Geographical Sources

Governmental Publications/ Documents

Continuing Resources

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

What is Geographical Sources?

Is an Inexpensive atlases and it may safely discarded after five to ten years. More expensive, expensive works are in available. In fact, many gain in both research and monetary value over the year.

Geographical sources may be used at the mundane level, or in more sophisticated way to help clarify linkages between human societies. Reference librarians are with both approaches.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Geographical sources are generally graphic representations which allow the imagination full reign. Indeed, many of them are works of art, and they provide a type of satisfaction rarely found in the purely textual approach to knowledge.

Geographical sources used in Ready-Reference works may be subdivided into three categories;

• Maps and Atlases

•Gazetteers

•Guide Books

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

EVALUATION The same standards apply for universitymap collection, and medium to large public and special libraries and will provide a useful guide for both beginners and experts. The standards are published by the Special Libraries Association, Geography and Maps Division. It gives detailed instruction and suggestion on how “ to create , study, evaluate and recognize” a map library

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Buying Guides The best relatively current to popular atlases is the

General Reference Books for Adults, which, as with encyclopediasand dictionaries, give detailed information on each of the works, as well as useful preliminary information on evaluation.

From time to time, the “Reference Books Bulletin” in The Booklist offers reviews of just-published atlases, such as the “World Atlas Survey”. The Geography and Maps Division, Special Libraries Association, issue the bulletin which frequently has articles of interest to librarians. Contributors covers new atlases, books, and related materials in each issue.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

PublisherMap printing is a specialized department of the graphic arts;

while simple maps can be prepared by an artist or draftsperson, more complicated works required a high degree of skill. More important, their proper reproduction necessitates expensive processes which the average printer of reference work is not equipped to handle.

When the cartographic firm’s reputation is not known, it is advisable to check through over works it may have issued, or in a buying guide. The map market may differ from the publisher, and in the case of an atlas both should be check.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Scope and Audience

As with all reference works, the geography section must represent a wide variety of titles for many purposes and, in a public or school library, for the appropriate age groups. Essentially, it is the matter of scope. Some atlases are universal; other are limited to a single country, or even a region.

Other maps, even within a general work ,may be unevenly distributed so that 50 percent or more of the work may give undue attention to the United States or Canada, ignoring the weight of the rest of the world.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Currency and StandardizationIn effort to resolve the problem these problems in the United

States, the Board on Geographic Names was established about 100 years ago. Originally the purpose was to establish names for settlements, mountains, and other geographical features in the United States, but as the years passed the board’s mandate was extended. It now include standardizing all foreign and domestic names for use by federal agencies on maps and in periodicals. By extension, the board influences the commercial mapmakers. In seeking to standardize foreign names, the board works with similar groups in other Western countries.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

FormatWhen one considers format, the obvious problem is to print a map in such a way that it is easy to read a mass of names which cover a densely populated area. It is one thing to clearly print maps of the north and south polar regions, and quite another to be able to arrange type and symbols so that one can find a path from point to point in a map of the areas around the New York City, Paris, and London.

• Color• Symbols• Projections• Grid Systems• Type• Binding• Marginal Information

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

IndexA comprehensive index is an important in an atlas as the maps

themselves. A good index is in alphabetical sequence and clearly lists all place names that appear on the maps. In addition, there should be a reference to the exact page; the exact map; and latitude, longitude, and grid information. A page number alone is never enough, as anyone who has sought as exclusive town or city on a map lacking such information will testify.

The index in many atlases is really an excellent gazetteer; that is, in addition to basic information, each entry includes data on population and country.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Major- Size World AtlasesTimes Atlas of The World• is the best single-volume atlas available.• Is suited for American libraries because, unlike many other

atlases, it gives a large amount of space to Non-European countries

The New International • Has 160,000 entries in the index and 300 good to excellent

maps.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Intermediate- to Small- Size AtlasesThe Medallion World Atlas• Is the largest of the numerous atlases issued by Hammond.• The atlas is the work horse of the line, with 324 pages maps

and over 148,000 entries in the index.Citation World Atlas• Has 26,000 entries in the index as compared with Medallion’s

100,000.• There are other differences, and yet the maps are precisely

the same.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The International Geographic Atlas• Has much in addition to maps.• It is quite attractive, at least to many people and school

children.• Here one finds numerous thematic maps and discussions of

world resources.The Rand McNally Cosmopolitan• Has approximately 300 maps on a scale of from 1:3 million to

1:16 million.• Of all the atlases it may be the most familiar.• It has serviceable index (36,000 entries) and close to 400

alum, it is updated frequently.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Local and Regional Maps

In evaluating a local map, the requirements are usually three

fold. First, the map should be truly local and should show the area in detail. Second, it should be large scale. Third it should

be recent. Although this requirements may be difficult to meet,

an effort should at least be made to keep the local collection as current and as thorough as possible.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

GazetteerIn one sense, the index in any atlas is a gazetteer, that is, it is a

geographical dictionary for finding lists of cities, mountains, rivers, population, and the features in the atlas. A separate gazetteer is precisely the same information, but usually without maps. Why ,then, bother with a separate volume?

There are three reasons: (1) More detailed; (2) the information is usually more detailed; and (3) a single, easily manage volume is often welcomed. Having made these point, one can argue with some jurisdiction that may atlas indexes often have more entities, that they are more up to date, and they contain a larger amount of information than one finds in a gazetteer. The wise librarian will first consider what is to be found in atlas before purchasing any gazetteer.

Government documents

What is Government Documents?It is any publication that is printed at government expense or

published by authority of a government body. Documents may be considered on terms of issuing agencies: the congressional, judiciary, and executive branches, which includes many department and agencies. In terms of use, the documents may be classified as: (1) record of government administration,(2) research documents for specialists, including a considerable number of statistics and data of value to science and business, and (3) popular sources of information. The form may be book, pamphlet, magazine, monograph, microforms or almost any media.

Government documents

Organization and SelectionThe organization and selection of government documents in all but the largest of libraries is relatively simple. Librarians purchase a limited number of documents, usually in terms of subjects of interest to users, such as the Statistical Abstract of the United States. If they are pamphlets, they are usually are deposited by subjects in a vertical file. If books, they are cataloged and shelved as such.

Maps

Guidebook

Gazetteers

Atlas