Resource Examination Checklist Bibliographic Sources

Title of resource:

Subject Guides and Bibliographies: the NOAA Library and Information Services Division's "Current
References" Series.
Full citation (in APA format):
North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA Central Library. Web. Retrieved
from http://www.lib.noaa.gov/researchtools/subjectguides/bibliographies.html. Accessed on
February 16, 2014.
Currency/edition (If print, is this the most current version? If electronic, how often is it
updated?):
The electronic currency is difficult to acquire an exact timeline to how frequent it will be updated.
Looking at the sources within the national bibliographic list, subject bibliographic indexes can be
uploaded more than once within a month, and has a tendency to be updated on a near
quarterly/half-year basis.
Location of resource (Where did you find it? How can it be accessedpatrons only, open

access, non-circulating, circulating, etc.):

The resource is open access. I used DuckDuckGo, and used the keyword phrase Subject
Bibliography and immediate found this resource.
Evaluation
The Purpose
(What has the resource set out to do? Does it really do that? Use the title, foreword or preface,

introduction, table of contents, and an examination of the text itself to help you determine the
purpose.)

Answer: The purpose of this resource is to provide cataloging, links, and PDFs, of various recent
topics that the NOAA deals with. It does exactly that and provides links to the NOAA Central
Librarys staffs picks of websites and internet guides dealing with Oceanic and Atmospheric topics.
The Authority
(Is the author qualified to write/compile the resource? Is the publisher reputable? Conduct a web

search to find additional information about the author and publisher if the information contained
within the resource is insufficient to determine whether it can be considered authoritative.)
Answer: The authority is well-qualified, as it is the national North Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administrations (NOAAs) central library website.
The Scope
(What does the resource really cover?)

Answer: The resource covers different kinds of lists of bibliographic information. Cataloging with
PDF/links, Library staffs website picks, and Internet guides by index.
The Audience
(Who is the intended audience of the resource? Is meant for the lay person or for a

specialist/academic audience? Is it for a child or for an adult?)

Answer: The intended audience of this resource is mostly for academics; however, certain links
can move the user from the central librarys website to, say the NOAA photo librarys website that
can be used for all ages and teachers.
The Format
(Is it easy to use? How is the resource arranged? How it is organized? E.g. For print material, is

there a table of contents, glossary, and an index? For electronic/web-based material, are there
multiple search options, does it use a controlled vocabulary?)

Answer: The format is fairly straightforward in a list format in chronological order. There is a
single search box at the upper-right hand corner of the webpage, with two radial buttons giving
the option to search within the central librarys website or the entire NOAA website (central library
radial set as default).
Adapted from ORE on the Web, Ohio Library Council, 2008. See Copyright-Credits at http://www.olc.org/ore/supervisor.htm#credits for information
regarding design, source of materials, and for use of the site.

Additional Evaluation Criteria for Bibliographic Sources

Accuracy (is the spelling of authors name, title, location of item, etc. correct? Compare information with
another bibliographic resource or the actual item).
Answer: The accuracy is almost perfect. When accessing the catalog information on some of the different
subject bibliographic resources, the catalog citation title follows sentence-case ruling, whereas the titles
within the national list are all first-letter uppercase.
Methodology (did the compiler use information from primary sourcesthe actual bookor secondary
sourcesother bibliographies?).

Answer: The compiler uses a mixture of primary sources and secondary sources to achieve in
creating this national bibliographic resource on subject bibliographic resources. Some of the links
provide direct access to the digitized version of the resource. Some others were secondary, as in
the Monthly Weather Review Author and Subject Index 1873-1935, the author mentions another
author from a different library had compiled the indexes.
Bibliographic content (are the citations provided sufficient to locate the item and can they be verified by
another bibliographic resource or the actual resource?).
Answer: The catalog aspect of the national bibliographic list on current references provides sufficient
means to locating the print and electronic versions. With PDFs and links, it is verifiable that the national
bibliographic list matches to the information of the subject bibliographic lists and others.

Submitted by: Ben Hubert