UNIT 1

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION LITERACY AND THE BASIC LIBRARY RESEARCH

PROCESS

lifetime, the more you learn and thereby

come to know, but especially the sooner you master and adopt
proficient learning skills, habits and attitudes finding out how,
from where, from whom and when to search for and retrieve
the information that you need to know, but have not yet learned
the more information literate you thereby become. Your competency
in applying and utilizing those skills, habits and attitudes
will enable you to make sounder and timelier decisions to cope
with your personal and family health and welfare, educational,
job- - Forest Woody Horton, Jr

INTRODUCTION
Several scholars have labelled the 21st
interested in finding out what has been discovered in research and they want to use that
same information to solve our daily problems to develop a better world. Furthermore,
people also want to share or communicate research results for furtherance of knowledge
(ACRL, 2010). The knowledge society is characterised by participatory knowledge
acquisition, retention, sharing and solving real life issues. Central to knowledge
acquisition is the ability to understand the need for new knowledge the nature of
knowledge acquired, where to find and how to retrieve such knowledge and how profit
from the knowledge without in
what is embodied in INFORMATION LITERACY.

KEY DEFINITIONS
1. Knowledge
(Hunt, 2003) Defines knowledge as beliefs that are true and are justified.
(Cortes Ramirez et al., 2006) defines it as justified true belief

(Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2017) defines it as Facts, information, and skills

acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical
understanding of a subject.

2. Information
(Patricia Margaret Alexander, 2003)
from selecting data, summarizing it and presenting it in such a way that it is useful

(INTRONA 1992) defines

the person receiving it. Data is therefore raw material that is transformed into
information by data processing. Information can be defined in terms of its surprise
 (Introna 1992)

(Checkland and Howell 1998)

human mental activity (observation, analysis) is successfully applied to data to

organised and
processed data, presented within context, which makes it relevant and useful to
the person who wants it.

Information is the data which is transformed and classified into an intelligible form, which
can be used in the process of decision making. In short, when data turn out to be
meaningful after conversion, it is known as information. It is something that informs, in
essence, it gives an answer to a particular question.

The main characteristics of information are accuracy, relevance, completeness and

availability. It can be communicated in the form of content of a message or through
observation and can be obtained from various sources such as newspaper, television,
internet, people, books, and so on.

3. Information Literacy
(ACRL, 2010) defines information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals

(UNESCO 2005) in (Secker, J, & Coonan, E 2013) -

empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use, and create information

(Bothma et al 2008)
know when information is needed, and to be able to find, evaluate and use the

(CILIP) in (Blanchett, H, Webb, J, & Powis, C 2012)

and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and

Dictionary of Media and Communication

person's competence measured by their ability to identify, access, evaluate, and

In sum, information literacy, also referred to as information competency, is the ability to

access, evaluate, organise, and use information from a variety of sources. It is a skill that
cuts across computer literacy, library literacy, media literacy, network literacy, and
digital literacy. This means that an information literate person is one who can identify,
access, locate, use and communicate information via computer systems, traditional
libraries, tools or technological machines, Internet environment, and graphic media. This
can be illustrated further to mean the ability of a person, in this case the student, to use
computer systems, libraries, electronic gadgets, the Internet, printed and published
resources effectively in order to determine, find, assess, arrange, use and communicate
information, both in formal and informal settings. It is a bundle of skills that transforms
students to life-long learners.
WHY INFORMATION LITERACY?

Information literacy is a skill set that is helpful for a lifetime. It equips students with skills
that will enable them to survive academically, at the workplace and during everyday life.
Below is a diagram summarizing the main components of information literacy.

Components of Information Literacy

21ST CENTURY SURVIVAL LITERACIES

literate environments the 21st Century demands that a person possess a wide range of
(Woody, 2007) proposes that the 21st Century requires people
to have six categories of literacies to enable them to meet their educational, societal and
occupational needs. These are:

1. The basic or Core functional literacy fluencies (competencies) of reading, writing,

oralcy and numeracy.
2. Computer and technology literacy
3. Media literacy
4. Distance Learning and E-Learning
5. Information Literacy
6. Cultural Literacy

The boundaries between these categories overlap, but they should be seen as a closely-
knit family. In this view, literacy is comprehensive in the sense that it includes many
life.

INFORMATION LITERACY COMPENTENCY STANDARDS SKILLS POSSESSED BY

INFORMATION LITERATE INDIVIDUALS
Certain analytical and technical skills are possessed by information literate individuals and
these permit them to have the ability to to identify, select, evaluate, and analyse texts
and other information, and to use information in accordance with societal legal, and
organizational norms (Patrick 2013). An information literate individual is able to:

Determine the extent of information needed.

Access the needed information effectively and efficiently.

Evaluate information and its sources critically and Incorporate selected information

Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of
information,
and access and use information ethically and legally.

Standard One The information literate student determines the nature and extent of
the information needed.

The information literate student defines and articulates the need for information.
The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of
potential sources for information.
The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring the
needed information.
The information literate student re-evaluates the nature and extent of the
information need.

Standard Two The information literate student accesses needed information

effectively and efficiently.

Performance Indicators:

The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative

methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.
The information literate student constructs and implements effectively
design search strategies.
The information literate student retrieves information online or in person using a
variety of methods.
The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary.
The information literate student extracts, records, and manages the information
and its sources.
Standard Three The information literate student evaluates information and its
sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base
and value system.

Performance Indicators:

The information literate student summarizes the main ideas to be extracted from
the information gathered.
The information literate student articulates and applies initial criteria for
evaluating both the information and its sources.
The information literate student synthesizes main ideas to construct new concepts.
The information literate student compares new knowledge with prior knowledge to
determine the value added, contradictions, or other unique characteristics of the
information.
The information literate student determines whether the new knowledge has an
impact
The information literate student validates understanding and interpretation of the
information through discourse with other individuals, subject-area experts, and/or
practitioners.
The information literate student determines whether the initial query should be
revised.

Standard Four The information literate student, individually or as a member of a

group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

Performance Indicators:

The information literate student applies new and prior information to the planning
and creation of a particular product or performance.
The information literate student revises the development process for the product
or performance.
The information literate student communicates the product or performance
effectively to others.

Standard Five The information literate student understands many of the economic,
legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses
information ethically and legally.

Performance Indicators:

The information literate student understands many of the ethical, legal and socio-
economic issues surrounding information and information technology.
The information literate student follows laws, regulations, institutional policies,
and etiquette related to the access and use of information resources.
The information literate student acknowledges the use of information
 The above skills are summarized in the diagram below:

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION LITERACY

We now have a knowledge society where everyone is interested in getting information that
will be transformed to knowledge. The process of this transformation requires a set of
skills: the ability to determine, find, evaluate, organise, use and, in addition, share
information from a variety of sources.
Below are some points about information literacy that reinforce its importance:
Information Literacy education teaches students how to extract credible
information from an increasing variety of both print and digital information
sources.
Information Literacy imparts in students the abilities to identify and source for the
most up-to-date and authoritative information that would assist them in doing their
work more effectively.
It imparts in students the ability to expand their knowledge, ask informed
questions, and sharpen their critical thinking skills for further self- directed
learning.
Empowers students to become life-long learners.
Information Literacy is not just for students at their studentship levels but also
position men and women in their work places to be possessors of needs
determination skills, needs assessment skills, research-based problem solvers,
information analysers, knowledge creators, etc.
Information Literacy broadens the thinking horizon of students vis-à-vis their quest
to know how to know and learn how to learn.
It exposes to students the various categories and sources of information for
knowledge creation.
 Information Literacy inculcates in students the ability to evaluate and determine
the right information for every knowledge problem.
Information Literacy inculcates in students the knowledge of how to use
information, elegantly and coherently, to create new knowledge.
Information Literacy inculcates in students the ability to use information
resourcefully and legally.
Information Literacy arouses the interest of students to become self-motivated
learners and thinkers who are creative, analytical and effective.
Information Literacy inculcates and improves research skills in students.

THE BASIC LIBRARY RESEARCH PROCESS

Understand your assignment

All good papers must start with well a defined topic. Determine if the topic is
assigned to you or you have the liberty to select one?
Must you research only scholarly or professional journals or can any type of source
be used?
How long must your project be?
Start early delay limits the materials available to support your topic.

Background Information

Look up your topic in the library catalogue (OPAC), almanacs and subject
encyclopedias.
List the terms to use in your search. Include synonyms and related terms.
Read articles in the sources you find to set the context of your research. Pay close
attention to the vocabulary the authors use.
Note any relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of these overview sources.
They can provide leads to other useful books or articles.
Consider the types of sources appropriate to your topic. Will books suffice? Do you
need primary sources? Should articles be exclusively from scholarly journals? Do
you need statistics?

Resources Search

Research Tips

Work from the general to the specific. Find background information first, then
use more specific and recent sources.
Record what you find and where you found it. Write out a complete citation for
each source you find; you may need it again later.

Finding Books

Begin with the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

Use keyword searching for a narrow or complex search topic. Use subject searching
for a broad subject.
Write down all the information you will need to find it in the stacks (author,
title,call number). Notice its circulation status (Is it listed as available?)
 When you pull the book from the shelf, scan the bibliography or footnotes for
additional sources.
Also remember to scan the shelves next to this title, since other books related to
your topic may be located in the same call number area.

Finding Journal and Magazine Articles

Magazine and journal articles provide more recent information than books. If your
topic is very current you may not find it discussed in books and may need to go
directly to articles.
Use the library web page to search for articles in electronic journals and electronic
book collections.
You may be able to find the full text of most articles online. A librarian at the
Information Desk will be able to help you.

Finding Information in Other Sources

Reference Sources

Statistics strengthen a paper by quantifying the size and scope of a problem. The
Library Special Collections Section is a good source of such data.
Definitions provide a common base of reference. Look in the general and
specialized dictionaries located in reference.
You may consult subject encyclopaedias to have an overview of a subject

Internet sources

There is a wealth of valuable information available on the Internet. Because the

information is virtually unfiltered, you must take special care to critically evaluate what
you find.

Evaluate What you have Found

Critically review the information gathered for reliability, credibility, perspective and
purpose. Listed below are a few of the questions good researchers should ask.

Who is the author?

What is the purpose of the article or book?
What makes the author qualified (or not) to write this?
For what audience is the source intended?
What particular bias does the author have or what assumptions does the author
make?
What are the author's conclusions and are they justified from the research or
experience presented?
On what resources was the author's research based?

Revise

You many need to repeat these steps several times before you have a polished product.

1. Check for plagiarism - the unauthorized use of the language and thoughts of
another author and the representation of them as one's own.
2. Consult a style manual, for correct citation.
3. Finally, proofread carefully.
Final Product

Congratulations, you have completed all the necessary steps to create a quality product.
Reread your paper checking for format and grammar errors. Review the initial assignment
to see that you have fulfilled all the requirements. You are ready to tackle your next
project.

https://www.beloit.edu/library/research_tips/researchprocessguide/

The above processes can be summarized with the diagram below:

Define your
topic

Cite your Gather

Sources background
Information

Evaluate Your Locate Your

Sources Sources

The research process

UNIT 2
ORGANISATION OF INFORMATION AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN LIBRARIES

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this unit students should be able to:

Define classification
Identify purposes of organizing information
Familiarise with the Library of Congress Classification scheme
Understand the meaning of a call number

INFORMATION ORGANIZATION
Libraries organize information. Otherwise nothing that is in a library could ever be found.
Organisation of information in Libraries is done through the application of two core
concepts in the Library science field namely classification and cataloguing. In this chapter,
classification of library material will be mainly focused on. The term classification has
been defined by various scholars differently but maintaining the same meaning altogether.
Classification provides a descriptive and explanatory framework for ideas and a structure
of the relationship among the ideas.
The following are some of the definitions by various authors as indicated by the Sher-e-
Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology;

Margaret Mann says. Classification is the act of arranging things according to their
likeness and unlikeness. She further says, It is a sorting or grouping of things.

According to Richardson, Classification is putting together like things.

Berwick Sayers defines library Classification as The arrangement of books on

shelves or description of them, in a manner which is the most useful to those who
read.

New Encyclopedia Britannica defines library classification as a system of

arrangement adopted by a library to enable patrons to find its material quickly
and easily.
PURPOSES OF ORGANIZING INFORMATION IN LIBRARIES

The following are the major reasons for creating a systematic library system:

Helpful sequence Collocation of Items

The core purpose of classification is to arrange documents in a way convenient to

the users as well as to the library staff. The arrangement of documents in classes
gives a mutual relation between them. This brings together closely related
subjects.

Correct placement of documents.

When documents are taken out from the shelves by the users or library staff, there
should be system that enables the placement of the documents on their proper
shelving places

Mechanized arrangement
This is done by allocating notation, which expresses order. Thus, it becomes
possible to easily insert or reinsert the various documents in their correct places.
This is how a mechanized arrangement is achieved.

Addition of new documents

A library acquires new documents from time to time and this requires a system that
enables Library personnel to find the most appropriate place for each of these
among the existing collection of the library.In case of a newly emerging subject,
which may not have been provided for in the existing scheme, there should be
inbuilt qualities which may allow the fixing of a position of the newly emerging
subject amidst another subject having literary warrant.

Withdrawal of documents from stock

In case, the need arises to withdraw a document from the stock for some reason,
the library classification should facilitate such a withdrawal.

INFORMATION ORGANIZATION IN LIBRARIES

 Taylor (2006) notes that collections of any appreciable size are arranged according
to some system, and the arrangement is generally referred to as classification.
Taylor further surmises that classification provides logical, or at least a
methodical, approach to the arrangement of documents. Libraries use different
types of classification schemes and this is dependent on various reasons which
include the type of Library, type of clientele, availability of resources and the size
of the collection. In this chapter, focus is going to dwell on two schemes only
namely Library of Congress Classification Scheme (LC) and the Dewey Decimal
Classification Scheme respectively.

Library of Congress Classification Scheme (LCC)

The system divides all knowledge into twenty-one basic classes, each identified by a
single letter of the alphabet. Most of these alphabetical classes are further divided into
more specific subclasses, identified by two-letter, or occasionally three-letter,
combinations.

Below is an outline of the Library of Congress Classification scheme;

CLASS SUBJECT(S)

A General works

B BJ Philosophy, Psychology

BR BX Christianity, Bible

C Auxiliary sciences of history

D DR History (General) and History of Europe

DS DX History of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

E F History: America

G Geography. Maps. Anthropology. Recreation

H Social sciences

J Political science

K Law (General)

KB Religious law

KD Law of United Kingdom and Ireland

KDZ,KG KH Law of the Americas, Latin America, and the West Indies
KE Law of Canada

KF Law of United States

KJ KKZ Law of Europe

KJV KJW Law of France

KK KKC Law of Germany

KL KWX Law of Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific area and Antarctica

KZ Law of Nations

L Education

M Music and Books on Music

N Fine Arts

P PA Philology and linguistics (General). Greek language and literature.

Latin language and literature

PB PH Modern European languages

PJ PK Oriental philology and literature, Indo-Iranian philology and literature

PL PM Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania. Hyperborean, Indian and

artificial languages

PN Literature (General)

PQ French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese literature

PR, PS, PZ English and American literatures. Juvenile Belles letters

PT German, Dutch, and Scandinavian literatures

Q Science

R Medicine

S Agriculture

T Technology

U V Military science. Naval science

Z Bibliography. Library science. Information resources

Source: Taylor, A.G. (2006:428-429) Introduction to cataloging and classification. 10 th
ed. (Referencing needs corrections)

THE MEANING OF CALL NUMBERS AND THEIR ARRANGEMENT ON THE SHELVES

The LC number appears in three main parts, and may contain additional
parts that together provide a unique identifier for the item. One or more parts may be
omitted and this represents the judgment of the cataloguer that the remaining
parts suffice to provide a unique identifier. The three main parts are organized in this
way:

a. The first letter or letters e.g. (HF)

A single letter represents a broad or general subject for example: H = Social

Sciences and multiple letters mean a narrower subject within it for
example: HF = Commerce, a subdivision of the main subject represented by
H in the LC scheme.
This part of the call number is arranged alphabetically on the shelves, so G
would come before H which would come before HF

b. A number (HF 5549 ARM)

This middle part further defines the subject. For example in the subject
area of commerce, it designates a type of material. 5549 = Personnel
Management/ General works. To determine the arrangement of the call
number on the shelves, read these numbers the way you would count: 50
comes before 500 which comes before 5000.

c. The last letters e.g. (HF 5549 ARM)

The last three letters represent either the first three letters
surname or the first three letters of the title of the document. For example
 there is no author or the authors are more than three then the first three
letters of the
then the call number would be HF5549 PER

d. One or more Cutter numbers (HF 5549 .A76)

Named after a Cataloguer, this number represents the beginning letter of a
person's (author or editor) last name with a number that interpolates it
between other names beginning with the same letter
For Example:
Armstrong, M. = .A76
Atkins, A.T. = .A85

The above number may be preceded by a cutter number that further divides
the subject, or gives some information about the form of the item, such as
whether it is an outline, form book, or case book. To determine the
arrangement on the shelves, read Cutter numbers the way you would read a
decimal: .3 comes before .301 which comes before .31.

UNIT 3
INFORMATION ACCESS TOOLS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this unit students will be able to:

Define information access tools.

Use various information access tools for both printed and electronic resources in
finding information

Information Access Tools

Information access tools are utilities that are used to locate information. They are
information finding aids that are meant to enable users to locate pieces of information
quickly and easily in a source that contains large amounts of information such as a book,
library, the internet or a database. Different access tools are used to find different kinds
of information. Retrieval tools are crucial for retrieving information for educational
outcomes. Information retrieval tools according to Edom (2012) are the simple
mechanisms or apparatuses that aid the library user to locate, retrieve and use the
needed documents from the library or information from a book or document.
The Information Access Model
Most accounts of the information access process assume an interaction cycle consisting of
query specification, receipt and examination of retrieved results, and then either stopping
or reformulating the query and repeating the process until a perfect result set is found. In
more detail, the standard process can be described according to the following sequence of
steps:
1. Start with an information need.
2. Select a system and collections to search on.
3. Formulate a query.
4. Send the query to the system.
5. Receive the results in the form of information items.
6. Scan, evaluate, and interpret the results.
7. Either stop, or,
8. Reformulate the query and go to step 4.

The Information Access model

The Tools
Some of the most commonly used information access tools are: Indexes, Bibliographies,
Abstracts, and Library Catalogues.

a) Indexes

An index is a list of words or phrases ('headings') and associated pointers ('locators')

to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document. The
pointers or locators are usually page numbers, paragraph numbers, book sections,
or chapters. In a typical back-of-the-book (BoB) index, the headings might include
author names and the pages they are cited, subjects, place names events and
 concepts selected by the book writer as being relevant and of interest to a possible
reader of the book. An index can simply be an alphabetical list of the subjects
discussed in a book with corresponding page number; also a separate publication
that points to information found in other sources.

According to Cook (1981) stand alone indexes are tools designed to make readily
available information that appears in other separate publications.

The purpose of an index is to save the time of the reader by grouping certain
related concepts or subjects and giving their locations in a document. An index as
an aid to finding information may contain cross references all over the book linking
related topics or subjects e.g. see or see also.

Types of Indexes

There are two main types of indexes and these include:

Name or Author index
Subject index

TYPE OF INDEX DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES

Author Index Name or Author index as the name implies Abbeduto, L. 233, 235, 239
provides an alphabetic list of authors in a
document and the page numbers where they Aboud, F. 425
are cited. Abrams, D. 422
Acredolo, L.P. 49, 50
Adams, M.J. 189
Adamson, L.B. 68
Ahmad, Y. 344, 34
Ainsworth, M.D.S. 82, 86, 87,
88, 89,
Subject Index A subject index lists subjects and their Adolescence, 383 399
related concepts in a book. It makes
extensive use of cross referencing to aid the alcohol & drugs, 408, 357
reader to quickly find related terms and and employment, 405, 416
concepts in a document.
and gender identity, 391, 394,
406
and gender, 394
see also Adolescence, theories
and psychoanalysis, 383
and puberty, 391
and sex, 391, 392, 395, 405

b) Bibliographies

Behrens (2000). In other words, bibliographies tell us where to find the

information in recorded form.
A bibliography is a list of literary works by a particular author, or a list of works on
a particular subject or a list of works published in a certain geographical area.

Chowdhury (et al., 2008) notes that bibliographies are usually categorised by their
content, such as:

Author bibliography: A bibliography of works by and about a specific author, e.g.

World Shakespeare bibliography Online (www.worldshakesbib.org)

Subject bibliography: A bibliography of documents in a given subject, e.g. Digital

Library Evaluation and Assessment Bibliography (www.uni.edu/digitalbibeval.html)

Trade bibliography: A bibliography that provides the record of the publication

output of various publishers, e.g. Books in print (www.booksinprint.com/bip)

National bibliography
and thus is the single most authentic and comprehensive source of information on
the publication output in and about a country e.g. Zimbabwe National Bibliography
published by the National Archives of Zimbabwe.
c) Abstracts
 An abstract is a brief summary or synopsis of the most important parts of a
document. It is a highly condensed version of the original document itself. Most
abstracts are between 50 and 250 words in length. The prime function of an
abstract is to summarise the nature of your research project, its context, how it
was carried out and what its major findings were. Abstracts provide more
information about the contents of the source and by reading the abstract it is
possible to draw conclusion whether the original source is worth consulting for
more detailed information.

Library Catalogues
Libraries are concerned with storing and retrieving the information, consequently as
the quantities of information grow there is need to make use of information retrieval
tools to facilitate easy access of the information stored. A library Catalogue is one of
the retrieval systems used to retrieve information. The Library Catalogue is a very
crucial information source in the library as it guides the reader / client where to locate

The Library catalogue indicates where the books are on the library shelves. Apart from
indicating the location of every book in the library, it will also indicate whether or not
the library has a particular book on a particular discipline. A Library catalogue is an
essential tool, especially when a library has a large collection. It serves as a key to the
resources of a library. Without library catalogue, it would be difficult to know what is
available and where it can be located. It is also known as a retrieval tool. The
information retrieval system act as a bridge between the organizers of information or
generators of information and their clients.

The Midlands State University Library has an online catalogue also called the Online
Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) that can be used to locate many sources of information
such as books, journals and electronic resources. The OPAC is available on the
internet.
Kasimani and Rajendran (2019) posits that, An OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) is

allows the users to search about the collection and resources of library. Online public
access catalogue (OPAC) provides facilities for library users to carryout online
catalogue searches, and then check the availability of the item required.

Kumar and Singh (2017) says that,

Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) are the interfaces that help users
communicate with the collections of a library. Online Public Access Catalogues

facilities, such as checking borrower records, reserving reading materials.

Behrens (2000) defines a library catalo

sources which are held in a library collection. The catalogue describes each source
in sufficient detail to identify it uniquely and indicates where the sources can be
Purposes of Library Catalogues
1. They enable a person to find a book of which either author, title, subject is known
2. It also directs the user where the materials are located.
3. Show what the library has for a given author, on a given subject
4. To assist with the choice of the book by edition or by its character (literary or
topical)
5. To show the availability status of an item i.e. whether it is readily available or
loaned out.
The Midlands State University Library has an online catalogue also called the
Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) that can be used to locate many sources of
information such as books, journals and electronic resources. The OPAC is available
on the internet.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE
How to Search the Midlands State University OPAC
Follow the steps below to search the OPAC:

1. Go to www.msu.ac.zw
2.
3. On the library home page click on Electronic Resources and on the drop down menu

4. On the Online Web OPAC page there is a search box. If you click on the drop down
arrow it gives a list of options of how you may do your search e.g. by
Title
Author
Subject
ISBN
Series
Call Number
5. Type in your search terms using any of the above options
button
6. You will be re-directed to a screen showing the number of search results and a
brief description of each record
7. On a result of your choice, click on the title of a record; this will take you to a
detailed page showing:
Item type e.g. Book, Periodical, Reserve Item
Current Location
Call Number
Copy Number
Status i.e. Availability
Due Date
Barcode Number
8. Check the availability of the book and its location and note down its Call Number
9. Approach the appropriate shelf to retrieve the book.
Information Provided By the OPAC

The OPAC provides the following information for the user:

1. Author of the document

2. Title
3. Publisher
4. Date of publication
5. Physical location of document (Main Library, Batanai Library, Zvishavane Library
etc)
6. Call number of the document
7. Availability of document e.g. whether it is loaned out or readily available
8.

Reference sources

1. Kasimani C, and Rajendran N, Dr.(2019), "User's Satisfaction with Public Libraries: A

Special Reference to District Central Library,Thiruvallur (Tamilnadu)" (2019). Library
Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 2386.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2386

2. Rajinder Kumar and Joginder Singh (2017) Use of OPAC in the University Libraryof
GGIPU, Delhi, Indian Journal of Information Sources and Services ISSN: 2231-6094 Vol. 7
No. 1, 2017, pp. 16-20.

3. The ALA Glossary ofLibrary and Information Science. American Library Association,
Chicago. 1983.
UNIT 4
INFORMATION AND ITS SOURCES
Learning Outcomes

1. To define information need

2. To determine the Information Need

3. To define the Information Source

4. To identify the various Sources of Information

5. To distinguish the types of information

Introduction

Information can come from virtually anywhere, i.e. from media, blogs, personal
experiences, books, journal and magazine articles, expert opinions, encyclopaedias, and
web pages, and the type of information an individual needs is depended mainly on the
question one is trying to answer. In this Unit, we discuss the information need, categories
and formats of information, and conclude with types of information sources.

The Information Need

Scott (2012) states that information need is the question that needs an answer. In the
context of school, it is that research question that an individual attempts to answer in an

e. In a professional life, it could be finding out

how much money an average consumer spends on ordinary bread and whether the market
is big enough for another supplier of bread.

Some researchers may need quick facts or little background on a particular subject. This
information need is not that big and the researcher may be able to find the answer in one
source. If a researcher needs information that requires additional facts and background
information, plus the latest research articles related to the subject under study, it
becomes a complex question that requires information from different sources. Scott
(2012) notes that recognising that a question is big, that it cannot be answered by a single
source, that it has multiple facets, and that it requires background information to
understand all aspects of it is a very good beginning.

Determining Information Need

Recognise your Information need

Varshney (2011) notes that one knows that he or she needs information when given a
project/assignment by a lecturer, have a personal need that requires certain information
before a decision can be made and generally, whenever one is uncertain that he or she
can find information that will help to take the correct decision. It is prudent to note that
one needs information not just for study purposes but for most decisions in everyday life.
One may need to make a good decision in order to buy the right merchandise at the right
time for the right reasons.

Think about your need

A researcher needs to think about the need, that is, to think about the problem, question
or topic one needs information on? Varshney (2011) states that when you have established
that you need information and have a vague idea about the topic, the next step is that you
have to formalise your central search question before starting to look for information. In

identify one by yourself. When it comes to decisions in your personal life, you will have to
identify your need and formulate your own search question to be able to start searching
for information

Read about your topic

When searching for information, one needs keywords to amply locate the authentic
information required to solve the problem. In order to achieve this, one should read about
the topic so as to have a foretaste of what is required of him or her. Varshney (2011)
believes that the best place to start reading is in the Reference Section of the Library. The
reference section contains many different types of dictionaries, encyclopaedias,
thesauruses, etc., all of which will supply you with more than enough information to start
identifying keywords and begin your search.

Defining Keywords

Once you have read generally about your topic, you should have a better idea of the
keywords under which you will probably find information about your topic. So, before you
can start your search, you should define your keywords accurately

Cost of Information

Varshney (2011) highlights that when choosing the information resources to use for
searching, one should bear in mind that some resources are free and others are at a cost.
In the case of MSU students, no library resources are accessed at a cost by registered
students. When one registers for that particular Semester, automatically he or she
becomes a bonafide library user who is allowed to borrow the stipulated number of library
resources at any given time. When one wants to use external sources other than those
covered by the interlibrary loan facility, then some costs may be incurred.

Information Sources
Varshney (2011) defines information source as a source of information for somebody, i.e.
anything that might inform a person about something or provide knowledge to somebody.
Information sources may be observations, speeches, documents, pictures, organizations
etc. Varshney further states that the various types of information sources can be divided
into two broad categories, which are;

1. Documentary Sources
2. Non-Documentary Sources

Source:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/40587/9/11_chapter2.pdf

Documentary sources are published or recorded documents of knowledge as shown in the

diagram below;
Source:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/40587/9/11_chapter2.pdf

Below is an explanation in tabular form of the documentary sources of information;

SOURCE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES SOURCES

OF
INFORMA
TION
Primary These are original People's accounts of Autobiogr
materials on which events at which they aphies
other research is were present. Correspon
based. Original artwork. dence
They are usually Handwritten First hand
the first formal manuscripts. accounts
appearance of Diaries
research results in the Artifacts such as Interviews
print or electronic arrowheads, pottery, Personal
literature. furniture, and buildings, narratives
They present Paintings
information in its Research article on the Photograp
original form, neither discovery of a new virus hs
interpreted nor Research
condensed nor journals
evaluated by other
writers.
Not translated by
anyone else.
Has not been
published elsewhere.

Secondar Secondary sources An article that Biographie

y are edited primary critiques a novel/ s
sources. Newspaper editorial. Bibliograp
Repackaged Newspaper Report on hies
They represent a journal article. books &
someone else's Notes borrowed from papers on a
thinking. classmates for a missed topic
They interpret, class. literary
analyse and evaluate criticism &
the primary sources. interpretation
They comment on and historical
discuss the evidence criticism
provided by primary political
sources. analyses
Lead to primary review
sources. articles
analyses
of social
policy

Tertiary a selection or bibliographies, Abstracts

compilation library catalogues, Bibliographies
of primary and Directories. Dictionaries
secondary sources of Reading lists. Encyclopaedi
information. Survey articles. as
Encyclopaedias Directories
Tertiary sources tend guidebooks
to be more focused and manuals
 on the identification population
of scholarly work than registers
on the content itself.

In some instances
tertiary sources
embrace both
secondary and
tertiary sources,
presenting on the one
hand commentary and
analysis, while on the
other attempting to
provide a synoptic
overview of the
material available on
the topic.

Tertiary sources are

usually not credited
to a particular
author. They provide
a superficial overview
of what the topic
includes, its basic
terminology, and
often references for
further reading.

Non-documentary sources

Varshney (2011) notes that non-documentary sources of information form a substantial

part of communication especially in science and technology. These sources provide
information which other sources do not.

Types:- There are two kinds of sources:-

(1) Formal Sources:-

-Research Organization
-Societies
-Industries
-Govt. Dept.
-Universities
-Consultants

(2) Informal Sources:-

 Conversation with colleagues
Visitors
Attendance at Professional Meetings.

When one has established the various source of information to use, he or she will now be
in a position to distinguish the different sources in print or non-print format. The following
table shows a number of examples of information sources that a researcher can use to
conduct any type of research;

BOOKS INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES

Books cover virtually when looking for lots
any topic, fact or of information on a
fiction. For research topic
purposes, you will
probably be looking to put your topic in
for books that context with other
synthesize all the important issues
information on one
topic to support a to find historical
particular argument information
or thesis.
to find summaries of
Libraries organize and research to support an
store their book argument
collections on shelves
called "stacks."
Encyclopedias INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES
Encyclopedias are when looking for
collections of short, background
factual entries often information on a topic
written by different
contributors who are when trying to find
knowledgeable about key ideas, important
the topic. dates or concepts

There are two types

of encyclopedias:
general and subject.
General
encyclopedias
provide concise
overviews on a wide
variety of topics.
Subject
encyclopedias
contain in-depth
entries focusing on
one field of study
Academic Journals INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES
A journal is a collection when doing scholarly
of articles usually
 written by scholars in an research
academic or
professional field. to find out what has
been studied on your
An editorial board topic
reviews articles to
decide whether they to find bibliographies
should be accepted. that point to other
relevant research
Articles in journals can
cover very specific
topics or narrow fields
of research.
Databases INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES
A database contains when you want to EBSCOhost
citations of articles in find articles on your
magazines, journals, and topic in magazines,
newspapers. They may journals or
also contain citations to newspapers Sabinet
podcasts, blogs, videos,
and other media types.
Some databases contain
abstracts or brief Emerald
summaries of the
articles, while other
databases contain
complete, full-text
articles. ScienceDirect

Jstor
Magazines INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES
A magazine is a to find information or Drum
collection of articles and opinions about
images about diverse popular culture
topics of popular
interest and current to find up-to-date You
events. information about
current events
Usually these articles are
written by journalists or to find general Time
scholars and are geared articles for people
toward the average who are not
adult. necessarily specialists
about the topic National
Magazines may cover Geographic
very "serious" material,
but to find consistent
scholarly information,
you should use journals.
Newspapers INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES
 A newspaper is a to find current Daily Dispatch
collection of articles information about
about current events international,
usually published daily. national and local
Since there is at least events Sunday Times
one in every city, it is a
great source for local to find editorials,
information. commentaries,
expert or popular Mail & Guardian
opinions

City Press
Library Catalog INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES

A library catalog is an to find out what

organized and searchable items the library
collection of records of owns on your topic
every item in a library
and can be found on the to find where a
library home page. The specific item is
catalog will point you to located in the library
the location of a
particular source, or
group of sources, that
the library owns on your
topic.

Internet INFORMATION USE EXAMPLES

The Web allows you to find current
to access most types information
of information on the www.ufh.ac.za
Internet through a to find
browser. One of the information
main features of the about companies
Web is the ability to www.google.co.za
quickly link to other to find
related information. information from
The Web contains all levels of
information beyond government - www.education.gov.za
plain text, including federal to local
sounds, images, and
video. to find both
expert and
The important thing popular opinions
to do when using
information on the to find
Internet is to know information
how to evaluate it! about hobbies
and personal
 interests

Source: University of Fort Hare Library Guides

http://ufh.za.libguides.com/c.php?g=91523&p=590868

Researchers should remember that when they are using these various sources of
information, the information found in those sources may come in different types such as;
Factual, objective, subjective and analytical.
Types of Information

Type Definition Examples

Factual Made up of facts Today's date
Historical Events
Analytical Interpretation of facts Lecturer explaining a
particular paragraph
in your history
textbook.
Subjective Personal opinions or Classmate's
viewpoints and some facts. evaluation of your
lecturer.
Editorial in a
newspaper
Objective Non-judgemental and Balanced political
balanced reporting. report
Presenting all sides of a
topic.
 UNIT 5

REFERENCE SOURCES AND PERIODICALS

LESSON OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit students will be able to:

Define reference sources of information.

Identify examples of reference sources of information
Define periodicals.
Identify types of periodical literature.
Understand the role of periodical literature in research.
Evaluate articles in periodicals.
Find periodicals in the MSU Library.

INTRODUCTION TO REFERENCE SOURCES

According to Behrens (1994), a reference source supplies authoritative information. It is

intended to be referred to briefly for specific factual information only, and not to be read
from cover to cover. Reference sources provide answers to specific questions, such as
brief facts, statistics, and technical instructions; provide background information; or
direct you to additional information sources. Reference sources are not scholarly (peer-
reviewed). In most libraries, reference sources do not circulate and are located in a
separate reference collection. This practice makes reference sources readily available and
easily accessible.

A reference source is designed by the arrangement and treatment of its subject matter to
be consulted for definitive items of information rather than to be read consecutively. To
facilitate its ease of use, particular attention is paid to the systematic arrangement of
items within it. Reference materials can be arranged alphabetically, topically, or
chronologically. There are thousands of reference sources available that cover practically
every subject. In most libraries, these books are not issued and are located in a separate
reference collection. This practice makes reference sources readily available and easily
accessible. Most of the reference books are specifically designed to provide required
information quickly and in most convenient form. Although the term reference "book" is
frequently used, reference sources can be books, serials, on-line databases or information
found on the Internet. A large part of using reference sources well is choosing the right
one for your needs.

Quick guide for selecting the right type of reference source (Collins, 151):

For information about... Choose...

1. Words Dictionaries
2. General information/Overview of topic Encyclopedias
3. Names & addresses of people, organizations, Directories
institutions, companies
4. Profiles of people Biographical Dictionaries
5. Places/Maps Gazetteers or Atlases
6. Facts and Statistics Almanacs
7. Formula, Tables, How-To-Do-It Handbooks and Manuals
8. A person's work Reviews or Criticisms
9. Dates, outlines, historical timelines Historical tables, Chronologies,
Historical yearbooks
10. Periodical Articles Indexes or Abstracts
11. Books and other sources Bibliographies or Guides to
Literature...

CHARACTERISTICS OF REFERENCE SOURCES

i. They are intended primarily for occasional consultation.

ii. They are consulted for definite items of information.
iii. The information included in them is collected from a vast number of
sources.
iv. It is a miscellany of information and facts.
v. The arrangement of information is such that it can be conveniently and
quickly recalled.
vi. It follows some methods of arrangement e.g. Alphabetical, Chronological or
other methods.
vii. They include only an overview of the topics and rarely deal them in depth.
viii. They usually concentrate on facts.
ix. They are normally not issued on loan and kept for use in the library only.
x. Information in a reference book is so organized that anyone can easily get
their desired information.

CATEGORIES OF REFERENCE SOURCES

In the following section different categories of reference sources, their characteristics and
uses are discussed.

DICTIONARY

According to Katz (1997), a dictionary gives the modern meaning of words.

Behrens (1994) defines a dictionary as a list of the words of a language or
languages, or a list of words relating to a specific subject. The words are
arranged in a systematic way, usually alphabetically. There are four types of
dictionaries namely:

Dictionary is a book containing words of a language arranged alphabetically with their

meanings. Most dictionaries list pronunciations, grammatical labels, illustrative
quotations, synonyms, antonyms, usage notes, etymology and other information. Some
dictionaries give derivation and history of the words too.
TYPES OF DICTIONARIES

Based on the number of words, scope and coverage of other items of information, the
dictionaries can be categorized into following groups:

i. GENERAL LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES

General language dictionaries cover all the words of a language and give meanings,
definition, and explanation of the words in the same language. It covers all the
words of a language, including past as well as currently in use words.

ii. SUBJECT DICTIONARIES

Subject dictionaries concentrate on the definition of the terms in a given subject.

Subject dictionaries are becoming increasingly common, due to increase in study
and research in different subject areas ranging from arts, humanities, social
sciences to science and technology.

iii. SPECIAL DICTIONARIES

The special dictionaries deal with special types or special aspect of the words.
Special type or class of words includes obsolete words, acronyms, abbreviations
etc. Special aspect of the word includes linguistic aspect of the words (such as
pronunciation, synonym and antonyms, etc.), or literary aspect of the words (such
as quotations, idioms, proverbs, etc.).

iv. BILINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL DICTIONARIES (TRANSLATING DICTIONARIES)

The bilingual dictionaries give meaning of a word from one language to another
language. For example, an English-Hindi dictionary will list words in English and
give equivalent words in Hindi. This type of dictionary is called bilingual dictionary.
A multilingual dictionary gives meaning of a word in more than two languages.
These dictionaries are also called translating dictionaries. Many of them are limited
in scope to certain subject fields such as astronomy, biology, electronics, etc.

THESAURUS AND GLOSSARY

Thesaurus is a book in which words that have the same or similar meaning (synonyms and
sometimes antonyms) are grouped together. In contrast to dictionary, which helps to find
meaning and pronunciation of the words, thesaurus helps to find most appropriate word to
express an idea and also other related words.
A glossary is an alphabetical list of words related to a specific subject, text or dialect with
explanation. A glossary is usually provided at the back of the book showing the definitions
of technical terms in that particular field of knowledge used in that book.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA

It is a book or set of books giving information on all branches of knowledge or on certain

wide fields with articles arranged alphabetically. An encyclopaedia contains information
about people, places, events, and things. It may deal with all areas of knowledge or it may
be limited to just one subject area. Articles in standard encyclopaedia are written by
subject specialists and then edited by the encyclopaedia staff editors to conform to
policies of the encyclopaedia in terms of content, style and punctuation. Most
encyclopaedias are arranged alphabetically from A to Z. Some are topically arranged, such
as one volume may be devoted to 'Animals', another to 'Plants', 'Earth' and Universe', or
some other subjects.

TYPES OF ENCYCLOPAEDIAS

i. GENERAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA

General Encyclopaedias cover all fields of knowledge, for example, Encyclopaedia

Britannica. Subject Encyclopaedia covers either single subject such as
Encyclopaedia of Physics or group of subjects such as Encyclopaedia of Science and
Technology. (a) General encyclopaedia can be further categorized according to
Size (single volume-set or multivolume-set), and target users (for adults, students
or children).

General encyclopaedias provide information about nearly every topic. Using an

encyclopaedia is an effective way to quickly get a broad overview of a subject.
Some encyclopaedias will provide more in-depth information than others, however
any general encyclopaedia is a good source to consult for background information
of your chosen subject area. Most encyclopaedias provide the following:

Main concepts
Titles of important books written about topic
Names of authors who have written about topic
Keywords and subject terms related to topic
Lists of related articles or additional resources

ii. SUBJECT ENCYCLOPAEDIAS

A subject encyclopaedia provides detailed information on specific area of

knowledge such as arts and humanities, science and technology, social sciences,
etc. There are thousands of subject encyclopaedias ranging from broad subject
area to a very narrow subject field. There are multivolume as well as single volume
subject encyclopaedias. Some subject encyclopaedias are meant for subject
 specialists and some are for students and general readers interested in that
subject.

Subject encyclopaedias provide more detailed and technical information on

specific area of knowledge such as arts, science and technology or social sciences.
Specialized encyclopaedia is also known as subject encyclopaedia. They are
important background sources of information. Unlike general encyclopaedias which
cover a wide range of topics, subject-specific encyclopaedias focus their
information in one particular subject area. Some features of subject-specific
encyclopaedias include:

Detailed articles written by experts within a field

Extensive and comprehensive bibliographies of important resource

YEARBOOKS

Yearbook, as the name indicates, is a book of information that is updated and published
annually, i.e., every year. The basic purpose of a yearbook is to record events and
developments of the previous year in a country or in the world. Based on their scope and
type of information covered yearbooks can be categorized as:- International Yearbook,
National Yearbook, Subject Yearbook. An international Yearbook provides reliable and
handy statistical information about each country of the world. For example, The
Statesman's Yearbook 2014 published by Macmillan, provides political, economic and social
account of every country (194 countries) of the world together with facts and analysis.

ALMANAC

An almanac provides brief statistical information and facts, both current and retrospective
(e.g World Almanac & Book of Facts. This is usually a one-volume work with statistics and
a compilation of specific facts.An almanac is a compendium of useful data and statistics
relating to countries, personalities, events, subjects and the likes (Katz; 1997). Almanacs
are usually published annually.

Almanac is a reference book usually published once a year and contains many kinds of
information. Almanacs originally provided a calendar of the months with eclipses, the
movement of planets and the rising and setting of sun, moon and stars. Present day
almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data
covering the entire world.

Major topics covered are geography, government, demographic data, agriculture,

economics and business, health and medicine, Science & Technology, transport, sports,
awards and prizes. Contents also include articles focusing on events of previous year as
well as summary of recent events. Now the almanacs are more like yearbooks. Both
depend on government sources for statistical data. The only difference is that almanacs
present astronomical data, which is absent in the yearbooks.

HANDBOOK
The word handbook is derived from German word 'Handbuch' meaning a small book giving
useful facts. The literal meaning of the term 'handbook' is a book which is 'handy' to use as
it contains useful facts and handy to carry it conveniently. Handbook by definition is a
concise reference book providing specific information or instruction about a topic or a
subject. Subject handbook basically gives brief information such as facts on a subject.
They are designed to be easily consulted and provide quick answers. Behrens (1994)
describes a handbook as a reference source that provides basic information on a specific
subject. It presents one broad subject in brief, or gives a brief survey of a subject (e.g.
Handbook of American Popular Culture).

MANUAL

Term 'manual' is derived from Latin term 'manuals' meaning a guide book. Manual basically
provides step-by-step instructions on how to do a particular job or operate a particular
machine. When a customer buys any home appliances, such as a television, an air
conditioner, an oven or even a mobile phone, he/she is provided with a manual which
gives proper instructions on how to use that appliance. For example, a cookbook or a book
providing step-by-step instructions to assemble a computer is a manual. Behrens (1994)
describes a manual as a book that contains rules and procedures relating to a specific
subject. It explains how things are done, for instance, how a machine operates; or how an
organisation operates (e.g. MLA Handbook, and Broadcast News Manual of Style).

DIRECTORY
A directory is a list of names and addresses of people and organizations. Directories are
also very important reference tools in the library to answer directory type of enquiries
from the users. Directories can be broadly categorized as General Directories, and Special
Directories.

i. General Directories

Telephone directory comes under the category of general directories. You must be
familiar with telephone directory. Every city in a country has telephone directory
giving information about telephone numbers of the subscribers. It also provides
addresses along with the telephone numbers of the subscribers. These directories
are usually compiled by post and telegraph departments.

ii. Special Directories

Directories of organizations are called special directories and can be broadly

grouped into following three types:

a) Directories of academic institutions

This directory lists institutions of higher education and learning such as

universities and colleges. Under each academic institution, information
provided is, the type of courses and facilities offered, eligibility criteria,
 names of the senior staff members, etc. These directories may be
international or national in coverage.

b) Professionals Directories:

There are thousands of learned societies and associations in the world, in

almost every significant field of knowledge. Members of these associations
are scholars in their respective area of specialization. These associations
also compile directories listing details of their members.

c) Trade and Business Directories:

These directories provide information about trade, business and industries.

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SOURCES

Geographical information sources include maps, atlases, globes, gazetteers, and

guide books. These sources provide information about places, people, rivers,
mountains, forests, lakes etc. To meet information needs of the users, libraries
maintain geographical information sources in their reference collection. This
collection comprises the following four types:-

i. MAPS
Map is a pictorial presentation of earth's surface or part of it, showing countries,
cities, rivers, lakes and mountains. Map can also be a drawing of the sky showing
the position of stars and the planets.

TYPES OF MAPS:

There are many types of maps. Most familiar types are:-

a) GENERAL REFERENCE MAPS

General reference maps identify and locate a variety of geographic

features. Such maps may include land features, boundaries of water,
political boundaries, cities and towns, and many other elements. People use
general reference maps to locate

b) POLITICAL MAPS:

Maps that depict boundaries of countries, states, continents and other

political units are called political maps.

c) PHYSICAL MAPS:

Maps that depict the location of physical features of the earth's surface such
as mountains, rivers and lakes are called physical maps or terrain maps.
 d) ROUTE MAPS, STREET MAPS AND CHARTS:

Some maps are designed to help people to find their way from one place to
another. These are maps for travel on land, on water or, in the air. Maps
showing different categories of roads, such as motorways, four-lane, or six-
lane roads are called road maps, They also show the cities, towns, parks
and other places connected by those roads. Street maps are similar to road
maps, but a street map shows a much smaller area in much more detail.

e) THEMATIC MAPS:

These maps show the distribution of a particular feature such as,

population, rainfall or natural resources like coal, petroleum, metals and
minerals on the earth. Many thematic maps express quantities by means of
symbols or colour.

ii. ATLAS:

A book containing collection of maps is called an atlas. A big atlas contains the
map of every county. Globe is a map that has been pasted or printed on a hollow
sphere. Only a globe can give correct picture of the earth as a whole, as the
surface of the globe is rounded like the earth's surface. A globe represents all parts
of the earth's surface correctly. The proportions and positions of the earth's land
features and oceans in relation to each other are seen on a globe exactly as they
are on the earth. National Maps and Atlases The reliability of maps and atlases
depend upon the expertise of editorial staff and the cartographers.

iii. GAZETTEERS

A dictionary of geographical places (no maps) (e.g.

Dictionary). Whittaker (1963) describes a gazetteer as a reference source that
provides the latitude and longitude of places, together with a brief description of
them. For example, if a gazetteer is for Harare as a town, the population and
industries of Harare will be noted. Hill and Frew (1999) define a gazetteer as a list
of geographic names, together with their geographic locations and other
descriptive information.

A gazetteer makes an attempt to answer some of the following questions:

It answers the "Where is" question; for example, "Where is Victoria Falls?"
It translates between geographic names and locations so that a user of the
library can find a collection objects through matching the footprint of a
geographic name to the footprints of the collection objects.
It allows a user to locate a particular type of geographic features in a
designated area. For example, the user can draw a box around an area on a
map and find the schools, hospitals, lakes, or volcanoes (as in Figure 2) in the
 area. This is possible because of the third required component of a gazetteer
entry -- the type (or category) of place.
As a reference source, a gazetteer provides historical, social, cultural,
political, industrial, demographic and administrative details of a country, state
or a district. Based on their coverage, gazetteer can be categorized into
International Gazetteer, National Gazetteer; and Local Gazetteer.

iv. GUIDE BOOKS

Behrens (1994) defines a guidebook as a source which provides basic information

about a place or places, for the use of a traveller or visitor. The information about
the place concerns how to get there, where to stay, and what to see. Guidebooks
are used to guide visitors with information such as hotel prices, sites of interest,
banks, airports, railway stations, hospitals etc. An example of a travel guide is The
Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa.

Guide Books are basically travel guides or tourist guides meant for people who
want to visit various places in their own country or any other part of the world.
Main purpose of the guide book is to guide the travellers when to visit a particular
place, how to reach, where to stay, what to see, and what to buy. The travel
guides include information on historical sites, museums, parks, and other places
worth visiting in that city or a country. Other aspects covered are information on
the routes and travel facilities, best time to visit the place, the types of hotels,
restaurants and shopping complexes, etc.

Maps, illustrations and distances are also provided to enhance the usefulness of the
guide book. In addition, information regarding visa, money exchange, weather,
etc. is also given for the benefit of the foreign visitors. Usually a guidebook covers
a region, a country or a city. Tourism Departments of the Governments in most of
the countries bring out tourists guides to promote tourism in the country.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SOURCES

A biography by definition is an account of a person's life, usually written by

someone else and published or intended to be published. Biographical sources are
publications listing biographical details of famous people. Such sources cover
biographies of world leaders, people holding key positions in international
organizations, people with outstanding performance in sports, music, dance, acting
and other professional fields like science & technology, medicine etc. A
biographical source may contain a biography of an individual or biographies of
group of people (called collective biographies).

A book containing collective biographies is also called 'Biographical Dictionary', for

example The Dictionary of International Biography. The type of information
covered in such sources also varies from a brief factual type of data to detailed
essay type of biography for each entry.
 Some biographical sources cover famous people from all walks of life. Such sources
are called 'general biographical sources'. In some, the coverage of people is
restricted to a single discipline or some other special criteria. Such biographical
sources are called subject/special biographical sources.

Again, a biographical source may be international or national in scope depending

upon the coverage of persons. Some biographical sources cover living persons only,
e.g. 'Who's Who', Some cover persons who are no longer living, e.g. 'Who was Who',
and some sources cover life sketches of both, living and dead persons, e.g.
Webster's Biographical Dictionary.

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

According to Katz (1997), a government publication is any publication that is

printed at government expense or published by authority of a governmental body.
The government publishes hundreds of documents every year to inform the public
and other organizations. Most government publications are published by various
ministries in the government and at times the government may also publish
documents with other organizations such as NGOs.

Government publications contain official information and they include such

documents like Acts of Parliament, parliamentary proceedings such as the Hansard,
Government gazette, Statistics, reports and the like. The physical form of
government publications may be a book, pamphlets, magazine, report, monograph
or electronic.

QUICK GUIDE TO SELECTING THE RIGHT REFERENCE SOURCE

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT... CHOOSE...

Words Dictionaries
General information/Overview of topic Encyclopedias
Names & addresses of people, organizations, institutions,
Directories
companies
Profiles of people Biographical Dictionaries
Places/Maps Gazetteers or Atlases
Facts and Statistics Almanacs
Formula, Tables, How-To-Do-It Handbooks and Manuals
Dates, outlines, historical timelines Yearbooks
Periodical Articles Indexes or Abstracts
Bibliographies or Guides
Books and other sources
to Literature...

ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC REFERENCE SOURCES

i. There are many advantages of electronic reference sources than their print
counterparts.
 ii. Electronic reference sources are more frequently updated than their print
counterparts.
iii. They provide more search options.
iv. Provide access to wider range of information.
v. Provide faster and easy access to information. This is particularly so in the case of
indexing and abstracting periodicals, where back volumes are consolidated into
single searchable database, search is easy and extremely fast.
vi. Online bibliographic databases provide linkages from citations to full text e-journals.
Full-text data can be delivered instantly on the remote computer.
vii. Content can be delivered in multimedia format where text, video, and sound can be
added.
viii. A print source can be used by one user at a time, whereas an online source can be
accessed simultaneously by many users.
ix. An online electronic source can be accessed at any time and from any place where
network exists.

LIMITATIONS OF ELECTRONIC REFERENCE SOURCES

i. Use of electronic reference sources requires expensive infrastructure, which must be

acquired, maintained and upgraded. This covers computer hardware and software,
Internet connection and subscription to databases.
ii. Electronic reference sources, despite being user friendly, require certain degree of
computer literacy to get maximum benefit from them. This means libraries have to
incur expenses to train their staff as well as their users to use these resources. Most
of the publishers of e-reference books sell their products through license agreement,
which imposes certain restrictions on their usage.
iii. Reading from computer screen is strenuous. Most of the users prefer to take print
out for reading.
Presently, most of the library users prefer to use electronic reference sources, because of
the speed of searching, remote access and availability of these resources on the internet
on 24/7 basis. Many libraries have a web page showing frequently used online reference
works. (http://www.mhhe.com/katz/)
PERIODICALS

By the end of this section students will be able to:

Define periodicals.
Identify types of periodical literature.
Understand the role of periodical literature in research.
Evaluate articles in periodicals.
Find periodicals in the MSU Library.

INTRODUCTION TO PERIODICALS

with a distinctive title published continuously on a regular basis on an indefinite period of

Journal of
African law, Volume 57, Number 1, (January-March 2013). ISSN 0021-8553. Each
publication of a periodical is called an issue, and issues generally make up a volume.
These can be available as hard copies or electronic editions (soft/digital copies) of the
various issues.

TYPES OF PERIODICALS LITERATURE

a) Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals are also called academic; peer reviewed, or refereed journals.
Peer reviewed journals refer only to those scholarly journals that submit articles to
several other scholars, experts, or academics (i.e. peers) in the field for review
and comment. These reviewers must agree that the article represents properly
conducted original research or writing before it can be published. A peer-reviewed
(or refereed) journal only publishes articles that meet the approval of one or more
experts in the field. They typically offer high quality, scholarly research.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOLARLY/ACADEMIC JOURNALS

Scholarly journal articles often have an abstract, a descriptive summary of the

Academic journals contain extensive, lengthy and detailed articles.

Scholarly journals generally have a sober, serious look. They often contain
many graphs and charts but few glossy pages or exciting pictures.
Scholarly journals always cite their sources in the form of footnotes or
bibliographies. These bibliographies are generally lengthy and cite other
scholarly writings.
 Articles are written by a scholar in the field or by someone who has done
research in the field. The affiliations of the authors are listed, usually at the
bottom of the first page or at the end of the article universities, research
institutions, think tanks and the like.
The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline covered. It assumes
some technical background on the part of the reader.
The main purpose of scholarly journal is to report on original research or
experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest of the
scholarly world.
Many scholarly journals, though by no means all, are published by a specific
professional organization.
Most academic journals are subject specific.
Researchers should use scholarly journal articles when they need focused, up-
to-date information on a topic. In general, they should use scholarly sources
for research because they provide a greater depth of information. However, in
some cases it is also acceptable to use popular sources such as newspapers.

b) Professional Journals

These are usually issued by professional institutions or Associations to provide

professional news and events, for example, forth coming conferences, research
reports, workshops and researches in progress. An example of such a publication is
journal of Educational Psychology published by the American Psychology
Association. When professionals want to know about recent updates in their
practice and new information about helpful researches in their field, one of the
sources of information that they can definitely depend on is a professional journal.

Each profession can have a professional or an academic journal that tackles

different topics about that particular industry. Professional journals are always
trusted by people because all of the articles and the information published in the
pages are all factual and based on actual studies with evidences. In addition to
that, these journals are also reviewed by a special board to ensure the credibility
and relevance of the content to the profession and to the industry as a whole.
Although the primary purpose of these academic journals is not to generate
income, there will be a need to pay for a fee for the subscription of future copies
especially if the publication is done by a commercial publisher.

Professional journals differ from other types of publications such as newspapers,

magazines and personal journals in their content. Unlike popular journals which
cover different topics for the general public. Contents of a professional journal will
only be beneficial to those professionals in a particular industry.

c) Popular Magazines

A Magazine is a popular interest periodical usually containing articles on a variety

of topics, written by various authors in a non scholarly style. Most magazines are
heavily illustrated, contain lots of advertisements and are printed on glossy paper.
 Articles are usually short frequently unsigned, and do not include a bibliography or
list of reference for further reading. Magazines are written by general readers for
general use. They come out more frequently than scholarly journals, for example,
the Drum Magazine. Articles are not researched to the same degree as scholarly
journal articles. Their purpose is mainly for entertainment and information.

d) Newspapers

The most known frequency of a newspaper is daily, but there are newspapers that
come weekly or monthly. Newspapers are concerned with current and vital
information on a wide range of topics, for example, The Herald. The aim of the
newspaper is to keep the public informed about local, national and international
news. However, their frequency of publication often means that articles lack the
research and documentation found in scholarly journals. One good characteristic
of a newspaper is that it is cheaper to acquire than a journal.

e) Trade Journals

This is a periodical that publishes current news and trends for a specific industry or
trade. Articles are written by someone with knowledge in the field for other
practitioners. Advertisements are targeted at professionals in the field.
TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERIODICALS
Newspapers Popular Trade journals Scholarly & Research
Magazines Journals
Examples Herald Drum - Physics Today Journal of African
Chronicle Moto -American History
Financial Gazette You Archaeology Journal of Modern
Sunday Mail Trends -American African Studies
The Standard Libraries Conflict Management
The Independent and Peace Science
Purpose Current Hot topics; Current trends and Original research;
information; Current events; news in a Refereed or peer
Upcoming and past Interviews; particular field of reviewed; Depth of
events; Editorials; popular culture study; knowledge about the
Obituaries; Employment; Book subject; Bibliography;
Classified Ads; reviews; Business Professional authors
Columns connections
Language Non- technical; Non-technical; Jargon; Written for Academic; Technical;
Written for a Written for a practitioners Specific for the
general audience general audience discipline
Authors Journalists; Journalists Practitioners in the Researchers;
Freelance writers field Scholars; Academics
Sources Rarely cites Rarely cites Brief Extensive
sources sources bibliographies bibliographies
Publisher Commercial Commercial Professional Universities; Research
s Publisher Publisher Association organisations
Graphics Photos; Ads Glossy photos; Photos; Ads; Graphs; Charts;
 (matte); Political Ads Charts Formulas; Usually no
Cartoons Ads

THEROLE OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE IN RESEARCH

The importance of periodical literature lies in their ability to capture the most
recent discoveries, theories and trends in a subject.
Periodicals provide current information as compared to books since they are
published at shorter intervals than text books which take more than six months
to go through.
Periodicals also offer a variety of opinions and views readily available from
different authors in one volume.
Published journal articles typically have gone through a rigorous screening
process known as blind peer review, whereby independent experts provide the
author with critical commentary and suggestions to improve their final paper,
prior to publication. Review boards ensure all peer reviewed journals follow a
scholarly format and adhere to the highest levels of academic scholarship.
Articles are also increasingly Internet accessible through Web sites maintained
by the publishers of journals.
Easy and fast way to correct errors in previous issues since the next issue may
only be three months away for quarterly publications or six months for a
biennial publication.
Each article published in a journal will explore a very narrow, specific topic in
depth. You can learn about a particular aspect of your topic in far greater
detail than that which would be afforded in a text book or if it was reported in
a popular magazine or newspaper.

EVALUATING ARTICLES IN A PERIODICAL

When evaluating an article in a periodical you should look at the:

a) Relevance - Does the publication relate to your topic so that it is useful for
your research? General vs. Specific Look at sources which cover your topic
on a general level and which are more specific or technical. You can check
this by skimming the title and abstract. An assortment of general and
specific sources is good if you are working with this topic for the first time.

b) Reliability (Authority) What is the quality of the publication?Finding the

authority of a source means determining who wrote it and what his/her
background is with the subject. Is this author an expert on the subject? If
not, is that important? If the source does not give bibliographical
information, consult a bibliographical reference source. Example: If no
information is available, examine the resources you have been using for
other works by the author.

c) Accuracy It is important to know where the author got his/her facts and if
the facts are correct. A bibliography of the source can show you which
 references the author used to get his/her information. If the author
supports his/her statements with references, the source is more reliable.

d) Currency For some subjects, currency of information is extremely

important, particularly in fields that are constantly changing, like Medicine
or Technology. For other subjects, like History or English, older materials
may be just as valuable as newer ones. Look at the date of publication on
your source.

e) Purpose and bias Determine whether the source is published by an

organization with a particular purpose. Determine whether the work
attempts to sell a particular point of view, if it does then it has a bias
therefore is subjective information. Verify if the source is scholarly or
popular.

f) Bibliography - Scholarly works always contain a bibliography of the

resources that were consulted. The references in this list should be in
sufficient quantity and be appropriate for the content.

g) Audience - For what type of reader is the author writing? This ties in with
the type of journal, as popular magazine are geared to the general reader,
while trade magazines are for the specialist and scholarly journals are
directed at researchers, scholars or experts in the field.

h) Illustrations - Are charts, graphs, maps, photographs, etc. used to illustrate

concepts? Are the illustrations relevant? Are they clear and professional-
looking?
UNIT 6

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM

Generally, integrity entails the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
This trait is required by people in all spheres of life and this is the reason why we are
going to be focusing on the academic side. Cambridge University Press (2020), states that

hile the Dictionary.com LLC (2020) adds that integrity is

information, it is always important to consider why we need information, where and when
to get it from and how, how to evaluate such information before application. In academic
circles, a disregard to the above results in a widespread culture of cheating thus in the
process violating academic integrity (Cavico and Mujtaba, 2009).

According to lege faculty members

face a continual battle to maintain integrity in their classrooms [because of] shifting

appears colleges and universities seem to be battling with previous circumstances students
interacted with in the past as McCabe et al.
college students probably develop long before they get to college. Most college-bound
students are exposed to significant cheating cultures

What Is Academic Integrity?

Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship. The concept of

academic integrity comes from Keohane (1999) which points to how people commit
themselves to positive values so as to be able to act and behave accordingly in creating a
good academic situation. The International Center for Academic Integrity (1999:4) defines
nt, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental
values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, . Academic
communities in colleges and universities aim to foster integrity advances the quest
fortruth and knowledge by requiring intellectual and personal honesty in learning,
teaching, research, and service. It must be common knowledge for both students and staff
that uprightness will forever stand as thefoundation of teaching, learning, research, and
service and the prerequisite for full realization of trust, fairness, respect, and
responsibility. This is the sole reason why most university policies uniformly deplore
cheating, lying, fraud, theft, and other dishonest behaviours that jeopardize the rights
and welfare of the community and diminish the worth of academic degrees. The reason
why this Unit is important is it will leave you the student with well instilled levels of
cultivated honesty which lays the foundation for lifelong integrity, whilst at the same time
developing in each of you the courage and insight to make difficult choices and accept
responsibility for actions and their consequences, even at personal cost.

One of the primary considerations for ranking of universities the world over is production
quality research output which of course has a strong bearing on how researchers, lecturers
and students alike interact and behave with information. Usually Midlands State University
uploads all first class dissertations and theses in the institutional repository/digital archive
for wider distribution globally via the internet. The same happens for published and
unpublished research papers and book chapters written by staff. For this very reason,
students and faculty are compelled to obey rules of academic honesty as this has a bearing
on future and image. All academic work should result from an individual's own efforts.
Intellectual or academic works used from other sources must be fully acknowledged in
order to remove the impression that you are the originator of the used work.

Why Should We Care about Academic Integrity?

Academic integrity as a harbinger of things to come, a reflection of the general mores that
society is passing on to the next generation. There six reasons why we should care about
academic integrity:

(1) Integrity is the cornerstone of academia

It is blatant that a failure to address academic dishonesty devalues the educational

process and leaves colleges and universities vulnerable to questions about the quality of
the product they produce the future leaders of society. We should therefore forthwith
care about academic integrity because we believe it is one of the issues that students face
in college for which colleges and universities can mak
future leaders with an experience of living within a community of integrity a touchstone

(2) Cheating is widespread and on the rise,

Academic dishonesty is widespread in colleges and universities even though efforts to

prosecute offenders exist. The general attitude seems to be that everyone cheats,
however, this should discouraged and stopped Therefore, this unit focuses on doing exactly
that because it is not right to do so.

(3) The college years are a critical period for ethical development,

Academic integrity and dishonesty also matter because most college students are at a
developmental level where their approach to ethical decision making is being formed. It is
therefore critical to look at how colleges and universities uphold academic integrity for
the sole reason that the college years represent a period of significant moral development

in students.

(4) College students face significant pressures to cheat

So much pressure and stress is put on getting ahead that students will take anything that
gives them added advantage regardless of what people may say. Another reason we should
l growing pressures to
demonstrate high academic achievement. According to McCabe, Treviño, and Butterfield
(1999), this type of pressure comes from many sources which include but not limited to
societal expectations, family expectations, and peer pressure. It is therefore critically
important to bring this issue to book so that students are aware this and be able to
manage the source of their potential problem.

(5) Students are being taught that cheating is acceptable

It is important to note that some Faculty and administrators often contribute to violation
of academic integrity because they do not monitor cheating behaviour and at times they
neglect to clearly communicate expectations regarding appropriate and inappropriate
behaviour on assignments and tests. Therefore in this Unit there are no mixed signals that
cheating is an academic offense punishable by instituting appropriate academic integrity
guidelines and policies, which clearly finger and demonstrate that academic integrity is a
priority to both staff and students.

(6)

The university should be a place where students and staff uphold strong values and
convictions even in stressful situations, especially if these are future leaders of the
country/world Values and beliefs circumstances may change from time to time, but
having values might make a person less prone to changing his or her mind in tough
situations. Having a strong grip on good values and beliefs prepares students for a better
future.
The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity

It is very important for academic institutions the world over not to underestimate the
value of academic honesty or integrity because it promotes scientific progress, and
prepare students to become responsible citizens in whatever roles they may undertake. As
such the following five fundamental values of academic integrity are important to
observe.

1. Honesty Academic integrity demands truthfulness, fairness, accuracy and overall

justice in academic institutions, performance as well as the behaviour patterns of the
students and the staff members.
2. Trust In order to promote academic integrity there should be an environment of
mutual trust, communicating freely with each other and enabling everybody to be
well trained in order to achieve their potential goals.
3. Fairness There should be prevalence of fair attitude, dealings in all interactions as
well as transactions that are carried out in an academic institution.
4. Respect Teaching and learning processes require a clear exhibition of respect for

conduit for gaining knowledge, testing new skills, achieving success and learning from
failure.
5. Responsibility You must be responsible for upholding the academic honesty of
scholarship and research by making sure you get tasks and complete them. This also
means that try by all means to avoid errors even if you are under pressure from peers.

How is Academic Integrity violated or breached?

A breach of academic integrity can be defined as any behaviour that undermines the
values, norms, and practices of academic integrity. In more concrete terms, it includes
but is not limited to:

Plagiarism
Cheating in exams or assignments
Impersonation in exams
Collusion

Paying a third party for assignments

 Downloading whole assignments (or parts of assignments) from the Internet
(including file-sharing sites)
Falsification of data
Misrepresentation of records, and
Fraudulent research and publishing practices.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright is a law that gives individuals ownership to their creative works. Creative works
might include text, artistic works, music, computer programs, sound recordings and films.
The copyright immediatelybecomes the property of the author who created the
work and it comes with certain exclusive rights. These rights might include the right to:

reproduce the work

prepare derivative works
distribute copies
perform the work
display the work publicly

If one owns copyright to something, they can do what they want with it. It is the same as
owning a house or a car. They can sell it or they can lend it. Anyone who exploits any of
the exclusive rights of copyright without the copyright owner's permission commits
copyright infringement. You need to get permission from the copyright holder to reproduce
their creative works.

WORKS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

Literary works (books, poems, plays, etc.)

Music
Choreography
Graphic art (pictures, sculptures, comic strips, etc.)
Audiovisual works (movies, TV shows, etc.)
Sound recordings
Architecture
Computer programs
SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS TO COPYRIGHT

Under Zimbabwean Law, copyright is not infringed under certain circumstances. In this
module exceptions for libraries will be covered.

LIBRARIES

Libraries have a special set of exemptions from liability for copyright infringement when
they exercise some of the exclusive rights of copyright holders such as making copies,
displaying and performing works publicly, and distributing works to the public. The
following will not infringe copyright law as far as libraries are concerned:

1. Making or supplying of a copy of an article from a periodical

2. Making or supplying of a copy or part of published literary works, dramatic or

musical works.

In view of the above, the library will need to meet certain conditions that include:

1. Not operating for profit

2. Not supplying not more than one copy of the same article or part of the work

3. Supplying copies only for research or private study

PLAGIARISM

acknowledging the source of information, thereby giving the impression that you are the
rightful originator of those ideas or expressions. The habit of plagiarism begins in the early
stages when a student copies something (e.g. assignments) written by a classmate.

Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered as

academic dishonesty or academic fraud. It is a serious criminal act and offenders are
subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion.

Plagiarism is one of a number of practices deemed by universities to constitute cheating or

in a
the following practices:

Collusion without official approval between two or more students, with the
result that identical, or near identical work, is presented by all involved

Falsification: where content of assignments, e.g. statistics, has been invented

or falsely presented by a student as their own work

Replication: where a student submits the same or very similar piece of work, on
more than one occasion to gain academic credit

Taking unauthorized notes into an examination

Obtaining an unauthorized copy of an examination paper

Communication with other students in an examination in order to help, or be

helped, with answers.
Impersonation of another person in an examination ( Jones et al. 2005).

However, as stated earlier, plagiarism, specifically, is a term used to describe a practice

ally something that has been produced by

domain. It is not the ideas per se that are being plagiarized, as ideas can occur to people
all the time; it is the manifestation of those ideas: in print, Internet, audio-visual,
theatrical, cinematic, choreographic or other tangible form. It can also include
assignments either ready written, or written to order, and sold from Internet sites, which
are then presented to an institution by the buyer as his or her own original work.

Why do people Palgiarise?

Dennis (2005) did a research to find why students cheated and the results showed that :

They started too late and ran out of time.

They simply could not do the coursework otherwise.
They did not think it was wrong.
They have to succeed.
They got higher marks this way.
They did not need to learn that material, just pass the module.
They could not keep up with the work.
 They wanted to see if they could get away with it.
They felt the tutor did not care, so why should they.
They thought paraphrasing would be disrespectful (Dennis 2005).

What are the four main types of Plagiarism?

2. Verbatim/Direct Plagiarism

This entails the use of Direct

plagiarism is the word-for-
attribution and without quotation marks. To avoid this, you need to add quotation marks
and citation.

3. Self Plagiarism

Self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts
of previous works. For example, it would be unacceptable to incorporate part of an
assignment you wrote previously into another assignment. Self-plagiarism also applies to
submitting the same piece of work for assignments in different classes without previous
permission from both lecturers.

4. Mosaic Plagiarism

A kind of patchwriting in which parts from one or several sources are cobbled together

5. Accidental Plagiarism

Accidental plagiarism occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes
their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groups of
words, and/or sentence structure without attribution.

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

There are serious consequences that emanate from plagiarism. These may be professional,
financial, legal or personal.

a) Plagiarism for student

 Students may face suspension or expulsion when they are caught plagiarizing.
Those who are caught doing so hurt themselves by facing unnecessary penalties
from University authorities.

b) Plagiarism for Professionals

When professionals engage in plagiarism, the consequences could be much more
serious. Plagiarism may lead to dismissal from their work and when this happens, it
might be difficult to get employment in the same field. Public figures may be
forced to withdraw from public life and their reputation may be lost.

c) Legal Consequences of Plagiarism

Infringement of copyright means you are breaking the law. Breaking the law carries
with it penalties that might include heavy fines or going to prison.

d) Plagiarism for Academics

All academics are expected to publish original research papers in order to raise the
ranking of their University or research centre. If they plagiarise, they tarnish the
image of their employer and all their previous work will be viewed with suspicion.

How do you avoid plagiarism?

Referencing

One of the most important ways to avoid plagiarism is including a reference page or page
of works cited at the end of your research paper or assignment. This page must meet the
document formatting guidelines or citation styles used by your faculty or department. This
information is very specific and includes the author(s), date of publication, title, and
source.

Use of Quotation marks

Always quotation marks or indent for lengthy passages. Always remember to cite your
sources at the end.
Procrastination
Do not procrastinate with your research and assignments. Good research takes time.
Procrastinating makes it likely you will run out of time or be unduly pressured to finish.
This sort of pressure can often lead to sloppy research habits and bad decisions. Plan your
research well in advance, and seek help when needed from your lecturers.

Citation Errors

Common errors that lead to accidental plagiarism include using words or passages from
the original source without using quotation marks and/or without citing the source; using
different citation formats within the same assignment; or using a citation format
incorrectly.

Poor Note-taking

Inexperienced students often forget to put quotation marks around notes taken directly
from text, or find that their notes are disorganized. As a result, they cannot tell which
notes came from which source when they are in the stages of writing up their assignment.

TURNITIN ANTI-PLAGIARISM SOFTWARE

Turnitin is web based anti-plagiarism software that checks for plagiarized content from
the internet. Turnitin checks for potential unoriginal content by comparing submitted
papers to several academic and research databases as well as websites. Students submit
their assignments or dissertations into the Turnitin system and it compares strings of text
against its massive database. When a student submits a paper, the paper is also stored in
the Turnitin databases to prevent other students from submitting that same paper.

A lecturer will receive a report showing the percentage of plagiarized content in a

submitted work. For students to use Turnitin, they need to receive an e-mail from their
lecturer containing details on how to create an account and how to submit a paper.

Conclusion

If students have integrity, this means they are honest and trustworthy for their personal
morals and values are a true reflection of their credibility and character. Complete
academic is required at universities while students earn their degrees as these would be
true representations of their academic achievements. Therefore degrees must be earned
in fair and honest ways. Lack of academic integrity whilst peoples are in college can be
stubborn following one into his or her workplace, something that may compromise
professional goals.

Tracey Bretaga, T. et al (2013:378) cite a number of authorities (Bertram Gallant 2008,

2011; Davis, Drinan, and Bertram Gallant 2009;Macdonald and Carroll 2006; Sutherland-
Smith 2008) who advocate for what they term the holistic approach to promoting
academic integrity. Their view is to observe academic integrity in
e academic enterprise: from university mission
statements and marketing, to admissions processes, to nuanced and
carefully articulated academic integrity policy, to assessment practices
and curriculum design, to information during orientation, embedded and
targeted support in courses and at every level for students, to frequent
and visual reminders on campus, to professional development for staff,
research training, and the use of new technologies which both assist
students avoid academic integrity breaches, and as a tool to detect

References

McCabe, Donald L., et al. Cheating in College : Why Students Do It and What Educators
Can Do about It, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/msuz/detail.action?docID=3318632
Created from msuz on 2020-06-26 08:44:35. [Accessed 27 June 2020]

Cambridge Dictionary 2020 by cambride university press.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/integrity [Accessed 27 June 2020]

dictionary.com Integrity

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/integrity [Accessed 27 June 2020]

Academic Integrity in the Information Age: Virtues of Respect and Responsibility Tracy S.
Manly Lori N. K. Leonard Cynthia K. Riemenschneider
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323906170_Construction_of_academic_integri
ty_scale [Accessed 27 June 2020]

Australian Government. Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (2017) Good
Practice Note: Addressing contract cheating to safeguard academic integrity October
2017https://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/good-practice-note-addressing-
contract-cheating.pdf?v=1507082628 [Accessed 28 June 2020]

Cavico, Frank J., and Bahaudin G. Mujtaba(2009) Making The Case For The Creation
Of An Academic Honesty And Integrity Culture In Higher Education:
Reflections And Suggestions For Reducing The Rise In Student Cheating
file:///C:/Users/lib/Downloads/Making_The_Case_For_The_Creation_Of_An_Academic_Ho
.pdf [Accessed 28 June 2020]

The Center for Academic Integrity October 1999. The fundamental values of academic
integrity.
https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/dept/university_secretariat/academic-
integrity/FVProject.pdf [Accessed 27 June 2020]

integrity student survey. https://www-tandfonline-

com.access.msu.ac.zw/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2013.777406
UNIT 7

SEARCH STRATEGIES AND EVALUATION OF INTERNET SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this lecture students should be able to:

Understand what the internet is.

Appreciate the uses of the internet.
Evaluate internet Sources of Information
Perform effective online searching
Navigate the MSU Institutional Repository

ONLINE SEARCH STRATEGIES

Most online search services such as search engines, e-Journal databases or e-Book
databases will support the search techniques spelt out below. However you will need to be
familiar with the particular search service you are using be it a search engine, e-Journal or
e-
service.

1) Keyword Search

A keyword search retrieves words or phrases from the important fields of the database
records. A Keyword search looks for words anywhere in the record. Keywords represent
the main concept of your research topic and these are the words used in everyday life to
describe your topic.

Selecting keywords is a multi-step process that involves:

identifying the main concepts of your topic

brainstorming synonyms and antonyms that could also be used to describe your
topic
spell out abbreviations

2) Subject Search

A subject search involves searching the subject headings used in a database. Most
databases include subject headings that are assigned to each record.

Use subject searching when you know the Library of Congress Subject Headings and you
want to do a more precise search than you can with Keyword searching. A subject heading
is an assigned word (or phrase) used in a database to describe a concept. Search using this
standardized word instead of keywords, so you do not need to worry about synonyms and
spelling variations.
Subject headings are a way to group items on the same topic together even though the
authors of the materials may have used different terms. An example is death penalty and
capital punishment. LCSH assigns all books the subject heading Capital Punishment,
regardless of which term is used in the title.

For example, you may want to research the topic automobiles

Possible ways (synonyms) to state this topic include:

Cars
Motor Vehicles
Buses
Trucks

Keyword Versus Subject Heading Search

KEYWORD SEARCH SUBJECT HEADING SEARCH

May search multiple fields including
subject, title, and abstract
May retrieve irrelevant items
Low precision, more results
Allows grouping terms to expand or
narrow search
Searches for subject or descriptor
field only
Controlled vocabulary from
thesaurus
High degree of relevancy
High precision, fewer results
Requires knowing, finding subject
headings

3) Truncation and Wildcard

Truncation
Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to
include various word endings and spellings.

To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the
end.
The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.
Examples:
child* = child, children, childrens, childhood
genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically

interact* = interact, interacting, interaction, interactivty

Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #

Notes:
 Be careful not to end the stem or root of a word too early to retrieve too many
results. Example: typing cat* will find cat, cats, catalog, catastrophe, catsup, etc.
Different databases use different symbols to truncate words. However, most of our
popular online databases, such as our Library Catalog, Google and Yahoo! use
asterisk (*) as their truncation symbol. If in doubt, check the "Help" section for the
truncation symbol.
Some search engines, such as Yahoo! and Google, automatically use truncation
without you having to type a truncation symbol.

4) Wildcard Symbols
Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word.

This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.

1. Examples:
wom?n = woman, women

Organi?ation = Organization and Organisation

colo?r = color, colour

Note: Again, check the Help or Tips links available on most library databases and Internet
search engines to verify the wildcard symbol that should be used (usually an asterisk (*) or
question mark (?) ).

5) Phrase Searching

Many search engines and other online searching services allow you to perform an exact
phrase search, so that pages with only the words you type in, in that exact order and with
no words in between them, will be found. The exact phrase search is a remedy for too
many irrelevant hits. To perform an exact phrase search at a search engine that permits
it, put the phrase in quotation marks e.g. "consumer product chemistry

6) Boolean Searching

Boolean searching is based on a system developed by George Boole, a 19th century

mathematician. Most online databases and Internet search engines support Boolean
searching to limit, widen or define your search. The power of Boolean searching is based
on connecting keywords with Boolean operators. The three basic operators are AND, OR
and NOT. Mathematically, they represented by these symbols:

AND +

OR /

NOT -

AND - narrows a search; Use to combine key concepts, for example: Water AND Pollution.
OR - broadens a search; Use to add concepts, for example: Pollution OR Water.

NOT - excludes search term(s). Use to eliminate a concept, for example: Water NOT

Pollution

THE INTERNET

Turban (2001) defines the internet as a network of networks. It is a global collection of

computer networks, cooperating with each other to exchange information. This network
uses different networking technologies such as fibre optic cables, coaxial cables,
telephone lines, power lines (Broadband over power lines (BPL), also known as power-line
Internet)and wireless connections. The internet uses different protocols or standards to
communicate with one another and the most commonly used are the HTTP Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol, VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol and FTP - File Transfer Protocol.

End users do not need to know all the technical intricacies taking place in the background,
but a basic idea of its structure is what you need to know to get the most out of it.
USES OF INTERNET

E-mail Services

E-mail is shorthand for electronic mail and is used for the exchange of messages over the
internet or intranets (Local area networks). An e-mail works by sending a message to a
specific address that looks like this

petermasharks@msu.ac.zw

File Transfer Servers using FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

This is a system of transferring or exchanging (uploading and downloading) files over

the internet between two computers. Users need an FTP client installed on their
computer to enable this to work.

Examples of software clients that offer this services are:

-Fileszilla

-Ssh Secure Shell

Chat Systems

This is technology that permits people to exchange textual information in real time (i.e.
synchronously) or with a short time lapse between messages.

Other examples of chat systems such asGoogle talk or Gtalk, Google Meet, Skype, Zoom,
empathy, yahoo chat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger.

World Wide Web

This is a system of extensively hyperlinked documents that enable people to navigate from
one web document to the other on the same website or to an external website.

Voice over internet protocol (VOIP)

This is a way of communicating using voice and other sounds over the internet in real time
examples include Google talk or Gtalk, Google Meet, Skype, Zoom, Empathy.

FORMATS OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

 The internet is a multimedia system, i.e. it contains information in various formats
these include:

Text documents such as portable document format (pdf) files, word documents
etc.
Sounds
Graphics or images
Moving pictures or videos
Software

BROWSERS

A browser is software used to display the World Wide Web and also the Internet in
general. Examples include:

1. Internet Explorer,
2. Mozilla Firefox
3. Opera
4. Safari
5. Google Chrome.

A browser sends requests to the internet and displays the results to the user in the form of
websites. A browser has an address bar where a user types in the URL (Universal
Resource Locator) or website address.

ONLINE SEARCHING TOOLS

These are computer softwares that are used to search information on the World Wide
Web. There are 3 main online tools that can be used to look up information on the
internet namely Search Engines, Meta Search Engines and Specialised full text and citation
databases.

SEARCH ENGINES

Burke, (1999) defines search engines as software that is used to construct a database of
websites. Basically, a search engine is a software program that searches for sites based on
the words that you designate as search terms. Search engines look through their own
databases of information in order to find what it is that you are looking for.

The internet contains billions of documents all linked by hyperlinks. It is impossible to find
information on the internet without a tool that makes everything easy. This tool is called a
search engine. A search engine is a software program that is able to retrieve information
from the internet by using the words that you input as search terms or search
expressions and returns the results in the form of ranked list. Each result is called a hit
and the number of results is called hits. A search engine works by using spiders (a type of
software) that crawl the internet, index the pages and add the pages to its database or
catalogue. Search engines are continually crawling the internet to look for new websites

electronic filing cabinet.

Some search engines index every word on a website whilst others only index certain words
contained within Meta tags on a webpage. Meta tags are invisible to a general internet
user. They are used to give special keywords or description about a webpage.

Examples of general search engines are:

SEARCH ENGINE UNIVERSAL RESOURCE LOCATOR (URL)

Google http://www.google.com

Yahoo Search http://www.yahoo.com

Excite http://www.excite.com/

Bing http://www.bing.com

META SEARCH ENGINES

different search engines and then display the search results from each. Examples include
Dogpile, MetaCrawler, and Inference Find. Meta search engines do not have an index or

other search engines such as Google and Yahoo and then compile the results.

All Meta search engines function differently and the technology they use is different from
any other Meta search engine. Some sort results according to relevancy, others search
lesser known search engines, others search particular search engines and others do not
show where they got their results.

Examples of Meta Search Engines are:

META SEARCH ENGINE URL

Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com

MetaCrawler https://www.metacrawler.com/

Yippy http://yippy.com/

MetaEureka http://www.metaureka.com
EVALUATING INTERNET SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Print Sources

Quality standards of printed materials are controlled through a system of checks

and balances imposed by peer review, editors, publishers, and librarians, all of
whom manage and control access to printed information. This assures that
published materials have been through some form of critical review and
evaluation, preventing informal, poorly designed, difficult-to-use and otherwise
problematic materials from getting into the hands of users.
In academic and other research libraries, most books and periodicals are a product
of the scholarly communication system. This system ensures that authors present
information in an orderly and logical manner appropriate to the topic.
Printed information in books and periodicals follows established linear formats for
logical and effective organization.
Materials in printed form are stable. Once in print, information remains fixed for
all time. New editions and revisions often are published, but these are separate
and distinct physical entities that can be placed side by side with the originals.

World Wide Web

On the web, anyone can, with no supervision or review at all, put up a web page.
On the Web, there is no systematic monitoring of much of what appears, except, of
course, for articles published in the online forms of otherwise reputable scholarly
journals and books. Biases, hidden agendas, distorted perspectives, commercial
promotions, inaccuracies, and so on are not monitored.
There is no standard format for web sites and documents. Web pages exhibit fewer
clues regarding their origins and authoritativeness than print sources. Important
information, such as dates, author(s), and references are not always easy to
locate. While a reader can easily note this information in a book or periodical
article, the web user must often search through several pages, if the information is
provided at all.
Internet sources are also not stable. Web documents can be changed easily. And
once changed, the original is gone forever unless a specific effort is made to
preserve it. In fact, many Web documents are intentionally designed to change as
necessary, and with automatic changes as with manual changes, the original
disappears.
Web resources use hypertext links and need not be organized in any linear fashion.
One can easily be led astray and distracted from the topic at hand. But, of course,
one can also be led to additional information of value.
The changing nature of the web and web documents create major problems with
the stability of information and with links between different units of information.
Dead or broken and links on the Web are common and others just disappear or are
not updated.

The section below shows the criteria scholars use to evaluate print information and
how the same criteria can be used to evaluate online resources.

Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information

Author (May be an individual, Organization or Publisher)

Is there an author of the work? If so, is the author clearly identified?

Are the author's credentials for writing on this topic stated, or is the author
qualified to write on the given topic?
Have they written other articles or books?
Is the author affiliated with an organization?
Is there a link back to the organization's page or a way to contact the organization
or the author to verify the credibility of the site (address, phone number, email
address)?
Do they specialize in publishing certain topics/subjects?
Is the publisher scholarly (university press, scholarly associations)? Commercial?
Government agency?
Is the author an expert or researcher in the field?
What does the domain name/URL reveal about the source of the information, if
anything?

Accuracy

Is this page part of an edited or peer-reviewed publication?

Can factual information be verified through footnotes or bibliographies to other
credible sources?
Are the sources for factual information clearly listed so that the information can be
verified?

If statistical data is presented in graphs or charts is it labelled clearly?

Has the information been reviewed or refereed?

Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, or typographical errors?

Currency

Currency refers to the timeliness of information. In printed documents, the date of

publication is the first indicator of currency. Apply the following criteria to ascertain
currency:

If timeliness of the information is important, is it kept up-to-date?

Is there a date stating when the document was originally created?

Is it clear when the site or page was last updated, revised or edited?
Are there any indications that the material is updated frequently or consistently to
 ensure currency of the content?
If there are links to other Web pages are they current? If links to other Web pages
are not current this is a fairly good sign that the site is not well-maintained.

Links

Are links related to the topic and useful to the purpose of the site?
Are links still current, or have they become dead ends?
What kinds of sources are linked?

Coverage/Scope

What is the focus of the site?

Are there clear headings to illustrate an outline of the content?
Is the navigation within the website clear? Check the header for a clear title and
web site description
Check the content for headings and keywords
Check the navigation to reflect content outline within the web site

Biases and Affiliations

Does it promote the ideas of a particular group--religious, political, etc.?

Could the organization sponsoring the site have a stake in how the information is
presented?
Is the author trying to influence your mind ?
Are various points of view, theories, techniques, or schools of thought offered?

Clarity

Is the text neat, legible and formatted for easy reading?

Is the information clearly presented?
If there are graphics, do they add to the content or distract?
If there are advertisements, do they interfere with your ability to use the page?
Are the pages well organized?
Are there mistakes in spelling or word usage?
UNIT 8
DATABASE ACCESS AND UTILIZATION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this unit students will be able to:

Understand the importance of electronic journals in academic research.

Search for full text research articles and book chapters from e-journal and e-Book
databases.
Navigate and search the MSU Institutional Repository

INTRODUCTION

Electronic resources are online information resources that include e-books and e-
Journals offering full text access to book chapters and articles. With the
information explosion, the internet has revolutionised the research processes and
made information retrieval very convenient. The electronic resources which come
in the form of e-books and e-journals accessed through various online databases
have made research activities conveniently available (Noreh, 2009).
Advantages of Online Databases

Greater and quicker access for students to materials to support their learning
Convenience of access - people can access electronic resources anytime as long
as they are connected to the internet
Timeliness - the currency of information, timely availability, the speed of access
and the ability to search text is the most important factor in choosing electronic
resources over print.
One resource can be accessed by many people simultaneously
Online Databases can be accessed from any computer on campus, off campus.
Online Databases are easily searchable - each database can be searched quickly
and easily.
Articles/issues appear online before printed version is available.
Articles can be commented by the readers and amended quickly
They are especially useful for finding information not yet available in books, or
obtaining up-to-date information on current events or issues.

Disadvantages of Electronic Resources

All e-resource devices require power.

Require high cost for technology infrastructure.
Need special equipment to access e.g. laptops, desktops, e-book readers etc
Lack of compatibility among different publishers some articles may not be
accessible or readable on different platforms
Copyright violation problem
Current e-book format may not be readable by future e-book devices.
Book reading devices are more expensive than most paper books.
Lack of awareness on IT skills for usage of e-resource.
 Technological barriers lack of adequate infrastructure e.g. network connectivity,
electricity etc.
Lack of uniform standards in the retrieval of software products from different
publishers creates problems in their usage.
Since reading of ICT based resources and services requires skills, the users have to
acquire certain skill before hand or take the help of intermediates like library
professionals to help them in accessing the electronic documents. Even the library
professionals have to learn the skill, if they desire to serve the users effectively
and efficiently.
The libraries face a number of problems relating to the new media that are yet to
be popular among their users.

Parthasarathy. R (2009). Impact of Electronic Resources on Academic Program in arts

and science colleges Tiruchirappalli A study. Retrieved from:
http://hdl.handle.net/10603/186505

STEPS IN ACCESSING E-JOURNAL DATABASES

1. Open browser and go to www.msu.ac.zw

2. -
3. E-Journals are arranged alphabetically and under each e-Journal name there is a short
description of the subject coverage
4. You may use the A Z index at the top to browse through e-Journal collections
5. JSTOR
Search Databases
6. -
Learning password or your MSU e-Mail username and password
7. Click on the login button this will re-direct you to the JSTOR database
8. Carryout your research in JSTOR

STEPS IN ACCESSING E-BOOK DATABASES

1. Open browser and go to www.msu.ac.zw

2. -
3. E-Books are arranged alphabetically and under each e-Book name there is a short
description of the subject coverage
4. You may use the A Z index at the top to browse through e-Book collections
5. proquest
central Search Databases
6. Proquest Central
number and e-Learning password or your MSU e-Mail username and password
7. Click on the login button this will re-direct you to the Proquest Central database
8. Carryout your research in Proquest Central

PRACTICAL EXERCISES ACCESSING E-JOURNAL DATABASES

ACCESSING JSTOR

1. Go to www.msu.ac.zw

-Journals

-
3. The Electronic Journals page has the journal databases arranged alphabetically. You can use the
A- Z index to browse through the collections. Each journal collection has a short description of the
subjects covered. You can use the search box to search for journal collections if you know the
 4. Click on the JSTOR link. You will be taken to an authentication screen where you need to enter
your Registration number and your e-Learning password.

5. Enter your Registration Number and E-Learning password in the fields provided and click the
Login button.
 6. You are now re-directed to the JSTOR journal database. You simple enter your search terms
and carry out your research in JSTOR

PRACTICAL EXERCISES ACCESSING E-BOOK DATABASES

 1. Go to www.msu.ac.zw

-BOOKS

-
3. The Electronic Book page has the e-Book databases arranged alphabetically. You can use the A-
Z index to browse through the collections. Each e-Book collection has a short description of the
subjects covered. You can use the search box to search for e-Book collections if you know the
 4. Click on th
need to enter your Registration number and your e-Learning password.

5. Enter your Registration Number and E-Learning password in the fields provided and click the
Login button.
 6. You are now re-
and carry out your research in Safari

Use the above steps to access all subscribed e-Journal or e-Book content from Midlands
State University.

ADDITIONAL READING
 -
Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 3(S1), p. 17. doi:
10.21839/jaar.2018.v3is1.160.

electronic resources at the university of

Library Philosophy and Practice, 2011(JAN).

- International
Journal of Advanced Research, 4(12), pp. 2476 2481. doi: 10.21474/ijar01/2672.

Parthasarathy. R (2009). Impact of Electronic Resources on Academic Program in arts and

science colleges Tiruchirappalli A study. Retrieved from:
http://hdl.handle.net/10603/186505
UNIT9

THE MSU INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit students will be able to:

Understand the concept of Institutional Repositories.

Appreciate the benefits of Institutional Repositories.
Easily search for research papers and student dissertations from the MSU
Institutional Repository.

WHAT IS AN INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY?

They may contain a wide range of materials that reflect the intellectual wealth of an
institution such as dissertations and theses, research papers, conference papers, working
papers, books and book chapters, journal articles and past examination papers to mention
a few. They may also contain audio visual materials such as videos, pictures/images or
sound recordings.

Some Definitions

1. An Institutional Repository is an electronic archive of the scientific and scholarly

output of an institution, stored in digital format, where search and recovery are
allowed for its subsequent national or international use (Gonzalez, 2007).
2. It is an information system that collects, preserves, disseminates and provides
access to the intellectual and academic output of the university community
(Gonzalez, 2007).
3. (Lynch, 2003) in (Prabhakar and Rani, 2018) that a
university/ institution offers to the member of its community for the management
and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community

4. An institutional repository (IR) is an electronic system that captures, preserves, and

provides access to the digital work products of a community (Foster and Gibbons,
2005).

An institutional repository can also be defined as a permanent, institution-wide repository

of diverse, locally produced digital works (e.g. Article preprints and post prints, data sets,
electronic these and dissertations, learning objects, and technical reports) that is
available for public use. (Johnson, 2009).

PURPOSE OF INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES IN UNIVERSITIES

According to Bailey (2008), there are many reasons why institutions of higher education
such as MSU should implement IRs. Here are some of the most common ones.

1.
scholarship.
2. to collect content in
single location
3.
4.
5. Provision of self- archiving of institutional scholarly research output
6. Institutional Repository is created to manage, preserve, and maintain the digital
assets, intellectual output, and histories of academic institutions.

THE MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY INSTITITUTIONAL REPOSITORY (MSUIR)

The MSU IR contains the intellectual output of the Midlands State University. It contains
research output from various faculties and departments. These faculties and departments
translate into communities. Research output from is collected and stored in one its
respective faculty so that it will be easy to view all the work from each faculty.

Collections in the MSUIR

Research Papers

Dissertations/Theses

Conference Papers

Books and Book chapters

MSU Journals The Dyke and Midlands State University Journal of Science and
Technology (MSUJSAT)

Materials in the IR are added on continuous basis and new communities may be added in
the future.

Benefits and Value of Institutional Repositories

Institutional Repositories are important to Universities for several reasons:
1. Stewardship
All Universities and research Institutes have digital documents that are of enduring
value and these documents need to be preserved for posterity. Doing nothing to try
to preserve digital works of enduring value guarantees their loss. Institutional
Repositories are there to preserve these digital works to guard against loss.

2. Showcasing Research Output

An IR also can showcase the research, teaching, and scholarship at an institution.
In a university setting, an IR provides a centralized digital showcase through which
community members can highlight their work. Through an IR, prospective students
and faculty can obtain a robust picture of the types and areas of scholarship in
progress in a given department (Gibbons, 2009).

3. Scholarly Communication

output to the widest possible audience of researchers around the world who would
not otherwise have access to it through traditional channels such as printed copies
of books or journals.

4. Improved Ranking and Prestige of the University

Thus means any user who has internet connection is able to freely download and

ranking among other universities. A high profile IR may be used to support

marketing activities to attract high quality staff, students and funding (Prabhakar
and Rani, 2018)

HOW TO ACCESS THE MSUIR

To access the MSU IR follow the following steps:
1. Login to www.msu.ac.zw ;

2.

3. On the Library home

4. You will be taken to the screen shown below

 5.
button.

6. You will be taken to the screen shown below

Search Results

Search results page

7. Click on a article title to get to the following page

Click on the pdf link

Click on the pdf link to open full text.

8. Click on the PDF link to open the full text of article.

The MSU IR is organized according to communities; these communities directly translate

into faculties at MSU. Each Faculty is further divided into Departments and under each
department we get staff publications and student dissertations. Under staff publications
we get Conference Papers and Research Papers.
ADDITIONAL READING
25. Available
at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/overview/intro/index.cfm.
Cortes Ramirez, J. A. et al. - Organization
Studies, 5(1), pp. 14 37. doi: 10.1016/S0969-4765(04)00066-9.

D-Lib Magazine, 11(1), pp. 1 10. doi:

10.1045/january2005-foster.
Library Technology
Reports, p. 1. Available at:
http://miracle.si.umich.edu/publications/American_Archivist_IRs.pdf.
Gonzalez, A. B. (2007)

Journal of
Intellectual Capital, 4(1), pp. 100 113. doi: 10.1108/14691930310455414.
Kietzmann, J. H. et al.
Business Horizons
251. doi: 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005.
Ná
Electronic Library, 31(6), pp. 781 791. doi: 10.1108/EL-03-2012-0031.

the Un

https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/27367/03chapter3.pdf.
al
Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science &
English Language, 5(25). doi: 10.21922/srjhsel.v5i25.10948.
? What Social Media Sage Jornal, p.
17.
Woody, F. Communications, p. 94.
doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2016.10.013.
UNIT 10
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN LIBRARIES

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

Understand the concept of Social Media

Appreciate the benefits of using social media in libraries
Easily use social media in accessing library resources and services
Understanding the capabilities of different channels and how they can be tailored

Social Media Definitions

Below are several definitions of what social media is.

1. Web-based applications which provide functionality for sharing, relationships,

group, conversation and profiles (Kietzmann et al., 2011)
2. Social media has been referred to as a set of information technologies which
facilitate interactions and networking (Sims, Wolf and Yang, 2017)
3. A system of mobile and web based technologies that enable the creation of highly
interactive platforms which enable individuals and communities to share, co-
create, discuss and modify user-generated content (Kietzmann et al., 2011)
4. Social media sites can be described as online services that allow users to create
-
profiles and/or become a part of a group of people with whom they may be
acquainted offline. They also provide avenues to create virtual friendships (Sims,
Wolf and Yang, 2017)

Common Social Media Attributes

The above definitions of social media all share three common attributes:

1. They are web based

2. They facilitate individuals to connect with other individuals and interact with
content from others.
3. They enable users to generate, distribute and consume content on their platforms.
Why People Use Social Media
People use social media for several reasons. Most people use social media platforms for
the some of the following reasons:

1. Knowledge building
2. Making Connections
3. Building conversations and discussions
4. Constructing and Reinforcing a Professional Identity

Social Media Functionalities

Building blocks of Social Media (Kietzmann, 2011)

Identity : refers to the representation of the user in the virtual world. It could include a
profile that has descriptive and personal information such as birthday, educational
qualifications, hobbies, family relationships etc., or could be as vague as an imaginary
pseudonym.

Conversations: allows users to interact with each other in a broadcast or dialogue manner
synchronously in real time or asynchronously with time lapse between statements.

Sharing: refers to activities through which existing content is spread or distributed to

others through the social platform.
Presence: allows users to know where other community members are (on/off-line and

being in an environment while physically sit (Sims, Wolf

and Yang, 2017)

Relationships: allows community members to visualize their networks in many ways

likes followers-followed representation of real-life
relationships.

Groups: refers communities with common interests in certain subjects or topics.

Reputation: allows users to qualify the content provided by another user and establish
trust-levels between community members. These trust-levels can be made explicit, for
example through a scoring or ranking system.

Common Characteristics of Social Media

According to Musser and O'Reilly (2007), social media platforms and tools exhibit the
following key characteristics:

Enables web users to do more than just retrieve information. It enables users to
actively interact with the content as well as its creators. This is the foundation of

Enables users to execute applications straight from their browsers and they can
own and subsequently control data on the social media platform.
Users are able to add value to the content they are accessing. This facility leads to
a seamless exchange of information building a robust body of knowledge that is
sometimes called collective intelligence.
Util
specialist knowledge to apply.
Social media tools are greatly decentralized with no center of control or gates
under conventional media systems.
Is transparent and uses open technology standards that rapidly grow into open
ecosystems of loosely coupled applications built on open data and reusable
components.
It is emergent and does not rely on fully predefined application structures. Social
media structures and behaviors are allowed to emerge over time. This flexible,
adaptive strategy permits appropriate solutions to evolve in response to real world
usage and needs. It recognizes the fact that real success comes from cooperation
and not control.

Ethical Issues in Social Media Use

As discussed above, social media interactions happen online among people who either
know each other in real life or among total strangers. Because of this nature of
interaction, some ethical considerations come into play. Some of the ethical
considerations include identity theft, violation of privacy, surveillance, friending, cyber
bullying and user exploitation.

1. Violation of Privacy
This may occur when personal information such as health status, financial status,
online activities, location etc is made visible to groups other than those intended
and this can sometimes result in future negative outcomes. Some large companies
use robotic software to collect information about their clients without consent and
pass it on to third parties for targeted marketing and advertising according to the

2. Cyberbullying
Swenson-
s of
harm that might occur include embarrassment, humiliation, a feeling of being
threatened, discomfort and being tormented just to mention a few.

3. Cyberstalking

part of Cavezza and

McEwan, 2014). It includes a variety of behaviours such as repeated unwanted
emails or instant messages, posting false or hostile information about victims
online, using social networking sites to harass the victim, subscribing to services or

identity theft, impersonating the victim online, spamming or sending the victim
computer viruses; and recruiting others to harass or threaten the victim via the
Internet.

4. Intellectual Property Rights

One attribute of social media is its ability to enable people to share information to
one group or multiple groups. This gives rise to copyright protected materials such
as books, articles, music and videos. Via social media, both private and public,
links to the latest uploads of copyrighted material (books, songs, episodes of
television shows, or complete movies) are easily shared.
Reasons for Using Social Media for Academic Purposes
The reasons for for using social media services are those expected of any social networking
site (Nández and Borrego, 2013). The nature of social media enables information to be
shared among many people who are connected to different platforms. Social media can be
used for academic purposes to share information and complete research. Some activities
that can be carried out for academic purposes include:
Collaboration with research projects and teams
Dissemination of academic activities
Research relevant discussions

Meet other researchers online

Self-promotion and increase citations
Edit materials quickly
Industry Interactions
Help, support and feedback

Examples of Social Media Platforms used for Academic Purposes

ResearchGate and Academic.edu

Targets academics i.e. researchers, lecturers, students
Academic specific features (publication,uploading, citation, indexing)
Scholarly communication researchers are able to privately or publicly
communicate and to discuss topics of interests
Users are able to create profiles that include their educational levels and their
research interests
Search for Articles of interest
Linkedin
A social networking site used mostly by professionals and businesses. Key characterisitics
include:
Ability to create CV like profiles
Ability to connect with past and current colleagues and increase connections to
people with the same professional interests
Ability to get help and discuss specific topics in industry or at work
Ability to find jobs
Google Scholar
This is a search engine that searches scholarly literature and other academic materials.
Main characteristics include:
Ability to create personal profile
Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications
Keep up with recent developments in any area of research
Create virtual library where you can store your downloaded documents online
Ability to find citations, export and import citations

publications etc
Mendeley
Mendeley is a free reference manager that can help you collect references, organize
your citations, and create bibliographies.It is also an academic social network that
enables you to share your research with others. Mendeley can help you connect with
other scholars and the latest research in your subject area. With Mendeley you can:

Collaborate with other researchers online

Collect references from the Web

Automatically generate citations and bibliographies
Import papers from other research software
Access your papers from anywhere online
Read papers on the go with your iPhone or iPad
Build a professional presence with your Mendeley profile
From within your citation library, read, annotate and highlight PDFs

Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging social networking site that allows users to send short messages
called tweets. Twitter users follow others and you can follow people with similar
academic interests. By using Twitter, you can:

Promote your research, for example by providing links to journal articles

Reach a large number of people quickly through tweets and retweets
Follow the work of other experts in your field
Build relationships with experts and other followers
Keep up-to-date with the latest news and developments, and share it with others
instantly
 Reach new audiences
Get feedback about your work and give feedback to others
Follow and contribute to discussions on events, for example conferences that you
can't attend in person

Slideshare
This is a presentation and documentation-sharing platform. Most of the information found
on Slideshare is in the form of PowerPoint presentations, videos and pdf documents.
Slideshare is a combination of social networking and an online learning platform.
By using Slideshare, you can:
Create online webinars and training programs
Create visualizations for presentations

Youtube

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