Different Types of Selection

UNIT 6 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SELECTION Tools and their Importance

TOOLS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE

Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Information Materials : Producers and Products
6.2.1 Print Materials
6.2.2 Non-Print Materials
6.3 Selection Tools: Books
6.3.1 Current Lists
6.3.2 Catalogues and Bibliographies
6.3.3 National Bibliographies
6.3.4 Subject Bibliographies
6.3.5 Current Reviews
6.3.6 Special Lists
6.4 Selection Tools: Other Print Materials
6.4.1 Periodicals and Serials
6.4.2 Government Publications
6.4.3 Reference Books
6.4.4 Patents
6.4.5 Standards and Specifications
6.4.6 Translations
6.4.7 Dissertations and Theses
6.5 Selection Tools: Non-print Materials
6.5.1 Microforms
6.5.2 Audio-Visual Materials
6.5.3 Computer-based Materials
6.5.4 Equipment for Non-Print Materials
6.6 Summary
6.7 Answers to Self Check Exercises
6.8 Key Words
6.9 References and Further Reading
6.0 OBJECTIVES
Building up a collection of documents in a library involves reference to and
consultation of different types of sources which provide valuable information on
publications and information materials. Knowledge of these sources is essential in
collection development. In this unit, we introduce you to a variety of selection tools,
their characteristics, value and importance for selection of printed documents and
non-print materials.
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
• get a good insight into producers of information materials and their products;
• identify and differentiate types of selection tools;
• describe their characteristics, information contents and value with respect to
their function as selection tools; and
• use these tools to make appropriate selection of print and non-print materials,
6.1 INTRODUCTION
In Unit 5, you have learnt about the various types of documents, their characteristics,
physical forms and information contents. You have also learnt about some useful
principles and theories of collection development. In this unit, you will learn about
some types of selection tools and how to make use of them to buildup a collection of
print and non-print materials of good quality and relevance, keeping in view the 29
principles and policies of collection development in a library.
Information Resources
Development In order to do this job well, it is invaluable to have a good background knowledge of
production agencies that bring out print and non-print information materials. In this
unit, we give you some general ideas in production and distribution of information
materials. These agencies are studied under two broad groups - trade and non - trade
agencies.
As part of their marketing and promotional activities, these agencies bring out a
number of documents announcing their products, which serve as source tools for
collection development in libraries. We shall study these tools of selection, their
nature and scope, their characteristics and the information/data they carry about print
and non-print materials. There are bare lists, annotated catalogues and bibliographies,
announcement bulletins, leaflets, folders, review documents, each one of them giving
various types of information, which can be useful for making appropriate selection.
We shall study these tools in some detail in this unit, with reference to appropriate
selection of books, periodicals and serials, reference books and other type of print
materials and microforms, audio visual materials and machine-readable/ electronic
publications.
6.2 INFORMATION MATERIALS: PRODUCERS AND
PRODUCTS
In this section, let us study in brief how information materials are produced, the
agencies that produce them and the information channels through which information
about published documents are disseminated, etc. It may be worthwhile to possess
this background knowledge about the book and non-book world and their activities
so as to facilitate choosing the right type of information materials. In addition, it
would be useful to be knowledgeable about the current and future trends in the
knowledge industry.
Producers of information materials can broadly be divided into three major groups:
i) producers of print materials - general books, textbooks, reference books,
periodicals and serials, bibliographical publication, patents and specifications and
other; ii) microforms and audio visuals; ill) electronic and machine readable
materials. In recent years, however, an interesting trend is steadily emerging. These
forms are getting integrated, in that a print document is also concurrently being made
available in microforms as well as in machine readable form. For example, many of
the secondary publications such as indexing and abstracting services are available in
print, microforms and machine readable data bases. This trend is likely to continue
for many more years, as facilities for making use of these newer media vary among
countries; the acceptance of these newer media by users is also rather slow and
halting. Hence the producers of information materials and publishers have to tune
themselves to different market conditions. Notwithstanding these developments, the
print medium continues to dominate, particularly in developing countries like India.
Therefore, we begin our study about the publishers of printed documents.
6.2.1 Print Materials
The author, publisher and bookseller are all partners in turning ideas into a finished
product. These groups operate as a team with division of responsibilities but with
proper linkages between themselves. Generally, publishing of documents involves
the following activities:
• Flow of manuscripts to publishers office;
• Publishing preliminaries: Selection and evaluation of manuscripts, in terms of
quality and marketability, contract between author and publisher, etc;
• Production: Editing, printing, binding;
• Distribution: Dissemination of information about published documents,
promotional activities, including advertising, bringing out catalogues,
bibliographies, announcement bulletins, leaflets, folders, etc.;
• Sales and marketing
While some intimate knowledge of all these activities is desirable for collection
30 development, we-shall concern ourselves only with distribution activities with which
libraries are directly related.
 Different Types of Selection
Publishing agencies fall under three broad categories Tools and their Importance
i) Trade Publishing Houses /Companies, Booksellers and Others; they publish
a) books of all varieties;
b) periodicals and serials;
c) bibliographical publications such as indexing publications, abstracting
publications, reviews, etc.
ii) Not-for-Profit Publishers: Learned societies, professional bodies, etc. These
publishing agencies concentrate on publishing
a) Scholarly and research journals
b) Conference proceedings
c) Technical reports.
iii) Government agencies: Ministries, Departments, Directorates, and such other
agencies: .Government is a very major publisher today; all varieties of
documents such as books, monographs, reports, periodicals, serials, and
secondary publications are brought out by government agencies and
institutions.
Among these categories of publishing agencies, trade publishers are the ones who are
very active in promoting their sales, through advertisements, issue of catalogues and
bibliographies, announcement bulletins, leaflets, folders, etc. Information about
newly published books, forthcoming publications in a variety of subjects keep
constantly flowing into libraries. In fact, this flood of announcements, catalogues and
folders, etc., pose a problem to libraries, not only because of their bulk and weeding
work involved but also because of the paucity of time to scarf them.
Publishers specialise in subject areas such as medicine, science and technology, law,
arts, music, etc. and bring out books for special groups - children's' books; textbooks
for schools and colleges; paperbacks, reference books, reprints of out-of-print books
and such other.
The publishing trade is thus well organised and information about books published
and to be published flows systematically and regularly into libraries. There is a well
established rapport between the book trade and libraries and hence collection
building in this area operates satisfactorily.
In the case of materials published by learned societies, professional associations, etc.,
libraries have to establish regular contacts with them by becoming institutional
members, to be on their mailing lists to get information about their publications,
exhibitions, etc., organised by professional bodies to keep track of their publishing
activities.
As there is no organised system operating collectively for publications of these
bodies selection and acquisition of materials published by these bodies poses
problems for libraries.
Government publications are among the most difficult areas in collection
development. By its very nature, the government set up is a slow machinery; very
often it operates without any time schedule, particularly in its publication work.
Announcements of new publications, catalogues and special lists do come out, but
without the necessary speed to market them, particularly in countries like India. But
these publications are of immense value for special and academic libraries. Therefore
special efforts are necessary to keep track of government publications.
6.2.2 Non-Print Materials
Non-print materials entered the mainstream of collection development in libraries in
the last two decades. Audio, visual and audio-visual materials are found to be
excellent supplements to printed packages (textbooks, workbooks, manuals, etc.) for
teaching and learning in schools and colleges and in other instructional and training
institutions. Films, filmstrips, slides, audio tapes, records, etc. are used in conjunction
with conventional instructional materials with good results. This gives opportunities
to many enterprising business companies to invest in these areas. These business
firms have largely chosen to concentrate on one aspect of the field of non-print
materials and to develop and refine it. 31
Information Resources
Development Moreover developments in the educational set-up and advances in information
technology have offered new scope to libraries for storing and retrieving information
through the newer media such as computers, microforms and other electronic
devices. This has led to the practice of building collections in microforms of
backfiles of periodicals, newspapers and other types of less used materials thus
saving valuable storage space. Online access to data and information through
computer networks accentuated the advantage of using these newer media in
libraries. Collection building in libraries in industrially advanced countries place
equal emphasis on no-print materials, although in developing countries, only a
beginning has been made to think in these directions. In India, most of non-print
materials will have to be imported which poses problems of selection and acquisition
besides being highly expensive. There are also no specialised agencies which
produces these type of materials while there are agents for procuring them from
countries where they are produced and marketed.
Non-book materials, particularly microforms and audio visual materials, are
produced by firms specialising in microfilms and microfiches and those specialising
in educational teaching and learning materials respectively. Machine readable
databases are produced by major publishing agencies like American Chemical
Society, Institute of Scientific Information, Engineers Joint Council and such others,
in their respective field of specialisation. Library wholesalers stuck these materials,
particularly audio visual material and supply them. These producers advertise their
wares largely in professional periodicals and other publications and occasion-ally
bring out catalogues, promotional materials like folders, pamphlets etc. Video
cassettes, tape-slide kits are available for machine readable data bases like chemical
abstracts, citation index etc., helping the process of use. All these provide good
facilities to know these non-print materials, and decide on their acquisition,
In addition to modern physical media, electronic media have arrived and changed the
concept of a library's role in society. These include the magnetic media - magnetic
tape, magnetic disk, floppy disk - and the optical media - CD-ROM, WORM, etc., -
and rewritable magnets optical disk, etc. Increasingly, these are being produced by
firms and are being acquired by modern libraries due to the many distinct advantages
they possess and also because they have become one of the key elements in ensuring
effectiveness of libraries and information centres.
Self Check Exercise
1) Name the types of producers of information materials, giving a list their
specific products.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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6.3 SELECTION TOOLS: BOOKS
Information Resources Development is an important activity of any library or
information centre as it ensures efficient and effective functioning of libraries. This is
because it facilitates not only provision of appropriate reading material to users, but
also forms the basis for the generation of information services and products.
Information resources development is possible only by the use of appropriate
selection tools or guides or sources giving information about the different
publications. These sources, in their turn, may either give information of existing
publications and / or new and forthcoming publications. While to the former belong
32 the category of bibliographies and published Manny catalogues emanating form
publishers,
 Different Types of Selection
printers, booksellers, etc., the latter - namely, sources for new and forthcoming Tools and their Importance
publications - are brought out by a number of booksellers in the form of an
announcement service/mechanism for new publications, as well as by institutions like
National Library of India, Calcutta (Indian National Bibliography) or trade agencies
(Indian Books in Print, American Book Publishing Record, British Books in Print,
etc.), or periodical publishers (book reviews) or news-papers which have a
convention of publishing book reviews in their weekly sections under the caption
"new arrivals". In addition, Current Accession Lists issued by scientific and techno-
logical institutions can form tools for document selection.
The six general categories of selection aides are:
i) Current lists of books which are produced in the form of pamphlets, bulletins,
leaflets, announcement folders, etc.
ii) Catalogues and bibliographies.
iii) National bibliographies.
iv) Subject bibliographies.
v) Current reviews.
vi) Special lists that give data on books recommended or booksellers, or core
publications in a particular area or discipline.
6.3.1 Current Lists
Current books - those that are published during the year - represent the majority of
materials usually acquired by most libraries, although it may not always be so in case
of large re-search, industrial and academic libraries which cater to the special
requirements of their respective users. But even in these libraries, a large proportion
of their acquisition may relate to current books.
In countries with a high volume of publications in a year such as the USA and the
UK, there may be weekly listings of new books. Listing of this type normally
provides information on author, title, publisher, place of publication, year of
publication, pagination, special features including series information, and
International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Sometimes cataloguing data, including
subjects are also given. Information on subject contents in the form of subject
headings, is particularly valuable, as very often the titles of documents do not convey
adequate information about their contents.
Monthly lists are common, either as cumulations of weekly lists or as first listing;
there may be quarterly, half yearly, and annual cumulations of such lists. Lists of
forthcoming publications are also issued frequently, but there are two limiting factors
in these cases. Quite often they may not be on schedule and in a few cases, these
titles never get released for one reason or the other.
Examples of weekly and monthly lists:
For American Books: Weekly Record, R.R. Bowker; American Book Publishing
Record, R.R. Bowker, a monthly cumulation of the Weekly Record.
British Books: Bookseller, Whitaker; Books of the Month, Whitaker, a monthly
cumulation of Bookseller.
Indian books in English: Indian Book Industry, Sterling Publisher, New Delhi; a
monthly listing of books published in English every month.
Indian Publisher and Book seller, Popular Book Depot, Bombay; a monthly of books
published during the month.
Publishers market their products though announcement leaflets, pamphlets and other
such methods. Generally such announcements contain more information about books
than those published as weekly or monthly lists. A lot of useful data is available such
as a brief note on the contents and other descriptive features. Useful as this
information is, it should be noted that these announcements are to promote sales and
hence information contained in them may not always be reliable or objective. 33
Information Resources
Development 6.3.2 Catalogues and Bibliographies
There are a number of commercial organisations like publishers, booksellers,
distributors and printers whose main activity is to bring out publications about
publications with a business motive. These publications are brought out at periodic
intervals, i.e., regular periodicity, and' while some of these are priced publications,
some are sent free to institutions and individuals either on request or in anticipation
of a demand. Their coverage may be national and/or inter-national. Some of the best
examples are:
Book Trade Periodicals
i) Cumulative Book Index: A World List of Books in English Language. 1898 -
(Monthly with quarterly, half-yearly and annual cumulations) Fl. W. Wilson,
New York. Being one of the comprehensive book selection tools and the
production cost being consider-ably high, it is not available on a regular
subscription basis, but subscription is charged on a service basis.
ii) American Book Publishing Record. (Monthly, covers American Publications).
R.R. Booker, New York. Cumulated annually, with entries arranged subject-
wise. Useful for preparing ad hoc bibliographies.
iii) Indian Book Industry. Monthly, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.
iv) Publishing in India: A monthly Journal of Book Trade and Industry: D.I.
Publishers Distributions (P) Ltd. New Delhi.
v) A Catalogue. Monthly South Asia Publications, New Delhi.
vi) Concept News. Monthly, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi.
vii) AMS Publications Update. Bimonthly. American Mathematical Society
Providence. Rhode Island, U.S.A
viii) New Arrivals: A monthly news of book trade and industry. Manas Publications ,
New Delhi.
ix) Booklist and Reference Books' Bulletin. A fortnight publication between
September and June and monthly in July and August. American Library
Association, Chicago. The purpose of Booklist is to provide materials worthy
of consideration by small and medium-size libraries and school library media
centres
Bibliographies
Those who produce bibliographies fall into the following chain if arranged in
evolutionary sequence; the kinds of bibliographies corresponding to each is shown in
juxtaposition:

34
 Different Types of Selection
The kinds of bibliographies cited above can be either primary or secondary, Tools and their Importance
depending upon whether or not:
a) the agency producing it is a publisher or the copyright authority; and
b) it is prepared by a physical examination of the books included in it.
Library catalogues, bibliophilic bibliographies, printer's bibliographies, and binder's
bibliographies are some of the primary bibliographies. Another example would be the
Deutsche National Bibliography.
The often used secondary bibliographies are:
1) Bookseller's catalogues
2) Book-selection lists
3) Library catalogues
4) Subject catalogues
5) Author bibliographies and
6) Reading lists.
From the point of view of book-selection value, the sequence of preference maybe as
follows:
1) Copyright lists
2) Publisher's catalogues
3) Bookseller's catalogues
4) Book-selection lists
5) Library catalogues
6) Subject bibliographies
7) Reading lists
8) Author's bibliographies
9) Author bibliographies
10) Bibliophilic bibliographies
11) Printer's bibliographies and
12) Binder's bibliographies.
A few of the established sources of primary bibliographies are:
1) WINCHELL (Constance M). Guide to Reference Books. Chicago. American
Library Association.
2) WALFORD (A J) E.d. Guide to Reference Material. 2V London. Library
Association.
3) BOWKER'S Books in Print and Subject Guide to Books in Print.
Current Bibliographies
i) Reed Reference Publishing Catalogue 1996. It not only includes the regularly
updated editions of the organisations well established reference works but also
the introduction of new products, such as, Bowker-Saur's European Research
and Development Data-base.
ii) Aslib Publications Catalogue 1995. London. Announces a selection of new
books and editors of titles in demand, directories, CD-ROM, CEC Publications,
Translations, Journals, etc.
iii) Indian Books 1995: An annual bibliography. Today and Tomorrow's Book
Agency, New Delhi. 35
Information Resources
Development Retrospective Bibliographies
i) Indian Books in Print: A bibliography of Indian books in English language
published by Indian Bureau of Bibliographies, Delhi.
ii) Books in Print, New York, R.R. Bowker 1948 - Annual.
iii) British Books in Print. London, Whitaker 1976 - Annual.
6.3.3 National Bibliographies
Ranganathan defines the term National Bibliography as "A list of books, periodicals,
and of their reprographs published in a country or on the country, or the citizens of
the country, or in the language of the country, or written by any citizen of the country
irrespective of the country of publication". Thus, national bibliographies are not
necessarily confined to books or printed materials but may bring out national lists of
films, records, audio-visuals and other type of non-print material.
Depending upon the policy, it may include only one of the above categories or any
combination of them. As publication of a book is a continuous process, a national
bibliography may be published weekly, monthly, quarterly, or as fasicules and
cumulated at intervals of time ranging from quarterly to yearly or more.
Most countries with a book trade, except the United States of America, have some
form of national bibliography. They are authoritative and highly reliable sources of
information of recorded knowledge of a country. Therefore they serve as excellent
selection tools not only for current materials but also good for retrospective materials.
The only limitation is that they represent only the national outputs.
We describe below the national bibliographies of India and Great Britain.
Indian National Bibliography 1958- Monthly. Central Reference Library, Calcutta.
The Indian National Bibliography (INB) is a classified list of current Indian
publications in all the major Indian languages and English. INB is compiled from the
materials received at the National Library under the Delivery of Books and
Newspapers Act, 1954 (as amended in 1956 to include newspaper). The categories of
publications excluded are : a) musical sources, b) maps, c) periodicals and
newspapers, except the first issue of a new periodical and the first issue of the
periodical under a new title, d) keys and guides to text-books and e) ephemeral items.
INB was published in two parts - general publications and government publications,
during 1959 to 1972, From 1973, the two parts have been combined into one,
comprising two sections - classified and alphabetical. The arrangement of entries in
the classified section is by Dewey Decimal Classification. Bibliographic data given
are class number, author, title, imprint, pagination, illustrations, size, price, series
note, etc. The second section is an alphabetical index to the classified part, with
author and subject approaches.
The author and title of publications in Indian languages are transliterated into Roman
script and arranged in one alphabetical sequence under each class.
For current and retrospective selection of Indian books, this is perhaps the best
source. The only limitations are time lag in the publication of INB and the items left
out because of non supply of these by publishers.
INB is cumulated annually and every five years.
British National Bibliography 1950 - Weekly. The British Library Bibliographic
Services Division, London.
The British National Bibliography (BNB) is a weekly list of newly published books
in Great Britain, compiled on the basis of books received by the Copyright Receipt
Office of the British Library. The categories of material excluded are: periodicals,
except the first issue of a new periodical and the first issue of a periodical under a
new title, music, maps, certain government publications, publications without a
British imprint and cheap novelettes, etc.
36 There are monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual cumulations. The classified part
is also cumulated once in five years.
 Different Types of Selection
BNB is in two parts classified and alphabetical. Entries in the classified part are Tools and their Importance
arranged by the Dewey Decimal Classification. The alphabetical part gives the author
and subject indexes. BNB is available in print, microforms and in machine readable
form.
BNB is a comprehensive and excellent guide for British books. The technical quality
its maintenance of international standards in its computerised form, innovative
subject index and the general layout and production are examples to follow. BNB is
one of the best book selection tools for books with the British imprint.
With the advent of computer networks, national bibliographies of many countries are
avail-able online. This enable access to international publications and is an invaluable
facility for collection building in large academic and special libraries.
Self Check Exercise
2) State the value of national bibliographies as selection tools both for current as
well as for retrospective publications.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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6.3.4 Subject Bibliographies
Subject bibliographies are useful selection tools for retrospective books. If they are
compiled by professionals with a subject background of the field, these
bibliographies could be of great value in selection and collection development.
Some examples of subject bibliographies are:
Aiyar C.P R. Bibliography of Indian Philosophy. Madras, Sanskrit College, 1968.2V.
Alexandrowicz, C.H : Bibliography of Indian Law, Madras, University of Madras,
1958.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Indian Scientific and Technical
Publications: a Bibliography.New Delhi, 1950.
Kanitkar, J.M. Bibliography of Indology Von Indian Anthropology. Calcutta,
National Library, 1960.
Narayanasamy, V Bibliography of Indology V.2 Indian Botany. Calcutta, National
Library, 1961.

These types of publications usually do not get disseminated in time and widely, and
hence access to them becomes difficult. Many of these types of bibliographies are not
always avail-able in print and so special efforts have to be made to get them for the
library. The limitations of this type of tools are the quality of items selected,
currentness and availability of documents listed.

As indicated earlier, no single source can meet all the requirements of selection and
collection development. A judicious combination of selection tools, both for current
and retrospective publications has to be made and their inflow into the library must
be assured.

6.3.5 Current Reviews

Review columns appearing in newspapers and periodicals are an important aid. for 37
book selection.
Information Resources
Development While selection tools discussed so far do not give sufficient information to judge the
value of a book in terms of quality, or suitability to a particular requirement, one can
infer the quality of a book to a certain extent from the reputation of the author and the
publishers. Book reviews appearing in newspapers and periodicals are often reliable
sources to evaluate the quality of books.
A book review, in general, gives information about the contents of a book, the
treatment of the topic discussed in it, its quality as also its suitability for a particular
type of user in a library. It is, in essence, a critical evaluation of it.
Book reviews can be divided into three general types:
i) reviews for persons in the book trade and for libraries;
ii) reviews for specialists in different subjects;
iii) reviews for the general public.
Book selectors use all three types, but the greatest use is made of trade and
professional re-views. Some differences in emphasis do exist among types of
libraries in making use of book reviews. As noted earlier, special libraries make the
least use of reviews, but when reviews are needed the first two categories are given
the greatest credence, with a preference for the specialist review. In academic
institutions also, the first two types of reviews are used extensively. Public libraries,
on the other hand, make use of popular reviews more often.
Reviews for persons in the book trade and for libraries, can be examined in two sub-
categories: a) those designed to promote the sale of books, and b) those designed to
evaluate books and to indicate their suitability for libraries. Publishers Weekly (from
1974 only for seasonal supplement) and Book Seller are primarily aimed at the book
trade, although they are used extensively in libraries for book selection. Reviews
written specially for book selection by professional experts are the ones that serve the
purpose of libraries. Library Journal, Wilson Library Bulletin, Library Association
Record - all these are primary journals in library science, and carry book review
sections where professional review give their evaluation of books. These reviews are
not only descriptive and evaluative but also occasionally comparative. Reviews of
this types are particularly valuable as they are written with library needs in view.
A second category are the specialist reviews published in specialist periodicals.
Scientific and research journals acquired by the library often contain certain scholarly
and technical articles in vital subject fields and also carry several papers of regular
book columns, containing re-views that are scholarly, informed and pinpointed.
These reviews, in practice, are useful for:
a) deciding selection, in doubtful cases; and
b) examining whether any important item has been left out by oversight in the
process of book selection from other sources.
Deserving special attention is the British Book News, the bimonthly reviewing
journal of the British Council Library. Although meant to cater to the special needs of
British Council Libraries, it can be usefully scanned as apart from the brief,
descriptive and evaluative reviews, every issue contains an useful bibliographical
feature, for example, "Recent British Books on Chemistry." These are invaluable as a
tool for stock revision.
However, the major drawback of all reviews is their haphazard appearance in relation
to a book's date of publication. The time-lag between the appearance of the review
and the publication date is sometimes as much as one year, which renders it
invaluable for retrospective stock revision, but rather less timely as an aid to selection
of new books. The following are some examples of periodicals carrying reviews:
Science
This weekly periodical issued by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, Publishes reviews of a few important titles and announcements of twenty to
thirty others.
Nature
38 Thus British weekly journal of science publishes excellent reviews of some books,
announcements
 Different Types of Selection
and advertisements of others: Once a month, it includes a comprehensive listing Tools and their Importance
indicated as a supplement: Recent Scientific and Technical Books.
Library Journal

Publishes quarterly lists of scientific, technical and medical books announced for
publication by publishers.

The third category of review sources is directed towards the general public. Daily
newspapers have a convention of publishing book reviews of selected books in their
weekly review sections and are indeed very valuable. Reviews of Times Literary
Supplement, New York Time Book Review, those that appear in leading Indian daily
newspapers (in their weekly supplements) carry valuable sources for book selection,
particularly for public libraries.

Book Review Digest (BRD) and Book Review Index (BRI) are two publications
exclusively devoted to book reviews. Both are American Publications. BRD
publishes every year 5000 to 6000 summaries of new books, covering 70 leading
journals and newspapers. BRI notices reviews that appear in 325 journals and
provides citation to 40,000 reviews each year. In addition, many of the general
periodical indexes include book review citations which also provide access to
reviews.

While book reviews are excellent sources for book selections, there are limitations
which compel us to look for other sources. A small percentage of published books get
reviewed; even these reviews appear with a time gap of several months after the book
has been published; and the quality of reviews varies. In spite of all these limitations,
book reviews serve as very important selection tools.

Self Check Exercise

2) List the different types of book reviews and give at least two reasons for their
limited value for selection of current books.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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6.3.6 Special Lists

Special lists of best books, recommended books, core collections in specific areas
and for specified periods are compiled and produced. They serve as useful selection
tools for building up representative collections in a subject or for a particular group.
Examples of this type of list are: Public Library Catalogue, H. W Wilson, New York;
Books for Secondary Schools, R.R. Bowker, New York. Books for College Libraries,
American Library Association, Chicago. The choice of items in these compilations is
made by the compilers and hence subjective.

6.4 SELECTION TOOLS: OTHER PRINT MATERIALS

In the earlier section; we discussed printed books, in general, brought out by
commercial publishers and other agencies and disseminated through various types of
catalogues, including 39
Information Resources
Development trade and national bibliographies. In this section, let us discuss selection tools for
certain important categories of print materials like periodicals and serials,
government publications reference books, theses and children's books.
6.4.1 Periodicals and Serials
Primary periodicals constitute one of the most indispensable categories of
publications in academic research and special libraries. A substantial part of the
collection in these libraries are periodical literature. More than 50% of the funds are
spent in the acquisition of current titles of periodicals. Subscriptions to primary and
secondary periodicals arc steadily rising and there are hundreds and thousands of
titles in several disciplines competing with each other for inclusion. It is unwise to
include a title of a periodical for a few years and discontinue sub-scribing to it later.
Considerable thought and attention ought to be given to decide the inclusion of a title.
India is a very heavy importer of current titles of periodicals and several crores of
rupees by way of foreign exchange are spent on periodicals subscription. Most of the
tiles are obtained from the United States of America and Great Britain. Good
examples of tools for selection of periodicals are given below:
Ulrich International Periodicals Directory. Edn.27, R.R. Bowker, New York, 1988.
This directory includes 71700 titles of periodicals in all subjects from 160 countries.
A separate list of abstracting and indexing services is also included. The Ulrich's
quarterly updates the directory with new titles, title changes and discontinuations.
Irregular Serials and Annual, an International Directory which Ulrich used to
publish since 1967 has now been merged with the Periodicals Directory. Hence there
are additional entries of 99,450 irregular serials and annuals.
Since 1988 Ulrich also supplies free of charge Ulrich 's Update, a quarterly
supplement to the Periodicals Directory. This facility is extended to those who have
a 1988-89 copy of Directory.
N. W. Ayer & Son's Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals. 1880 - Annual.
Philadelphia, .
Ayer. This directory lists over 22,000 newspapers and magazines primarily limited to
the United States and Canada.
Willing 's Press Guide 1874 - Annual. Croydon, Thomas Skinner Directories. This
guide concentrates on the British Press and has information for 4,600 British
periodicals and 1,200 newspapers.
Directory of Pertodicals Published in India. Compiled by Susheel Kaur, New Delhi,
Sapra & Sapra Publishers, 1988.
Directory of lndian Scientific Periodicals, Edn.3, New Delhi, INSDOC, 1976. This
lists 1593 periodicals in science, technology and allied subjects in English and Indian
Languages. Press in India: Annual Report on the Press, compiled by the Registrar of
Newspapers for
India. New Delhi, Publication Division. This publication contains a complete list of
the newspapers and periodicals published in India.
Unfortunately, the Indian publications of periodicals listing are not updated with any
fixed frequency.
Besides these type of directories, lists brought out by major abstracting and indexing
services like Chemical Abstracts, Science Citation Index, the Engineering Index etc.,
are invaluable sources of information for selection of current titles in the respective
disciplines. The lists represent international coverage, irrespective of language or
place of publications. The Science Citation Index gives the most cited titles of about
4,000 scientific periodicals from among thousands that are published.
40
 Different Types of Selection
Self Check Exercise Tools and their Importance
2) List the sources for the selection of periodicals published in the UK, the USA
and India.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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6.4.2 Government Publications
Government publications come from all branches, divisions and levels of
government. They embrace the entire universe of information, as there are very few
subjects outside the scope of government activities. They provide reasonably priced
current information on a variety of subjects: history, geography, law and order,
legislation and parliament, demography, weather, flood, famine, industry, business,
banking, finance, health, nutrition, food, agriculture, women, minorities, sports and
games, science and technology, communication and 'transport, standards and
specifications: in fact, on all imaginable subjects. This immense body of informa
tion, at a modest cost, makes government publications a worthwhile information
resource for collection development.
Government documents also come in a variety of forms. They can be in different
sizes, channels or media. There are books, technical reports, periodicals, pamphlets,
microforms, posters, films, slides, photographs, maps, just to name a few possible
varieties.
Besides publications of national government, international governmental agencies
such as the United Nations and its family of organisations do bring out a very large
body of valuable literature. Some libraries have a depository privilege of getting them
but man', other libraries may have to procure them.
Some of the more important sources of selection tools are given below, particularly
Indian, British and American.
The Indian National Bibliography lists government publications, a description of
which has already been given earlier in this unit,
Monthly Catalogue. Controller of Publications. Delhi (Monthly). This catalogue
provides information on the current publication of the Government of India. There is
a time lag of four months between the issue of the publication and the catalogue.
Some of the important bibliographical tools helpful in the selection of British
Government publications are:
Daily List Government Publications, cumulated monthly and issued as Monthly
Catalogue Monthly Select List, Annual Catalogue, cumulations of the monthly lists;
Consolidated List of Government Publications; Lists of Statutory Instruments brought
out by Her Majesty's Stationary Office/(HMSO), the British Government publisher.
The HMSO publications are also listed in the British National Bibliography and
British Books in Print.
As in the case of British Government publications, the selection tools for American
Government publications follow a pattern and are issued with a regular frequency.
Some of the more important selection tools are: 41
Information Resources
Development U.S Superintendent of Documents. Monthly Catalogue of U.S Government
Publications, 1895.
Selected U.S Government Publications, 1928 - Biweekly: Price List of Government
Publications, 1898 - Irregular.
For the official documents of the United Nationals Organisation and its agencies, the
following selection tools may be of use:
United Nations Documents Index, 1950 - Monthly. New York, UN and Specialised
Agencies Library.
Current United Nations Publications.
United Nations Books in Print. Issued annually in English, French and Spanish, and
updated with supplements.
Although there are lists and catalogues disseminating bibliographical data on
government publications, as a class of publications it is not well organised. The flow
of information about government publications in libraries is rather unsteady and
irregular. Therefore, special efforts are required to know about them and select them.
6.4.3 Reference Books
All types of libraries stock a good selection of reference books without which
information and reference services in libraries would be impossible. Reference books
include bibliographical tools also, some of which serve the purpose of book selection
as well. The following tools provide useful information on reference books published
in India, the U.K. and the U.S.A respectively:
Gidwani, N.N. and K Navlani: A guide to reference materials on India. Jaipur,
Saraswati Publications, 1974, 2 vols.
Walford, A.J. Guide to reference materials, Edn.4 London, Library Association,
1987, 3 vols: Sheehy, E.D. : Guide to reference books, Edn. 9 Chicago, American
Library Association.
College and Research Libraries, a primary periodical in library science, a half yearly,
carries an annotated list of reference books published during the period.
For all categories of publications, there are specialised tools that list such
publications with or without annotations. In the foregoing sections, we have given
samples of such selection tools with explanations of their types, their usefulness and
special features. For selection tools for other categories of selection, you may consult
the references given in "References and Further Reading" given in section 6.9 of this
unit.
Self Check Exercise
5) List a few examples of publications brought out by government agencies. Give
a few sources for the selection of Indian Government publication.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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42 …………………………………………………………………………………
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 Different Types of Selection
6.4.4 Patents Tools and their Importance
Patents are an important source of information. Various primary and secondary
journals publish information regarding current patents in specific subject fields.
Official gazetteers of patent offices of various countries are valuable sources of
patent information. A few examples of sources of patent information are:
a) Official Gazette of U.S. Patent Office
b) Chemical Abstracts - Cites important patents granted in all countries pertaining
to chemical industry.
c) HOUGHTON (Bernard). Technical information sources: A guide to patents,
standards and technical report literature.
6.4.5 Standards and Specifications
Standards and specifications are documents which state how materials and products
should be manufactured, defined, measured or tested. They are documents which lay
down sets of conditions which should be fulfilled. Examples of sources of
information pertaining to standards are given below:
i) Catalogue of American Standards. American Standards Association.
ii) British Standard Year Book. British Standards Institute.
Most national standardizing bodies publish an annual list of their standards in a year
book or a catalogue.
6.4.6 Translations
There is a growing need for translation of articles and books from foreign languages
into English in the field &fundamental and applied research. Therefore, various
commercial and non-governmental organisations undertake translation work. Some
of the sources of translation are listed below:
i) Technical Translations. Published by U.S Dept. of Commerce.
ii) Scientific Translations: A Guide to Sources and Services. Published by U.S.
Dept of Health, Education and Welfare.
iii) Index Translation: International Bibliography of Translations. Unesco.
6.4.7 Dissertations and Theses
A lot of valuable information is contained in doctoral theses and other dissertations
and is largely untapped since much of it is not published. A few sources of
information regarding dissertations and theses are given below:
i) Dissertation Abstracts, University Microfilms.
ii) Directory of Graduate Research. American Chemical Society.

6.5 SELECTION TOOLS: NON-PRINT MATERIALS

The production and distribution of non-print materials, is a recent development and
therefore not as well organised as in the ease of print materials, particularly from the
point of issuing selection aids. The major types - microforms, audio-visuals and
machine readable form are produced and distributed by the Unites States and
countries like India have to import them. Another constraint is that these materials
can be used only with special equipment. However, despite these constraints, Indian
libraries cannot ignore these materials. Naturally selection of such materials will have
to be done very carefully.
6.5.1 Microforms
Micropublishing is retrospective, being merely the reprinting of previously existing
materials. Back files of newspapers, periodicals and out-of-print materials are
available in microfilms. Scientific journal publishers were experimenting with 43
publishing their journals both in hard
Information Resources
Development copy, i.e., paper-print, and also in microprint. This has not been a success, although
some journals are available in both the formats.
Technical reports are available in microfiche, particularly in subject fields where a
large number of such reports are produced. Technical and research reports in nuclear
science and agricultural sciences are available in microfiche.
Another type of original publications of increasing importance to libraries are the
bibliographies and catalogues produced by the computer-output-microfilm (COM)
method. In this, computerised data is reproduced on microfilm or mocrofiche without
first being produced in paper-print form. COM products, such as the British Library's
Books in English, are now being produced on a mass scale.
But as mentioned, microforms can be used only with microfilm or microfiche
readers. These cannot be owned by individuals and therefore they will have to visit
the library for making use of them. Some of the guides to microforms that can be
used as selection tools are:
Guide to microforms in print, published by Meckler Publishing
National Registrar of Microforms Masters published by the Library of Congress.
Both these titles are international in scope, cover commercial sources and non-
commercial supplies such as those produced by libraries and historical associations.
Besides these, major producers of microforms have extensive catalogues of their
products. Libraries interested in the selection and acquisition of microforms may
have to keep a file of these catalogues, by acquiring them directly from the
producers.
6.5.2 Audio-Visual Materials
No comprehensive bibliography exists at present for identifying and selecting useful
audio-visual materials. One series of indexes published by the US National
Information Centre for Educational Media, focuses on audio visuals in the field of
education with a fairly wide definition of education. These publications are useful to
all types of libraries, as they are constantly revised and updated. Some of their basic
publications are:
Index to 16 mm Educational films
Index to 35 mm Educational filmstrips
Index to 8 mm Motion cartridges
Index to Overhead transparencies
Index to Educational Audio tapes
Index to Educational slides
Index to Educational video tapes
Index to Producers and Distributors
The Media Digest of the National Film and Video Centre of the U.S. is the best.
source for locating reviews on audio visuals in all forms.
A selective list of guides, aids and review sources for audio-visual materials is given
below:
Books include
Audio Video Market Place: A multimedia guide, New York R.R. Bowker, 1969, -
Annual. Film File. Minneapolis, Media Referral Service, 1980 - Annual.
Limbacher, IL.: Feature Films on 8 mm, 16 mm and Video tape Edn. 8 New York
R.R. Bowker, 1985.
Sive, M.R.: Selecting Instructional Media; a Guide to Audio-Visual and Other
Instructional Media Lists Edn.3 Littleton, Libraries Unlimited, 1983.
Video Source Book. Syosset, National Video Clearing House, 1979 - Annual.
44 Film Library Quarterly (Film Library Information Council, 1967).
 Different Types of Selection
Instructional Innovator (Association for Educational Communication and Tools and their Importance
Technology, 1956)
Library Journal (RR. Bowker, 1876)
School Library Journal (RR. Bowker, 1954)
Video Times (Publication International 1984)
Wilson Library Bulletin (H.W Wilson, 1914)
6.5.3 Computer-based Materials
Computer-based materials are a recent development but have become very important
to modern libraries of all types, specifically computerised bibliographic databases.
Marketing of these products to libraries is accomplished largely by advertising these
products at library and information science meetings and conferences. This is an
expanding industry of increasing importance to libraries. Sources that provide these
databases are:
Computer-Readable Databases. A Directory and Data Source-Book Chicago,
American Library Association, 1978 - Irregular.
Database Directory. While Plains, Knowledge Industry Publications, 1984.
6.5.4 Equipment for Non-Print Materials
Use of non-print information materials can be possible only if the library acquires the
necessary and appropriate equipment. Selection of equipment also is as important as
selecting and collection of non-print materials. This is being discussed at great length
in Unit 7 of Block 2 of Course 6. Two important factors in the selection of equipment
are 1) standardisation and 2) changing media field. These two factors combine to
make equipment buying too hazardous to risk collection of non-print materials.
However, this aspect is given the greatest attention by all concerned, nationally and
internationally. Some of the tools that might help selection of equipment are listed
below:
Audio Visual Market Place: A Multimedia Guide, New York R.R. Bowker.
It is a directory of manufacturers and distributors. Includes brief description of the
types of equipment and the names and addresses of manufacturers and suppliers.
Library Technology Reports, Chicago, American Library Association.
This provides useful evaluations of equipment for the multimedia library of record
players, filmstrip projectors, microform reader-printer, etc.
Self Check Exercises
6) Name the different types of producers of non-print materials with their specific
products.
7) State why collection of non-print information materials is not yet a normal feel
am feature Indian libraries.
Note: i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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Information Resources
Development 6.6 SUMMARY
In this Unit, we have studied the following aspects with particular focus on collection
development:

i) Producers of information materials, both print and non-print, and their specific
products.

ii) Selection tools for print and non-print information materials,

iii) Types of selection tools, their value as aids for collection building, current and
retrospective, and use.

The following charts summarises the details of the above three aspects.

Chart 1

46
 Different Types of Selection
Tools and their Importance

Chart 2

Chart 3

47
Information Resources
Development 6.7 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES
1) Producers of information materials are: -publishers of print materials and
producers of non-print materials. Print materials are published by trade and
non-trade agencies.
The principal publications of trade agencies are: general books, books on different
subjects, reference books, textbooks, paperbacks, periodicals and serials,
bibliographical tools, non-book material like maps, books for children and such other
groups.
Non-trade publishers include learned societies and professional bodies who
concentrate on publishing scholarly and research journals, conference proceedings,
indexing and abstracting services, and reviews.
Producer's of non-print agencies include industry and trade agencies and some
professional bodies like educational institutions and libraries. They bring out
microforms, audio visual. materials and machine-readable materials.
Selection tools that give book reviews are:
i) Trade reviews, meant for the libraries.
ii) Reviews for specialists, appearing in scholarly journals.
iii) Reviews for the general public.
Though these reviews are good for quality collection building, the two factors that
limit their use for current publications are:
i) Limited coverage of books reviewed.
ii) Delay in getting a book reviewed in any of the above tools.
2) National bibliographies are excellent selection tools both for current and
retrospective collection development because i) national bibliographies of
countries list a large number of books, and bring out weekly or monthly lists of
current publications; ii) these weeklies or monthlies are cumulated annually
and once in five years. Thus the national bibliographies meet the requirements
of current as well as retrospective publications.
3) Types of selection tools for books with an example for each is given below:
Types of Selection Tools Example

48
 Different Types of Selection
4) Selection Source for: Tools and their Importance

Indian periodicals: There is no single source for the selection of current Indian
periodicals. The comprehensive tool is Press in India, which is irregular. For Indian
scientific periodicals, the directory brought out by INSDOC, Directory of Indian
Scientific Periodicals, is reliable, but it is not current.

US Periodicals: Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, the latest edition. This

source could also be useful for selection of foreign, including Indian, periodicals as it
is international in scope and coverage.

British periodicals: Willing's Press Guide lists 4,600 British periodicals.

5) Government agencies bring out a variety of publications which include books

in history, geography, law and order, legislation and Parliament, demography,
weather, finance, banking, industry and trade; sports and games, science and
technology, communication and transport. For Indian government publications,
the Indian National Bibliography and the Monthly Catalogue of Government
Publications are reasonable good sources for current publications.

6) The different types of producers of non-print information materials and the

products they bring out are given below:

Specialised agencies, Microfilm Microfiches,

involved in the production available for backfiles of

and distribution of their newspapers and periodicals

outputs reports respectively; out-of-print materials.

Educational publishers, Audio visual materials;

Educational Institutions, slides; overhead transparencies Libraries

Large computer-based Machine readable databases

bibliographic producers like Chemical Abstracts, Compendex,

Citation Index.

7) Collection of non-print information materials has not become a common

practice in libraries because of the following reasons:

i) non-print information materials are not produced in India, particularly

those usable in libraries;

ii) practically every type of non-print information material has to be imported

which involves foreign exchange and import regulations;

iii) prices of non-print information materials are prohibitive;

iv) use of non-print materials require specialized equipment which have also to
be imported;

v) thinking on the acquisition of acquiring non-print information materials has

just started in India.

49
Information Resources
Development 6.8 KEY WORDS
Accentuate : Emphasise

Computerised Database : Data files produced, maintained and

accessed with the aid of computers.

Knowledge Industry : Industry that produces records of

knowledge and information in print as
well as non-print

Machine Readable Database : Data or information in a form which can

be read or identified by a machine such as
a computer or microform reader.

Microfiche : Micro images printed on a sheet or film.

Microform : The general term for all types of micro

records.

Multimedia : Information presented through a

combination of communication
techniques, including print, non-print and
audio-visuals.

Patent : A grant from the government which

confers on the grantee for a limited period
of time the exclusive privilege of making,
selling and using the invention for which a
patent has been granted and also of
authorising others to do so.

Subject Heading : A word of words under which materials

on a given subject are entered in a
catalogue, bibliography or list.

Technical Report : A report presenting the results of

scientific re-search or technical
development.

6.9 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Chakravarti, A.K. (1983). A Treatise on Book Selection. Delhi: D.K. Publications.

Evans, G.E. (1987). Developing Libraryandlnformation Centre Collection. 3rd ed.

Littletion: Libraries Unlimited:

Gardner, R.K. (1981). Library Collections, Their Origin, Selection and Development.
New York: McGraw Hill Book Company.

Ranganathan, S.R and M.A. Gopinath, (1966). Library Book Selection. 2nd ed.
Bombay: Asia Publishing House.

Spillar, D. (1986). Book Selection. An Introduction to Principles and Practices. 4d'

ed. Lon-don: Clive Bingely.

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