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41.8 General Factbooks, Handbooks, and Manuals

A factbook is a reference source that gives outright information about amazing events and extraordinary
phenomena. They may also be a source of information about human achievements and the extrema of the natural
world (e.g. tallest mountain, deepest ocean, etc.) The following titles are some examples.
 The New York Public Library Desk Reference
 Guinness Book of Records
 American Book of Days
 Kane’s Famous First Facts (by Joseph Nathan Kane)
Handbooks and manuals, often used synonymously, are ready-reference sources for given fields of
knowledge. Their emphasis is on established knowledge rather than on recent advances. Their value is in depth of
information in a narrow field. A handbook is a single-volume reference book of compact size that provides concise
factual information on a specific subject, organized systematically for quick and easy access. Statistical information
is often published in handbook form (e.g. Statistical Handbook on the American Family). Some handbooks are
published serially (e.g. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics). A manual, on the other hand, is book or
pamphlet containing practical instructions, rules, or steps for performing a task or operation, assembling a
manufactured object, or using a system or piece of equipment It also refers especially to materials that describe in
considerable detail the government of a state or the structure and functions of a government agency, although such
materials may be considered under government publications. The following is a listing of handbook and manuals on
some particular subjects.
 Etiquette
 Emily Post’s Etiquette
 Miss Manner’s Guide for the Turn of the Millennium (by Judith Martin)
 Literature
 Magill’s Masterplots (by Frank Magill)
 Quotations (book of quotations index “who said and what”)
 Bartlett’s Famous Quotations
 Home Books of Quotations(by Burton Egbert Stevenson)
 The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
41.9 Concordances
A concordance is an alphabetically arranged index of the principal words or selected words in a text, or in
the works of an author, giving the precise location of each word in the text, with a brief indication of its context. A
glossarial concordance includes a brief definition of each term. Concordances are usually devoted to very well
known works, such as the Bible, or to the works of major writers (e.g. Chaucer, Shakespeare, etc.). The first Bible
concordance was completed in 1230 A. D. under the guidance of Hugo de Saint-Cher while he was Prior of the
Dominican Order in France. It was an index to passages in which a word could be found, indicated by book and
chapter. A best example of a bible concordance is Alexander Cruden’s Complete Concordance to the Old and New
Testament, which was first published in 1737.
41.10 Directories
A directory is a list of people, companies, institutions, organizations, etc., in alphabetical or classified
order, providing contact information (e.g. names, addresses, phone/fax numbers, etc.) and other pertinent details
(e.g. affiliations, conferences, publications, membership, etc.) in brief format. Directories are often published
serially. Like any other reference source, directories can also take the electronic formats.
A directory is used for the following purposes:
 to locate organizations, institutions, and people through address and telephone number
 to verify the name of the organization or spelling of a person’s name
 to match individuals with organizations that can answer their information needs
 to look for description of a manufacturer’s product or service
 to look for biographical data on an individual, or a historical or current data about a group
 to compile mailing lists
 for sampling purposes for social or commercial surveys
Directories are grouped according to the following categories.
 Local directories (includes telephone books and city directories)
 Government directories
 Institutional directories
 Professional directories
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 Trade and business directories

There are also directory of directories, which provide listings and descriptions of various directories. Some
popular titles of directories of directories include
 Directories in Print
 City and State Directories in Print
 International Directories in Print
 Organizations Master Index
The following enumerations are other directory titles specific to certain subjects.
 Associations and foundations
 Encyclopedia of Associations
 Directory of Foundations
 Education
 American Universities and Colleges
 Comparative Guide to American Colleges
 Lovejoy’s College Guide
 World of Learning
41.11 Biographical Information Sources
A biography is a carefully researched, relatively full narrative account of the life of a specific person or
closely related group of people, written by another. The biographer selects the most interesting and important events
with the intention of elucidating the character and personality of the biographee and placing the subject's life in
social, cultural, and historical context. An authorized biography, written with the consent and sometimes the
cooperation of its subject, may be less critical than an unauthorized biography. A person may also write about his
own life history; is such case, the product will be an autobiography.
The literary form was pioneered by the Roman historians Plutarch, Tacitus, and Suetonius English literary
biography began with James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, published in 1791. Modern biographers tend to be
objective in approach, but classical and medieval biographers often wrote to confirm a thesis or illustrate a moral
principle.
Biographical information sources may either be in a directory or in a dictionary format. Biographical
directories are presented in a data-type format (just like in a bio-data). Biographical dictionaries present their
literature in essay form. Biographical dictionaries may be general, subject-specific, or limited to persons of a
specific nationality, race, field or profession, or period or gender.
Biographical information sources can also be classifies as current and retrospective. Current biographical
information sources deal with personas who are still living, while retrospective biographical information sources are
on the subject of deceased personas.
The following is a classified list of some popular biographical information sources.
 Current biographical directories
 Who’s Who in America
 Who’s Who
 Current biographical dictionaries
 Current Buiography
 The New York Times Biographical Service
 Newsmakers (Gale Research Co.)
 Retrospective biographical dictionaries
 McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography
 Webster’s New Biographical Dictionary
 New Century Cyclopedia of Names
 Retrospective biographical dictionaries (national)
 Dictionary of American Biography
 National Cyclopedia of American Biography
 Who Was Who in America
 Dictionary of National Biography
 Who Was Who
41.12 Geographical Information Sources
Geographical information sources are usually graphical representations of a geographical unit, region, or
area. They are used to answer geographical questions. Usually, they deal with a time period; they may either be
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current or historical. Included in this genre are maps, atlases, globes, gazetteers, and travel guidebooks. These are
defines as follows.
 A map is any two-dimensional graphic representation of the physical features (natural or man-made) of
all or a portion of the surface of the earth or another celestial body, the heavens, or an imaginary
geographic area. Maps are categorized by the type of content and method of presentation (e.g. base
map, cadastral map, cartogram, chart, city map, compiled map, computer-generated map, geologic
map, historical map, location map, pictorial map, political map, road map, schematic map, thematic
map, topographic map, world map, etc.).
 An atlas is a collection almost entirely of maps. Traditionally, atlases have been collections of maps
about related themes with most of the maps on a common scale. Most, but not all of them, have the
maps bound together in a book.
 A globe is a spherical map of the earth or the sky. The terrestrial globe (spherical map of the earth) is
the only true cartographic representation of the Earth and possesses several advantages over flat maps:
distances, directions, and areas are shown without distortion. A celestial globe (spherical map of the
sky) takes the Earth as its imaginary centre in showing the positions of the stars.
 A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary in which political and physical features of the Earth, such as
countries, cities, rivers, and mountains, are listed alphabetically, and some information, usually
descriptive and statistical, is given about them.
 A travel guidebook is a handbook that provides useful current information for travelers to a city, state,
region, country, or other geographic area or for visitors to a museum, park, historical site, etc.
Maps and atlases can be thematic; meaning, they focus on a particular aspect of geographic interest. Such
interest may be historical, economic, political, and related matters which may be shown graphically in a map.
The following is a classified list of some titles of geographical information sources.
 Major-size world atlases
 Time Atlas of the World (London: Times Newspaper)
 The New York Times Atlas of the World
 The New International Atlas (Rand McNally)
 Intermediate to small-scale atlases
 Gold Medallion World Atlas
 Citation World Atlas
 National Geographic Atlas
 Ran McNally New Cosmopolitan World Atlas
 Thematic atlases
 The Times Atlas of World History
 William Shepherd’s Historical Atlas
 Rand McNally World Atlas of History
41.13 Serials
Serials are publications in any medium (print, electronic, micro-format, etc.) issued under the same title in
a succession of discrete parts, bearing numerical or chronological designations, and appearing at regular or irregular
intervals with no predetermined conclusion. In AACR2 2002, serials are classified as a type of continuing resource.
The serials genre includes specific types of publications. They are the following.
 Periodicals – a serial appearing or intended to appear indefinitely at regular or stated intervals,
generally more frequently than annually, each of which is numbered or dated consecutively and
normally contains separate articles, stories, or other writings.
 Magazine – a periodical for general reading containing articles on various subjects by different
authors.
 Journal – a periodical, especially one containing scholarly articles and/or disseminating current
information on research and development in a particular subject field.
 Monographic series (series) – a group of separate bibliographic items related to one another by the fact
that each item bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the group as a
whole.
 Conference proceedings – considered as serials if they have the same name and are differentiated only
by number, place, and date, and the titles proper of the publications themselves must vary only
slightly, if at all.
 Annual (report, yearbook, etc). – a publication issued yearly.
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 Continuing directories – any directory that is being published into successions to be continued
indefinitely.
 Newsletter – a printed report or letter containing news of interest to a particular group, for example the
members of a society or employees of an organization, circulated to them periodically.
The following is a listing of some bibliographic materials and databases for serials.
 Ulrich’s International Periodical Directory (R.R. Bowker)
 The Serials Directory (EBSCO)
 The Standard Periodical Directory (Oxbridge Communications)
 Magazines for Libraries
 Union List of Serials in Libraries of the US and Canada (H.W. Wilson)
 New Serial Titles
41.14 Government Publications
The general definition that can be given for government publications is “any publication originating in, or
issued with the imprint of, or at the expense and by the authority of, any office of a legally organized government or
international organization.” Under Title 44, Section 1901 of the United States Code, a government publication is
defined as "information matter" published as a separate document at government expense or as required by law.
Section 1902 states that government publications, except those "required for official use only or for strictly
administrative or operational purposes which have no public interest or educational value and publications classified
for reasons of national security," are to be made publicly available to depository libraries by the Superintendent of
Documents. The term is also used in a broader sense to include documents published by local, state, territorial, and
foreign governments.
The following are some titles of retrieval tools for government publications.
 Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications
 Monthly Checklist of State Publications
 LEXIS/NEXIS
 NTIS
41.15 Company and Trade Literature
This genre of reference source materials includes the following specific materials.
 Trade literature – a catalog or any other material produced by an organization containing information
about its products and services; this is used for choosing suitable products, materials, equipment or
service, by providing information about products and services and on rival products and services
(e.g. school catalog, product catalog, etc.).
 Business and financial reports – a detailed periodic account of a company’s activities, financial
condition, and prospects that is made available to shareholders and investors.
 Campaign literature – documents that contain data intended to persuade voters to vote for a particular
politician or party.
41.16 Technical Information Sources
Technical information sources are materials highly relevant to or specializing in industrial techniques or
subjects or applied science. These are in several varieties.
 Technical reports – scientific papers or articles describing research or other significant developments
in a field of the applied sciences.
 Standards – a technical publication which state how materials and products should be made, measured,
tested, or described; these are established by computers trade associations representing industries,
government departments, and national and international standards associations (e.g. ISO).
 Specifications – a concise, legally binding statement of a set of requirements to be satisfied by a
product, a material, or a process indicating, whenever appropriate, the procedure by means of
which it may be determined whether the requirements given are satisfied.
 Patents – official or legal grant issued by a government giving the inventor the right to exclude all
other from making, using, or selling an invention for a specific period of time.
 Trademark – any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof adopted and used by a
manufacturer or merchant to identify his goodsand distinguish them from those manufactured or
sold by others.
41.18 Dissertations and Theses
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A dissertation is a lengthy, formal written treatise or thesis, especially an account of scholarly investigation
or original research on a specialized topic, submitted to a university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a
Ph.D. degree. Dissertations submitted at universities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other European
countries are indexed and abstracted in Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI), available in print, on CD-ROM,
and online from ProQuest.
A thesis is a proposition advanced and defended in a formal disputation, especially by a candidate in partial
fulfillment of university requirements for a master's degree or bachelor’s degree. Master's theses are indexed
annually by discipline, subject, and author in Master's Theses Directories and in Disseration Abstracts International.
They can also be located in the WorldCat database in OCLC FirstSearch. For digital theses, scan be accessed
through Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD).