gateway

    A subject gateway such as Intute or BUBL LINK relies on human selection and description. A search engine indexes automatically, a meta search engine sends one query to several engines, and a bulletin board is a message-posting system.

  6. Assertion (A): A website on a .org domain can be accepted as authoritative without further checking. Reason (R): The .org domain can be registered by any person or organisation. Choose the correct option.

    1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
    2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
    3. A is true, but R is false
    4. A is false, but R is true
    Show answer

    Answer: D — A is false, but R is true

    A is false and R is true. Because anyone can register a .org domain, the domain says nothing certain about authority; the author, publisher, evidence and purpose must be checked, as the CRAAP test and lateral reading require.

  7. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) was launched in 2003 at:

    1. Bielefeld University
    2. Lund University
    3. Cornell University
    4. The University of Nottingham
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Lund University

    DOAJ began at Lund University in Sweden in 2003. Bielefeld runs BASE, Cornell hosts arXiv, and Nottingham developed OpenDOAR, the directory of repositories.

  8. Which of the following are numeric databases or data sources? Select all that apply.

    1. World Bank Open Data
    2. LISA
    3. Indiastat
    4. JSTOR
    Show answer

    Answer: A — World Bank Open Data; C — Indiastat

    World Bank Open Data and Indiastat supply statistical data and are numeric. JSTOR is a full-text archive of journals, and LISA is a bibliographic abstracting database for library and information science.

  9. Roget's Thesaurus, the classic dictionary of synonyms arranged by ideas, was first published in which year? Type the year.

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 1852

    Peter Mark Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852, arranging words by concept rather than alphabetically, with an alphabetical index.

  10. Checking what independent sources say about an unfamiliar website, instead of relying on the site's own "About us" page, is called:

    1. Browsing
    2. Citation chaining
    3. Vertical reading
    4. Lateral reading
    Show answer

    Answer: D — Lateral reading

    Lateral reading, promoted by fact-checkers and by Caulfield's SIFT method, means leaving the page to see what others say about it. Vertical reading stays within the site, citation chaining follows references, and browsing is scanning a collection.