Ready Reference Sources Sajjad ur Rehman Almanacs Yearbooks

Ready Reference Sources Sajjad ur Rehman

Almanacs, Yearbooks & Handbooks: Nature ¨ Concise factual information ¨ Fastest and easiest way to retrieve factual information ¨ Current and historical events ¨ Focus on governments, organizations, events, things ¨ Statistical presentation of factual data

Almanacs ¨ 17 th/18 th Century tools, primarily for weather, other forecasts and some handy information ¨ 19 th century: American papers started publishing them ¨ Content: calendar, political, historical and current events of popular interest ¨ Broad in geographical and subject coverage, sports, entertainment and practical information

Almanacs (2) ¨ Present tabular data on matters of common interest: sports, diet and nutrition, demography, environment, political events, etc. ¨ Annual publication ¨ Available in print and electronic formats ¨ Household Items

Important Almanac Titles ¨ World Almanac and Book of Facts ¨ Information Please Almanac ¨ New York Times Almanac

Yearbooks ¨ Information and data about the preceding year ¨ Yearbooks issued by encyclopedias supplement them ¨ Statistical data about countries, brief biographical accounts of celebrities, sports news, and articles about the events of the year

Yearbooks (2) ¨ Index personal names ¨ Longer description of events and analyses as compared to almanacs

Important Yearbook Titles ¨ Britannica Book of the Year ¨ Europa World Yearbook: 2 volumes ¨ Statesman’s Yearbook ¨ CIA World Factbook

Handbooks & Manuals ¨ Information about people, events and trends ¨ Subject handbooks contain handy data about procedures, guidelines, formulae ¨ Compressed information ¨ Contain examples and illustrations ¨ Manuals focused on procedures

Handbook Examples ¨ Guinness Book of World Records ¨ Famous First Facts ¨ NYPL’s Desk Reference ¨ Manuals of Style ¨ Physicians Desk Reference Annual ¨ Legal Researcher’s Desk Reference ¨ Handbook of Chemistry

Criteria for Evaluation ¨ Accuracy ¨ Indexing ¨ Documentation ¨ Comprehensiveness ¨ Uniqueness ¨ Format ¨ Currency

Electronic Sources ¨ Almost all yearbooks and almanacs are available in CD ¨ Electronic versions of many sources available through IPL ¨ Have search advantages ¨ Current ¨ More reliable