1. Dr. Dania Bilal IS 530 Spring 2005
Categories of APTs
Dr. Dania Bilal
IS 530
Spring 2005

2. Types of Sources
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary

3. Biographical Sources Information about people
Biographical dictionaries, directories, indexes
Adults, young adults, children
General and specialized
Print and online
Examples: Current Biography, Who’s Who, Biography Index

4. Online Catalogs List of titles held in a library collection
Location service/lead-in tool
Directs users to information about subjects, authors, etc. but does not provide the information itself.
Type of questions: Person, subject, specific publication

5. Dictionaries
Information about terms, language, historical background of a term, syllabication, pronunciation, etc.
Adults & children
Abridged & unabridged
General & specialized
Print and online

6. Encyclopedias
Articles on subjects in a general or specific field of knowledge.
Multi-volume & one volume set
Adults/children/young adults
Print & online

7. Encyclopedias Type of questions answered in encyclopedias
Background information on events
Overview of a topic
Profile of a person
Outline/chronology of events
Other

8. Geographical Sources Information about places
Atlases, maps, gazetteers, guidebooks
Each provides a different type of information about places
Adults, young adults, children
Print & online

9. Gazetteers Geographic dictionaries
Places, physical features and information about them
Spelling, pronunciation of place names, history of name changes, population, industries, agriculture, climate, and history

10. Maps Pictorial representation of earth’s surface or a section of it.
Physical/historical/political information
Information is more tabular and pictorial than narrative
Print & online

11. Atlases Collection of maps
Simple depiction of a geographical area to detailed information about aspects of an area, such as population, mineral and energy resources, and agriculture
Articles, tables, weather, geology, zip codes

12. Guidebooks
Focus is on a specific country, region, city, building, museum, etc.
Guidebooks have unique information appropriate for answering specific reference questions.

13. Guides to the Literature
Focuses on a specific subject area or discipline
Lists available sources related to subject or discipline
May cover more than one subject area

14. Guides to the Literature
Lead-in tools
Selection tools
May include bibliographies, guides, indexing & abstracting services, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources along with annotations of each title

15. Handbooks & Manuals Compact sources
Information on a specific area/discipline or discipline in a concise or comprehensive form
Compilations of literary, historical, and statistical data

16. Handbooks & Manuals
Narrative information with charts, tables, graphs, formulae, etc.
Directed toward specialist or practitioner
Examples:
Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), APA Style Manual, U.S. Government Manual

17. Indexes Guides to the contents of a source of knowledge
Systematic arrangement of contents using different schemes
Examples:
Book index, periodical index, online catalog

18. Bibliographies
Lists of writings or publications, such as books and journal articles, on a given subject or by a given author
Information for cited materials using bibliographic citations
Example:
Bate’s Bibliography of Works on Information Seeking, Indexing, and Information Retrieval Systems

19. Abstracting Sources
Expanded index citations with a brief summary of the essential points of a document
Arrangement is systematic but varies
Indexes, bibliographies, and abstracting sources function as Lead-in tools

20. Monographs and Texts Treaties on a subject or class of subjects
Intended to be read completely
Detailed discussion of a subject
Include tables, illustrations, bibliographies
Not typical reference sources

21. Yearbooks & Almanacs General or specialized
Current information in descriptive and statistical form
Information about people, places, organizations; numeric information, measurements, etc. (almanacs)
Chronology of world events and other info.

22. Non-biographical Directories
Directories with no emphasis on people
Information about organizations, agencies, societies, clubs, official bodies, institutions, manufacturers, businesses, professions, regions, and the like