“Quick Reference”
Almanacs
Annuals
Just the facts ma’am!
quick, ready or direct reference
• facts or short answers to factual questions which can be
found in a few minutes in various resources intended to
answer such questions
• typical “quick answer” reference resources are one
volume, manageably-sized factbooks
• recent editions may be kept near or at a library’s
information and telephone reference desk
Just the facts ma’am!
quick, ready or direct reference
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almanacs
annuals
dictionaries
directories
handbooks
one-volume encyclopedias
statistical abstracts
Almanacs
Almanacs
• perpetual calendar, Kalendarium, broadsheet calendars,
annuals from 16th century
• weather, wit and wisdom
• mix of the practical and fallacious
• prognostications, advice and fictional prophecies
• the people’s encyclopaedia
Almanacs
• almanac as calendar with ecclesiastical festivals, saints
days and astronomical phenomena
• mix calendar, agricultural, horticultural, fishing, hunting,
astronomical, and tidal information in with homilies,
philosophical thoughts, humor and brief geographical or
national facts
• ephemeral in format and content, reflect an older
definition and tradition of almanacs
Almanacs
• standard almanac for library and home use no longer
predicts weather or makes prophesies, but is a collection
of useful data and statistics relating to time, calendars,
countries, personalities, events, and a wide variety of
subjects
• at the desk reference almanac is general in content and not
limited to a specific subject
• most useful when a few facts without explanation are
wanted
Almanacs
• brief historical information which may not be found as
readily in any other source
• emphasis on recent and current information
• lists (sports, major world battles or disasters, prize
winners, etc.), statistics (many from official government
and other reputable sources)
• some of the information is standard and relatively
unchanging, and some requires annual revision
• date on the cover or the title is the date of publication and
not the prevailing date for currency of the content
Almanacs
• some material may be for the future (scheduled events in
the year, international meetings, centenaries, sports
venues)
• most both national and international, other events and
trends in one country
Almanacs
• standard almanac offers concise synopses for:
• events (chronology of previous year, itemized major recent news,
political happenings)
• people (obituary list of leading figures in all fields, identification of
leading personalities across various disciplines)
• major developments (breakthroughs and advances in science, technology,
medicine and politics)
• national queries and countries (information on the nation as a whole plus
an outline of other countreis)
• directory queries (addresses, titles, and sometimes names in government,
corporations are provided especially for places such as govt departments
commonly requested)
Almanacs
• standard almanac offers concise synopses for:
• statistics (in lists or tables; bulk of an almanac’s or abstract’s information)
on sports (important sports records and their holders, trophies and
winners), on awards and prizes (little information about the award or
prize itself, but holders or winners are identified), other tabular
information (any topic imaginable in a rank or chronology from history,
space exploration, disasters, big companies, best selling music, most
expensive movies, etc.)
• national statistics (any census-type information, socioeconomic, political,
etc.)
SCHEDULING AN ALMANAC’S PUBLICATION
EDITORIAL
Fall (November)
PRODUCTION
ready for sale
MARKETING
promotion
January
review content
add? delete?
start research, compilation
cost quotes
February
set deadlines all sections
setting begins
start on new edition
late Spring
two week deadlines
galleys received
cover design
advertising
late Summer / Fall
mockups
indexing
print run set
page proofs
Fall
rush pages
final checks
index; contents
cover checked
print
publication
promotion
ON SALE
Annuals
Annuals
• annual yearbooks issued by many countries and larger or
smaller units like areas, states, regions
• for countries without such publications, UNESCO, or
commercial publishers’ Europa World Year Book,
Statesman’s Year-Book fill a gap (information on a
country’s history, government, economics, resources,
education and directory items)
• encyclopedia yearbooks update the main set and cover
world events of the previous year, people, feature articles,
special articles, short articles, columns
Annuals
• different from almanacs or abstracts
• encyclopedia yearbooks update sets (not miscellany of
brief facts, a statistical abstract, a source book or other
directory-type resource although they have some of this
information)
• although defined by time, they are less timely than
almanacs in terms of publication schedule
• for comprehensive and coherent understanding rather than
brief facts -- meant to be read