LECTURE X

THE USE OF LIBRARIES AND INTERNET

10. 1 Introduction
This section is concerned with guiding you to become an effective library user. Effective library
usage is important because it is an essential part of life in education, particularly at university
level, where you are required to find and acquire materials on your own, either for research or
for study.

0objectives of the topic

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

10. 2.1 Discuss the characteristics of the various types of libraries.

10.2.2 Discuss the various information sources
10.2.3 Discuss the organization of information sources in the library
10.2.4 Explain the criteria for evaluating reading materials in the library.

10.2.1 Types of libraries

Libraries can be divided into five main categories:

a) National libraries

b) Public libraries

c) Special libraries

d) Private libraries
 e) Academic libraries.

a) National Libraries are also referred to as reference libraries because they are used for
references. Their main function is to collect and preserve for posterity the books,
periodicals and newspapers published in the country. They are formed through a law and
these laws require publishers to deposit copies of all publications they produce. National
libraries also purchase books published in other countries.

b) Public libraries are types of libraries that are funded by the public through local authorities
or government and the use of these libraries is open to all members of public. The function
of these libraries is to promote a reading culture in a country’s citizens. They provide a wide
range of loan services, where you can borrow reading material. They endeavor to provide
reading material to the entire country, communities and they do this by providing travelling
and mobile libraries even in remote areas. They also provide special facilities for the old and
disabled and also organize provision of library services for hospital, jails e.t.c.

Public libraries therefore build up their collection to relate to local community interests. The
ideal public library should provide access to knowledge for all people in the country besides
providing books. Many public libraries also provide meeting rooms for use by community
groups. They should also sponsor lecturers as well as participate in adult education
programmes.

c) Special libraries contain a collection of books and other materials dealing with a limited
field of knowledge for a particular society, research organization, government department,
or educational institution department. A special library may also be a special branch of a
public library serving certain interest or occupation groups. A special library is intended to
serve needs of specific users requiring detailed materials in a limited area. A library may be
special in a variety of ways.

i) By nature of subject it deals with. This type of library store resources on particular
subject e.g. Central Bank library, Kenya Agriculture research Institute (KARI) library.

ii) In terms of type of user. This type of library serves a special category of people i.e.
prisoners, children, pastoral communities e.t.c.

iii) By nature of material or resource found there. These libraries have special format of
resources for instance video libraries, Braille, internet library, KBC, KTN, and NTV as
broadcast libraries.

d) Private libraries are libraries owned by individuals, clubs, and societies to which members
of the public have no right of access. They may contain a variety of materials or specialized
materials depending on the interests of the individuals or group.

e) Academic libraries are libraries associated with educational institutions and are established
to serve the needs of those in the institutions. Such libraries include university, college,
polytechnics and so on. University libraries, for instance, are meant to serve academic
needs of students and members of the academic staff.
 10.2.2 Information sources
Information sources are materials used as resources of information in the library, which are
selected to meet the needs of users of specific libraries.

Types of Information Sources

Information sources can be grouped into print or non-print information sources.

A. Print information sources are print information sources are devised into four categories.
a) Reference sources

b) Periodicals

c) Textbooks

d) Recreational books

1. Reference sources are designed to be consulted for definite information and are meant to
be referred to rather than being read as texts. Usually they are not allowed to be taken
away from the library building. Reference sources include: encyclopedias, dictionaries,
bibliographies, indexes, and atlases. Reference sources are divided into two, that is, general
reference books and quick references.
2. General reference books include research reports, including theses and dissertations;
official publications such as government publications including Kenya Gazette,
parliamentary reports, statistics reports, development plans and government budget
estimates; bibliographies; indexes and abstracts.
3. Quick references are books that will provide you with material or direct and factual
information. They provide basic and background information to a topic and are designed
for consultation when you are in urgent need of a piece of information or fact. The
information provided is usually in shortened form for quick reference. They are written by
specialists in specified fields. Some quick reference books include:
i) Dictionaries, which may be general language dictionaries that give meaning,
pronunciation, spelling, usage of meaning, trace history of words, synonyms and
antonyms. They may also be subject dictionaries, which provide meanings of words as
used in that particular field.

ii) Encyclopedias, which are like dictionaries. Most are in a number of volumes covering all
types of subjects and cover a wide range of knowledge. Others are specialized and cover
specific fields of knowledge.

iii) Other quick reference books include yearbooks, covering major events that occurred in
the year of publication; and atlases, providing varied geographical information.
4. Periodicals
These are publications that have a distinct title and published at stated intervals. They contain
articles or other writings by several contributors. The intervals in which they are published
could be fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or once a year. Periodicals include:

i) Journals, which are publications by a society, institution or professional body containing

news, proceedings, transactions and reports of work contained in a particular field of
study e.g. communication, linguistics, philosophy, political science e.t.c.

ii) Magazines, which contain varied information written by various writers. They deal with
general topics, and are non-professional and non-technical. Examples include Parents,
Adams, Time and Newsweek magazines.

iii) Newspaper, which contain recent news and may be published daily or weekly. The news
items generally include politics, sports, business and advertisements among others.

1. Textbooks
A textbook is book written specifically for use by those studying for examination in a particular
system. Textbooks discuss subject areas in details and are the main material found in academic
libraries. They include most of course texts used in the university.

7. Recreational books
These are books read for leisure or entertainment and may not be meant for serious study.
This includes mainly fictional works.

B. Non-printed information sources

These sources of information are those that are not books or periodicals or journals. These
information sources are audio-visual or visual and they include materials such as films, video
tapes, slides and internet material which is in soft form. Most of these materials require special
handling and are an important source of varied information.

10.2.3 Organization of information sources in the library

Libraries do have a wide and enormous variety of information, which must be organized to
make it easy to access by library users. As a library user you need to understand how the
sources are organized in order to benefit from information they contain. Library information
sources are organized in two ways: classification and cataloguing.

a) Classification
Classification is arrangement of documents in a logical order according to their degree of
likeness by either subject or form. Classification enables librarians to place documents in a
particular order and the user to be able to locate these documents in particular places in the
library. There are various classification schemes used in libraries. The common ones in Kenyan
libraries are:

i) Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), which was invented by Melvi Dewey. This
classification uses numbers to create division between subject areas and the topics. In this
system, the main subject area is indicated numerals from number 1-999. The sub-division
within the subject areas are further denoted by numerals 1-999 and those are separated
from main subject area by a decimal i.e. 1.35, 685.7, 23.867.

ii) Library of Congress Classification (LCC) was created by library of congress in America. Most
libraries in Kenya, including KEMU, use this system. The system uses alphabetical letters
from A to Z which are used to classify the main subject areas. For instance:

A – General works.

B – Philosophy and psychology

BL – BX – Religion

H – Sociology

L – Education

P – Languages

All subject areas are covered by alphabetical letters. Numerals are used to show sub-division in
subjects and other details. The symbol assigned to every book during classification make up a
call number. The call number enables librarians to store books in particular specified pattern for
you to locate the books in the library. For instance, in the following call number the details are
as follows:

106

.Y8

1996

C3

P is the main subject (Language text)

106 is the sub-division of subject

Y is the first letter of the author and 8 is the eighth book by the author.
1996 is the year of publication of that book.

C3 Represents copy number 3 of the same book in the library.

b) Cataloguing

Cataloguing is process in which all materials in the library are listed. These materials are listed
in a particular order. A catalogue list of information about materials will include the author,
subject, title of the material, as well as year of publication, number of copies. In computerized
catalogue, it may also indicate whether the material is borrowed.

Types of catalogues
There are different types of catalogues and different libraries choose to use different types of
catalogues depending on convenience and personnel they have in libraries. The common types
of catalogue are:

a) Author catalogue, where a library lists material in library alphabetically according to the
surname of the author.

b) Title catalogue, where a library lists materials arranged alphabetically according to the title
of the materials. Articles that precedes titles e.g. a, an and the are, not included in the title.
They are ignored.

c) Subject catalogue, which lists materials in the library in alphabetical order according to
subject heading.

Catalogue format

There are two types of catalogue formats:

i) Card catalogue, in which catalogues are done on cards where each card contains only one
entry and the card entries are arranged alphabetically either using author system, subject
system or title system. The cards are placed in drawers where they can be accessed by
library user. Most libraries are phasing out this system in favour of computer catalogue.

ii) Computer catalogue format uses computers which have catalogue information of various
entries of materials found in a library. The system is very efficient and can be used to store
more varied information than card catalogue. It can also be accessed very fast, at the click
of a button. This is the format used in the KEMU library.
 10.2.4 Evaluating information sources
In a library there are numerous information sources and you need to be able to select
information sources that would be most helpful for study or research. In the case of a book its
various parts may guide you into evaluating this information source. The various parts of a book
that might be relevant include:

i) Book cover, which contain the author’s name and the title of the book. At the back cover, it
contains a brief history of author and may indicate his/her credibility and also a brief
summary of the contents of the book.

ii) Title page, which shows the title of the book, full name or all names of authors, edition,
volume, publisher, place of publication, the translator e.t.c.

iii) Preface/forward, which is the section that reveals the purpose of materials contained in the
book as well as its relevance. The forward is usually written by someone else other than
author who is an authority or has a great understanding of materials contained in the
book.

iv) Table of content, which shows the title of topics, chapters and pages the information is
found.

v) The introduction usually provides general survey of material contained in the book. It also
offers advice on how the book is arranged and should be read e.g. whether it should be
read progressively or whether each section may be read independently.

vi) The glossary is a list of technical or special terms used in the text and their definitions.

vii) Appendix comes towards the end of the book and it may contain notes about things that
might not have been fully explained in the text. It also includes tables, statistics and so on,
for which there is no room to be included in text.

viii) The Index is a systematically arranged list of items which show information for each item
and how it can be traced by means of page number.

Choosing the right book

Using the parts of book described above you can now assess the quality of books in the library
before reading them. Coupled with the information above, there are other criteria that you can
use in selecting the right book as illustrated below:

i) Relevance of the book, which is determined by the purpose you have established for your
reading which can be achieved by looking at various sections of books described above.
ii) Up-to-datedness, which is the publication date of the book and the edition. This is
important because information keeps changing over time or new developments emerge in a
field of study. Therefore more current books contain new developments that old books
may not have.

iii) The credibility of author and publisher. You need to select materials that are written by
credible authors and well known publishing firms. In so doing you will be reading material
that is reliable and reputable. This is more so because a lot of materials circulating which
may pass off as facts may actually be coming from unreliable sources.

iv) Book’s popularity. A popular book will have certain characteristics: It is in high demand as
reflected in sales and it has several reprints.

v) Presentation of material. This refers to how the author presents material, which is very
important in assessing the suitability of the material. Presentation involves how the
material is produced, how it is organized, the usefulness of illustration used and the level of
language used.

10.3 Summary
In this lecture we have learnt the types of libraries
We have also learnt the sections of the library
We have also learnt different sections of the library and how we can evaluate good reading
materials in the library

In the next lesson we shall look at how to write a research paper

10.4 Further Activity

1. Describe the procedure for accessing information

a) In a library

b) Through the internet

10.5 Further Reading

i) Ken Hyland (2006); English For Academic Purposes: An Advanced Resource Book;
Routledge
ii) Angela Downing, Philip Locke (2006); English Grammar: A University Course; Taylor
& Francis
iii) Аzаг, B. Understanding & Using English Grammar: Prentice Hall Regents. 1989.
iv) Northedge, A. (1990); The Good study Guide: The Open University, Milton Keynes
v) Montano, M.H. (1992); Successful University Study; Jomo Kenyatta Foundation –
Nairobi