Chapter B - Information Sources

Abstract

Over centuries several varieties of information sources (IS) have come up. Information sources are now available both in tangible and intangible forms. Information sources in tangible form are mainly traditional print sources, while those in intangible form are digital sources. Information sources can be broadly categorized as: Human Information Sources, Institutional Information Sources, and Documentary Information Sources (DIS). Human sources are the experts and researchers in different subject fields. There are also some other human information sources, who are specifically engaged in supply or transfer of information, such as technological gatekeepers, information brokers, or consultants. Different organizations and institutions working in various fields serve as institutional sources. A documentary source, in the present context, is a record of a body of information created on paper or some paper like material manually by hand or by using a typewriter, or mechanically by using any technique of printing, copying or duplicating; or a record created electronically by using analogue technology or digital technology on a suitable medium; or a virtual record stored in a computer hard disk or a server. The recording media and technology of documentary sources have undergone changes for time to time. From the media of presentation point of view there are two types of documentary information sources—printed and nonprinted. Documentary information sources have been variously categorized by C. W. Hanson, Denis Grogan, and S. R. Ranganathan. The nature and characteristics of each type of documentary source have been outlined in this chapter.