What are Primary Sources? 

Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but primary sources can also include autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories recorded later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital format, or in published format.

Books & Pamphlets

Determining what a primary source is can be tricky, and in no case is this more apparent than with books and pamphlets. From one vantage point, books are the quintessential secondary source: scholars use primary source materials such as letters and diaries to write books, which are in turn secondary sources. However, books can also be a rich source of primary source material. In some instances, as in the case of published memoirs, autobiographies, and published documents, it is easy to determine when a book functions as a primary source.

But even secondary source materials can function as primary sources. Take, for instance, Lytton Strachey’s famous history of nineteenth century England, Eminent Victorians, first published in 1918. On one hand, Eminent Victorians is a secondary source, a history of English society and culture in the 1800s based on Strachey's research and analysis of primary sources. On the other hand, a present-day scholar could treat Eminent Victorians itself as a primary source, using it to analyze the mores and attitudes of Lytton Strachey and the early twentieth century English intelligentsia of which he was a part.

Books & Pamphlets

Determining what a primary source is can be tricky, and in no case is this more apparent than with books and pamphlets. From one vantage point, books are the quintessential secondary source: scholars use primary source materials such as letters and diaries to write books, which are in turn secondary sources. However, books can also be a rich source of primary source material. In some instances, as in the case of published memoirs, autobiographies, and published documents, it is easy to determine when a book functions as a primary source.

But even secondary source materials can function as primary sources. Take, for instance, Lytton Strachey’s famous history of nineteenth century England, Eminent Victorians, first published in 1918. On one hand, Eminent Victorians is a secondary source, a history of English society and culture in the 1800s based on Strachey's research and analysis of primary sources. On the other hand, a present-day scholar could treat Eminent Victorians itself as a primary source, using it to analyze the mores and attitudes of Lytton Strachey and the early twentieth century English intelligentsia of which he was a part.

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

A government’s documents are direct evidence of its activities, functions, and policies. For any research that relates to the workings of government, government documents are indispensable primary sources.

A wide range of primary sources are found in government documents: the hearings and debates of legislative bodies; the official text of laws, regulations and treaties; records of government expenditures and finances; statistical compilations such as census data; investigative reports; scientific data; and many other sources that touch virtually all aspects of society and human endeavor. This information comes in a similarly wide variety of formats, including books, periodicals, maps, CD-REMs, microfiche, and online databases.

What makes all these sources “government documents”? What all these sources have in common is that they are published or otherwise made available to the general public by a government for the general public, at government expense or as required by law. They are a government's official “voice.” Government documents are usually housed in separate sections of libraries, and have their own specialized arrangement and finding aids.

Note that government document collections typically do not include primary legal sources such as court decisions and law codes, which are often published by for-profit publishers and are found either in the main library collection or in separate law libraries.

For decades the U.S. government has been the largest publisher in the world, but government documents are also produced by regional, state, and local governments, and by international bodies such as the United Nations and the European Union. 

secondary atlas

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge Management is the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. In one form or another, knowledge management has been around for a very long time. Practitioners have included philosophers, priests, teachers, politicians, scribes, Liberians, etc.
So if Knowledge Management is such an ageless and broad topic what role does it serve in today's Information Age? These processes exist whether we acknowledge them or not and they have a profound effect on the decisions we make and the actions we take, both of which are enabled by knowledge of some type. If this is the case, and we agree that many of our decisions and actions have profound and long lasting effects, it makes sense to recognize and understand the processes that effect or actions and decision and, where possible, take steps to improve the quality these processes and in turn improve the quality of those actions and decisions for which we are responsible?
Knowledge management is not a, "a technology thing" or a, "computer thing" If we accept the premise that knowledge management is concerned with the entire process of discovery and creation of knowledge, dissemination of knowledge , and the utilization of knowledge then we are strongly driven to accept that knowledge management is much more than a "technology thing" and that elements of it exist in each of our jobs.

INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR

Following are the core objectives of this group in the context of information seeking/retrieval/behavior:
•Promote independent research among students (undergrads as well as grads) and faculty.
•Read and discuss scholarly articles.
•Engage in sharing and discussing research ideas and explore collaborative research opportunities.
There are several research projects this group is engaged in, including collaborative information seeking, social Q&A, search strategies, and browsing behaviors.
During a school semester we meet once a week for about an hour. We read scholarly articles, share our research progress, and discuss new problems. We also share new research ideas and find possible avenues for conducting individual and collaborative research projects. Look at the Bibliography page for our reading list, and Research page for ongoing research projects of this group.

INFORMATION PROCESSING

Information processing , the acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. In recent years, the term has often been applied to computer-based operations specifically.
In popular usage, the term information refers to facts and opinions provided and received during the course of daily life: one obtains information directly from other living beings, from mass media, from electronic data banks, and from all sorts of observable phenomena in the surrounding environment. A person using such facts and opinions generates more information, some of which is communicated to others during discourse, by instructions, in letters and documents, and through other media. Information .

GLOBALISATION

Help Wanted
With stiff international and intergenerational competition for work, will the world be more or less stable in the years ahead? Explore the way our bloggers from around the world think about the future of work in their regions!
Globalization
Definition
Name for the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the world's markets and businesses. This process has speeded up dramatically in the last two decades as technological advances make it easier for people to travel, communicate, and do business internationally. Two major recent driving forces are advances in telecommunications infrastructure and the rise of the internet. In general, as economies become more connected to other economies, they have increased opportunity but also increased competition. Thus, as globalization becomes a more and more common feature of world economics, powerful pro-globalization and anti-globalization lobbies have arisen.
The pro-globalization lobby argues that globalization brings about much increased opportunities for almost everyone, and increased competition is a good thing since it makes agents of production more efficient. The two most prominent pro-globalization organizations are the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum. The World Trade Organization is a pan-governmental entity (which currently has 144 members) that was set up to formulate a set of rules to govern global trade and capital flows through the process of member consensus, and to supervise their member countries to ensure that the rules are being followed. The World Economic Forum, a private foundation, does not have decision-making power but enjoys a great deal of importance since it has been effective as a powerful networking forum for many of the world's business, government and not-profit leaders.
The anti-globalization group argues that certain groups of people who are deprived in terms of resources are not currently capable of functioning within the increased competitive pressure that will be brought about by allowing their economies to be more connected to the rest of the world. Important anti-globalization organizations include environmental groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace; international aid organizations like Oxfam; third world government organizations like the G-77; business organizations and trade unions whose competitiveness is threatened by globalization like the U.S. textiles and European farm lobby, as well as the Australian and U.S. trade union movements.