Information Sources Questions and Answers

Answer: C

ProQuest is an electronic aggregator.

An aggregator collects content from many publishers into one searchable platform and licenses it to libraries. ProQuest does this for periodicals, newspapers and dissertations.

It is not a traditional commercial publisher of its own journals, nor a scholarly society publisher. It is also not a publisher of higher learning institutions.

Answer: B

The correct matching is a-iii, b-iv, c-i, d-ii, which is code (B) iii iv i ii.

The Cumulative Book Index is published by H.W. Wilson. Publishers' Weekly is the American trade journal published by R.R. Bowker. 'Publishing in India' is a work from D.K. Publishers and Distributors. The Bookseller is the British trade weekly published by Whitaker.

The other codes give the Wilson and Bowker publications to the wrong titles or give a British publisher an American title.

Answer: C

Books of unknown or doubtful authorship are known as apocryphal books.

The word apocryphal is used for writings whose author is not known or whose claimed authorship is doubtful, such as certain religious texts.

An apograph (option A) is a copy of an original manuscript. Incunabula (option B) are books printed before 1501. Blue Books (option D) are British parliamentary or official publications.

The related term pseudepigrapha is used for works falsely ascribed to an author, which shows how close the idea is to doubtful authorship.

Answer: D

The news summaries among those listed are Data India and Asian Recorder, so (i) and (iv).

Data India is a weekly digest of events and Asian Recorder a weekly record of facts of Asian events. Both summarise the news.

The Times of India Index and the New York Times Index are indexes to the contents of newspapers, not summaries of the news, so options A, B and C, which include them, are wrong.

A quick test is whether the item reports events or only indexes them: summaries report, indexes direct the reader to where the report appeared.

Answer: A

The web-zines among the items are the email magazine, the online bulletin and the electronic newsletter, so (i), (iii) and (iv).

A webzine is a periodical published on the web or by email. All three formats are such serial publications.

An e-conference (ii) is an event held online, not a periodical, so options B, C and D that include it are wrong.

The word webzine joins web and magazine, so the test is whether the item is a regular periodical issued online, which an event such as a conference is not.

Answer: A

In ascending order of first publication the sequence is Roget's Thesaurus, Compendex, BNB and INB, so (iv), (iii), (i), (ii).

Roget's Thesaurus first appeared in 1852. Compendex has its origin in the Engineering Index, begun in the 1880s. The British National Bibliography started in 1950 and the Indian National Bibliography in 1958.

The other options start with a later item or put BNB or INB ahead of the older works.

A date check is the best way to confirm the order: the oldest is a nineteenth century work, and the national bibliographies and the database follow in the twentieth century.

Answer: C

The correct match is union catalogue with tertiary sources, pamphlets and brochures with primary sources, indexing and abstracting sources with secondary sources and memoirs of diaries with unpublished sources, so iii i iv ii.

A union catalogue is a guide to other sources, hence tertiary. Pamphlets and brochures are original publications, hence primary. Indexes and abstracts point to the primary literature, hence secondary. Diaries and memoirs are unpublished.

The other codes call a union catalogue a secondary or primary source or call the indexes tertiary, which contradicts the standard grouping.

Answer: D

The correct match is Fundamentals of Reference Service with Cheney and Williams, Introduction to Reference Work with Katz, Reference Service with Ranganathan and Guide to Reference Books with Walford, so iii iv ii i.

Cheney and Williams wrote Fundamentals of Reference Service. William A. Katz wrote Introduction to Reference Work, Ranganathan wrote Reference Service, and A.J. Walford compiled the Guide to Reference Books.

The other codes give these titles to the wrong authors, for example the Guide to Reference Books to Ranganathan.

Answer: B

The correct match is recent happenings with Keesing's Record of World Events, the number of foreign visitors with the Statistical Yearbook, the Prime Minister's name with India - A Reference Annual, and the postal address with Who's Who, so ii iii i iv.

Keesing's is a record of current events, a statistical yearbook gives tourist numbers, the Annual lists the office holders and Who's Who gives personal addresses.

The other codes send a query for a postal address to the Annual or the Prime Minister's name to the statistical yearbook, which would not hold it.

Answer: D

The assertion is false, but the reason is true.

The Indian National Bibliography does not list all Indian publications, because many publishers do not deposit their books as the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act requires. So the reason is true, and it is exactly why the assertion fails.

Options A and C accept the assertion, and option B rejects the reason.

This gap explains why the Indian National Bibliography lists only what reaches the Central Reference Library, and not the whole output of the country.