Documentation Services

Somipam R. ShimrayResearch Scholar (JRF)

Dept. of LISPondicherry Central University

PondicherryIndia

Contents

• Conceptual• Documents Types• Documentary Sources • Library documentation stages • Providing User Services• Conclusions• References

Documentation• Documentation refer to the act of recording information.• Documentation service is a process of reproducing any available

material and making it available to readers.• Systematic organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of

specialized information, especially of a scientific or technical nature. (ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983).

Who Documents?• Documentation centers collect a wide range of materials from

governmental, inter-governmental and local and international non-governmental sources.

• Documentation centers provide information that is useful to the users and researchers.

Documents Types

Documents

Published & unpublished Textual & non-textual

Textual documentsTextual contains mainly written words: books, periodicals, statistical reports, legal documents (affidavits), catalogues, administrative records etc.

Non-textual documents Photographs, artistic works, maps, sketches, sound

recordings, video recordings, films, monuments etc.

Document TypesPublished documents 1. Printed and packaged such as a book, magazine or any other form of publication.2. Made available to the public by selling.3. Produced with multiple copies. 4. Available through established means of distribution such as bookstores and

newspaper stands.5. Carries a set of information such as title, name of author, name of publisher and

other related information that provides a unique and accurate description of the document as a physical carrier of information. This set of information is referred to as “bibliographic description”.

Unpublished documents1. No written work issued for publication.2. Not available for distribution and sale.3. Grey literature - Refers to research that is either unpublished or has been

published in non-commercial form.Examples: Government reports, public statements, occasional reports by human rights organizations, speeches and declarations, etc.

Documents Sources

Documents sources

TertiaryPrimary Secondary

First-hand information• Reports• Conference

documents• Theses• Dissertations• Patents• Unpublished

documents etc.

Aggregates of primary and secondary sources

• Directories• Union catalog• Bibliography of

bibliographies etc.

Documents written after an event has occurred, providing secondhand accounts of that event, person, or topic

• Books• Magazines• Dictionaries• Encyclopedia• Geographical sources• Bibliographies• Handbooks etc.

Library documentation stages

1. Determining what to collect and how– Users’ needs analysis – Determination of the possible sources of information – Selection

2. Acquiring Materials3. Organizing Materials

– Bibliographic description– Contents description– Document Storage – Assigning document locators

4. Providing User Services

Providing User Services

Organizing Materials

Acquiring Materials

Determining what to collect and how

Bibliographic Description

• Recording of information that describes the document as a physical carrier of information.

• Recording the document’s identifiers. • The basic identifiers are the title, the name of author, edition,

publisher and year of publication of the document etc.Example:

Contents Description• The process of describing a document in terms of what it contains

is called “contents description”. • The two main forms of content description are Indexing and

Abstracting.Indexing

•The aim of indexing is to lead the users to the information they are looking for. •Indexing refers to the process of selecting the terms that most closely represent the contents of a document.

Example

Abstract•An abstract is a summary of a text. •Users of a documentation center will find abstracts useful for two reasons:

a) Considerably reduced amount of primary

information. b) Emphasis given to

aspects of particular interest.

Example

Document Storage

• A document, in whatever format it is - paper, tape, disk, digital - has to be stored following a certain system so that it can be retrieved from the collection when needed with minimum trouble.

• A complete storage system has the following components: – Device or facility to help in retrieval - OPAC/Card catalog.– Physical containers of documents - clipped, stapled etc.– Order to be followed in arranging the documents

• Alphabetical, by author, chronological order by date of production or acquisition, document size, format of the document.

Assigning Document’s Location

• Record numbering is used to refer to this process.• Many terms have been used to refer to the indication of the

document's location, among them:– Document symbol – Record number (1-100, 101-200, A1-A100, B101-B200….) – Call number etc.

Providing User Services• Documentalist assists users in finding relevant documents. • The most common method of providing services to users is

through the use of a reading room. • Another common method is by lending books and other materials

to users. • Documentation centers can also perform other forms of

information dissemination such as by producing reports, publishing abstracts, etc.

Conclusions• Documentation refer to the act of recording information.• Documentation centers provide information that is useful to the users and

researchers.• Document types –

1. Textual & non-textual2. Published & unpublished

• Documents Sources – 1. Primary2. Secondary3. Tertiary

• Library documentation stages1. Determining what to collect and how2. Acquiring Materials3. Organizing Materials4. Providing User Services

References

• Penna, C. (1970). The planning of library and documentation services. Retrieved 01 28, 2017, from World wide web: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000930/093028eo.pdf

• Gupta, S. (1991). The institute of Ethiopian studies library and its documentation services. International Library Review, 23(4), 381–389.

• Mchombu, K. (1984). Development of library and documentation services in Tanzania: Problems of strategy and tactics. Information Processing & Management, 20(4), 559-569.