Evaluation of encyclopaedias, Humanities

Assignment Help:

Evaluation of Encyclopaedias

A good and useful collection of general and special encyclopaedias form the backbone for the reference work in any library. The strong collection of general and special encyclopaedias in English and other languages ensure efficient reference service in a library. In this section, we will discuss various check points which can help in the selection and assessing the value of encyclopaedias before the acquisition for the library.

It is a very expensive venture to produce an authoritative set of encyclopaedia as it involves overall planning, engaging subject experts to write articles, competent indexers to provide layout artists, exhaustive index, and photographers for providing apt illustrations, accurate printing, efficient editorial and proof reading, adequate advertising through reviews in journals catalogues and announcement leaflets to booksellers, distributors, librarians etc. All these cannot be done cheaply. Reputed publishers recognise this fact by their experience in the field of publishing encyclopaedias and incur considerable expenditure to produce an authoritative work so as to earn the profit in turn. The prices of the authoritative sets of encyclopaedia are quite high, as the publishers have to meet with the expenses of high cost of production. Therefore the librarians have to make careful selection of the encyclopaedia and judicious expenditure depending upon the avail-ability of funds and space. Again, the librarian has also to consider the needs of the reader. They must be used intelligently to obtain the maximum benefit. It is not possible to make a perfect and complete encyclopaedia, as it is difficult to include all the existing information: Hence, the librarian should assess their value and find out their merits and demerits before acquiring them.

The main checkpoints for evaluating and analysing encyclopaedias are :

a) Authority

b) Scope and purpose

c) Treatment

d) Arrangement

e) Format

f) Revision

g) Limitation

h) Special features


Related Discussions:- Evaluation of encyclopaedias

Kutta, why dont dogs speak

why dont dogs speak

American social character, The usa differs historically from many countries...

The usa differs historically from many countries in Western Europe in that it never had a single national model-setting class that succeeded in monopolis-ing the moulding of mann

Educational psychology, Educational Psychology -This psychology involves th...

Educational Psychology -This psychology involves the examined of how people learn, comprising topics as student outcomes, the instructional process, particular differences in learn

Comparative analysis of two ancient literary texts, Please compare and/or c...

Please compare and/or contrast the journey to human self-knowledge in the ancient narratives of both manna and Oedipus Rex. How does each figure come to teach us certain lessons ab

What did each type of information reveal, This assignment is all about corn...

This assignment is all about corn. The word "corn" is actually from the Old World and means "grain." When the New World was "discovered" by the Europeans, corn was widely grown by

Identifying the cultural and social factors , Classify one emerging technol...

Classify one emerging technology and evaluate its future prospects by identifying the cultural and social factors that may prevent or promote its successful application.  Use concr

Entries in a dictionary catalogue, Entries in a Dictionary Catalogue   ...

Entries in a Dictionary Catalogue   In a Dictionary Catalogue we normally provide.  Main Entries (under the author or title; if the author is not known; authorship is dif

the main aspects of freud''s argument , In Civilization and its Discontent...

In Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud argues that civilization is actually an obstruction towards humanity attaining happiness. (a)    Identify the main aspects of F

Types of state of the art reports, Types of State of the Art Reports   ...

Types of State of the Art Reports   The state-of-the-art reports can be grouped into three categories (for the sake of convenience). Reviews and Surveys;  Advances and

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd