12 Books - Searching Specific Formats (Information Research)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
12 Books - Searching Specific Formats (Information Research)
Links and forms at http://spireproject.com/books.htm
Shakh arrived in Edfu on a small boat in the company of his father. It
was a short walk from the dock to the Edfu temple complex. A fantastic
sight. A noble sight. The temple included a vast library of books and
manuscripts - a warehouse of knowledge about Egypt.
Not that there were many manuscripts in total. The time and expense it
took to create even a single copy made the library a prohibitive
expense open to only those in certain need. This was not a public
library, but an elitist library, open only to those who could justify
the gifts required to enter. There it was, open before them, long
shelves of scrolls arranged by rough topic. Amazing indeed. Shakh
shivered slightly in the cool air. This would be his life for the next
few years.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Books have such meaning to us as a society. We have a vibrant emotional
connection. Books exude a solid proof of value to a larger community.
They are important resources but the additional awe is amazing to
behold. Try ripping a chapter from a book you own in public. The stares
and discomfort is almost tangible. Some book-lovers get upset about
slight creases in books, treating books as if they were important
museum quality manuscripts - something to hold with awe and treat
gently.
Being a book writer is similarly impressive. It is a mark of an expert.
A knowledgeable expert. A knowledgeable expert we should listen too,
should pay money for the chance to listen to, should pay, listen and
carefully not crease their work.
This attitude is silly.
A book is a package of information, prepared along certain guidelines,
with a purpose. In research we look for books on a topic that may help
us answer a question. These books tend to be large, lengthy, detailed,
verbose, heavy. Books are not good at describing cutting edge
developments. They generally summarize popular consensus. They avoid
criticism. When searching, they can make horrible resources.
Books are also large and physical creations. They must be stored. They
stick around. They have a limited shelf life but libraries are forever
over-stocked with dated publications of limited use and value. They are
also long - troublesome things to read.
Books come in different flavors. There are the books by industry
insiders who tell the truth, rip the facade about a particular
industry. Such books make brilliant resources. There are also books by
journalists, prepared without insider knowledge, more of a novel of a
newsworthy situation. Such books tend to the verbose, circumstantial,
light on facts.
Certain questions simply beg to be answered by reading a book. Such
questions are usually general, introductory, timeless. For such
questions a stack of news articles would lack cohesion. A collection of
articles would be too precise, not give you the larger picture. Such
questions need the 100 pages of description, pictures and the
considered framework that books embody.
Finding a Book
As an information format, there are certain tools and resources you
need to be aware of to effectively search for books. Thankfully, many
of these tools have emerged on the internet. These include:
- A database of the free books on the internet from projects like the
Online Book Initiative and Project Gutenberg. Includes many
copyright-free classics (but not ebooks - a different concept).
- Three government publication databases for the US, UK and Australia.
The US and Australian databases are comprehensive. The UK database is
incomplete. The complete database is commercially available
- The book databases of large online bookstores is incomplete but
useful as a fast search of current books. Some include background
information. I use Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders and the UK Internet
Bookshop (of the WHSmith bookstore chain).
- The largest libraries of the world, like the US Library of Congress
and British Library hold more than 20 million publications stretching
back many years. The online book catalogues are not good for the latest
books, but are brilliant at earlier works.
- Local libraries and state libraries are noteworthy as finding a book
in their database also means you have found access to these books.
- The definitive resource is the collection of national Books-in-Print
databases like [US] Books in Print, Australian Books in Print, French
Books in Print... These databases are commercially available online, as
print directories (yuck) in libraries and often from publicly available
to search from good bookstores
Book Databases
Information about new books is organized in a collection of national
"Books in Print" databases. This information is publisher-verified,
includes forthcoming titles, and is naturally updated far faster than
the library and bookstore catalogues.
Books in Print, produced by Bowker, delivers publisher-verified
information on US books. British Books in Print is produced by Whitaker
& Sons, delivers publisher-verified information on UK books. Further
national book indexes include Australian Books in Print (Thorpe),
Canadian Books in Print (University of Toronto Press), Les Livres
Disponibles/French Books in Print (Electre), Italian Books in Print,
German Books in Print and others.
All these directories are available as print directories (not
particularly convenient), as a commercial database (through database
retailers), for subscription (bookstores frequently subscribe) or
through Global Books in Print (through not really global, is a group of
book databases).
With regards to the print versions, there may be recent editions in
your state library but don't bother. The directory is not user-friendly
as you must page through each month's subject categories. A more
convenient alternative access point is your favorite large bookstore.
For about Au$4500/year, many bookstores subscribe to Global Books in
Print on CD-ROMs, or a national 'books in print' database. There should
be no cost for searching, but ask for the date and the database name so
you have a clearer idea of what is being searched.
Further Book Resources
Book Reviews are a viable tool in a book search. The tools mentioned
above will give you very little information indeed - mainly title,
author, format and price. You will usually want more than this before
you buy a book.
Book reviews are published in a range of book-related journals and
newspapers. These are compiled into a commercial database of Book
Reviews, like the Book Review Digest by H.W.Wilson or Book Review Index
by Gale Research, or individual book reviews from the like of the New
York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/). A state library
may provide access to the Book Review Digest Database.
Online book reviews are further discussed in Locating Book Reviews
(http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/guides/fsreview.htm) by Monash
University Library.
Barnes & Noble, and to a lesser degree Amazon, have additional
information in their book database. Since it is free, it makes for a
fine immediate alternative to searching book reviews.
Future developments in book-related discussion groups holds out more
promise in harnessing the opinions of a book-reading public. Quality
issues remain (and the anonymous musings listed in Amazon.com and
Barnes & Noble
There are also book finding services with specialty book databases -
like a database of second-hand books. Books on Demand is a directory of
out-of print books available for reprinting (and includes price and
order information.)
Strategy
Obviously title searches are not effective tools to discover new books.
Not all books on Vincent Van Gogh include Vincent in the title. Subject
searches, work well only if you can grasp the indexing.
Apply these effective search techniques:
1) Browse the subject listing and select the subjects which interest
you.
2) Read the subject listings off a book you know interests you - then
search for other books in those subjects.
3) Search for other publications from suggestive authors (especially
when the author is an association).
Library catalogues, like LOCIS can illustrate these techniques. Let's
say a title or subject search lands you with one of the books listed in
LOCIS. This catalogue lists the applicable subject titles. Looking at
books placed in the same subject category works well.
A word about Book Types. Just as internet information comes in
different qualities and formats, books also come in different styles
and flavours. Books written by industry insiders are characterized by
personal stories and expert wisdom from an author telling all the
secrets. These books are worth looking for, and the short bio may give
a clue. Books written by Journalists have a different flavour, slightly
more newsy with less factual than, let say, Government books (far more
factual than most), and frequently updated books (far more current than
most). Try to find the style of book suited to your needs.
Information Theory
The book industry has reached a kind of plateau where fairly definitive
databases exist for listing books. There are databases for government
books, out-of-print books, second-hand books, current books. The
internet has changed some elements of this mix, as business models try
to support moving existing databases to free access, and others use
this change to try to present more definitive databases. Book reviews
have never properly been used by the book industry, so the big change
appears to be a move from book titles (as in most book databases and
library catalogues) to rich information (like Barnes & Noble) which
includes reviews and readers comments.
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