Gollop/Tibbo

INLS 111: INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES I

School of Information and Library Science

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ENCYCLOPEDIA SELECTION EXERCISE

Please work in pairs for this assignment. Make sure you thoroughly discuss your answers with your partner. Each pair should turn in one assignment. Answer the following questions in wordprocessed format and be prepared to discuss specific examples and findings in class. Save time: look for each of these items as you examine a given source.

1. Compare coverage of the “Big 4” encyclopedias (Americana, New Encyclopedia Britannica, Collier’s, and World Book) on two topics of your choice (you might pick your pathfinder topics!). Try to locate material on a broad topic and a very specific one. You may want to have one of these be a controversial topic as well.

2. Taking those same subjects, compare the information available in the electronic encyclopedias, World Book,Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia, and Britannica Online, or any other electronic encyclopedia.

3. Look up your home city or state. Which encyclopedia provides the “best” information? Why?

4. How easy/difficult is it to find who wrote an article? What they do? Dead? Alive? Active scholars/experts?

5. How much does a male Indian elephant weigh?

6. How long is the Thames River. Check 3 sources

7. Compare the treatment of “Lasers “ in a general encyclopedia and the McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.

8. Given a particular library setting of your choice, if you could only have (or have access to) one of these encyclopedias, which one would it be? WHY?