Page 173 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Information Sources and Services

Notes (V) General Encyclopaedia - Hindi and other non-English Languages.

Example:
Der Grosse Brockhaus. Ed. 16. Wiesbaden: Brock Haus, 1952-63. 14 volumes.
This is the most recent complete edition of a standard German encyclopaedia, earlier
editions of which influenced encyclopaedia-making in many countries of the world.

Hindi Visva-kosh. Varanasi: Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1960-71. 12 volumes.
This is the only major Hindi encyclopaedia. However, its imbalanced as compared to
other encyclopaedias as it has no bibliography at the end.

(VI) National and Regional Encyclopaedias: It is common to have national and regional
encyclopaedias for the citizens of the country in their own national-regional language.
They are inclined to deal elaborately with the history, geography, art, customs, and culture,
and social, political, and economic conditions of a particular country. General
encyclopaedias of particular countries may also have national bias.

‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’, ‘Encyclopaedia Americana’, ‘Encyclopaedia Francaise’ cover
more detailed information about their own nations than other general encyclopaedias.
They have otherwise international coverage.
Cambridge Encyclopaedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Nepal, Bhutan and
Maldives/ed. By Francis Robinson. Cambridge: University Press, 1989.
Encyclopaedia of India/ ed. By P.N. Chopra and Prabha Chopra. Delhi: Agam Prakashan,
1987. 2 volumes.
An effort has been made here to deal with all aspects of the country and the life of the people of
India It deals with the flora, fauna, physiography, fairs and festivals, religion, literature, and
famous people. At the end, gazetteer of India has been appended. A detailed chronology of
events from pre-historic times to the present has also been given at the end.

8.3.2 Special or Subject Encyclopaedias

There are encyclopaedias for almost every subject. Modern subject encyclopaedias first became
available in philosophy and religion. Rendolf Eisler published his Worterbuch der
Philosaphischen. Segriffe in 1889 and Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics came out in 1908-27.
In the past, subject encyclopaedias used to be multi-volume sets in broad subjects namely science
and technology, social sciences etc., but now, encyclopaedias are published for each discipline
and are restricted to one or two volume sets which are handy to use. They are excellent ready
reference aids for the specialists who want to trace information about a particular subject.

It is common for any reference librarian or the reader to turn to a general encyclopaedia for the
information. But in order to get in depth information on any subject, it is better to refer to subject
encyclopaedias.
A few important examples of special encyclopaedias available in big university and special
libraries are listed here.

(I) Multi-volume Subject Encyclopaedias: McGraw-Hill Encyclopaedia of Science and
Technology. Ed. 6. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987. 20 volumes.
Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science / ed. By Allen Kent and Harold Lancour.
N.Y.: Dekker, 1968-69. 35 vols. + supplements. Volumes 34 and 35 are author and subject
index respectively.

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