Page 11 - DLIS105_REFERENCE_SOURCES_AND_SERVICES

Reference Sources and Services
Notes
6 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
Books
According to Unesco, a book is a non-periodic printed publication of at least 49 pages exclusive of
cover pages. A book is usually stapled/ stitched along one edge and placed within protective covers
to form a volume. In general libraries, the collection is predominated by books. The sizes of books
vary. The size of The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English
Language (Encyclopaediced) is 28 × 21 cm. Atlases are usually still bigger. Textbook in general is of
medium size. For example, Reference Service by Krishan Kumar Measures 21 × 13 cm. Computer
Dictionary by In Scales and Geof Wheelwright goes to another extreme measuring about 6 × 5 cm.
According to the intellectual content, books can be categorised as textbooks, monographs, treatises,
reference books and so on.
Illustrations
Photographs, drawings, paintings, etc., become print media when they are printed. Illustrations are
but a common component of a book. Children’s books are usually adorned with colourful illustrations
to make them more attractive and educative. Other educative books are also illustrated for making
the matter easily comprehensible to the reader. For example, a book on birds usually includes
coloured illustrations of almost each bird included in the book whereby a bird can be easily identified
by a bird watcher. You will find in many cases predominance of illustrations especially in books
on photography and architecture. Illustrations are of various types. Some of them are frontispiece.
plate, photograph, portrait, map, plan, facsimile, table, chart and diagram. Most of them are known
to you. A brief description of the less known ones follows. A frontispiece is an illustration that faces
the title page. In many biographies and festschriften the photograph or the portrait of the celebrity
appears as frontispiece. For example, the book National Bibliographical Control.
Problem and perspectives (New Delhi: Allied, 2003) brought out in honour of the renowned librarian
A.K. Dasgupta, contains his photograph as the frontispiece. A plate is a photograph of an illustration
printed anywhere in the book other than the page facing the title page. Normally, a plate covers the
whole page. A portrait is an artistic representation of a person, especially one depicting the face or
head and shoulders [COD: p1116]. In some biographical dictionaries portraits of the persons are
included along with their biographical sketches. A plan is a scale drawing of the horizontal section
of a particular level of a building, structure or a machine. An exact copy of a piece of writing,
painting, etc., is called a facsimile. A photocopy is an example of a facsimile.
Periodicals
The periodical is a powerful medium for the dissemination of information. Researchers all over the
world publish their papers describing latest finding in primary periodicals. Secondary periodicals
gather information from primary periodical and present the same in the from of abstracts, popular
articles or reviews. Going through these periodicals a researcher, teacher student, and others keep
themselves updated generally overriding the language barrier. Compared to textbooks, treatises or
monographs, the information presented in periodical is almost always more up-to-date.
Apart from specialist periodicals, which are devoted to particular subjects (e.g., Current Science)
and are categorised as primary, secondary and tertiary. There are general periodicals also.
A general periodical includes writings from various disciplines. For example,
India Today—it covers articles related to politics and government, sports,
business and trade, art and culture, and so on.