Development of Webliographies for Promoting Religious Studies

By

J.A.Amaraweera

(Librarian)

Buddhist & Pali University of Sri Lanka

What is a Webliography ?

• Webliography is a word which cannot be found in a standard Webster's or Oxford dictionary

• A critical guide to electronic resources on the World Wide Web and CD-ROM, including electronic texts, HTML-encoded texts, hypertexts, secondary works, commentaries, and indexes.

Source: [http://newark.rutgers.edu/~ehrlich/poesites.html ]

Definitions of Webliography

• Is a list of web sites about a subject.Source: http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/gorgas/glossary.htm

a listing of websites; a bibliography of websites mounted on the web with hyperlinks.

Source: http://netfronts.com/guides/glossary2.htm#w Is a Catalog of online information: a list or catalog of all the Web-

based material relating to a specific subject Source:

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861711886/webliography.html

A webliography is a special type of Web directory and consists of an enumerative list of hypertext links to the scientific sources of information on the Net.

Definition of Webliography

According to the accepted definition, Webliography is an enumerative list of hypertext links and a gateway to the sources of information on the Net, whether annotated or not. Webliographies are in fact digital equivalents of bibliographies (printed lists of information sources).

Bibliographies are secondary sources among print media and Webliographies are the same on the internet

Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=webliography

Definition – Religious studies

• Religious Studies is the cross-cultural and comparative examination of humanity’s diverse religious traditions, without privileging the truth-claims of any particular tradition.

Source: http://www.uwsp.edu/news/UWSPCatalog/religious.htm

How to create a Webliography

• It is a “multi-task” operation, having a word processing document open in one window and the Internet open in another window as the first step.

• Open your word processing program to a new document. Type the title of your Webliography and save your new document.

• To begin a simple numbered Webliography start by typing 1. at the top of your document.

• Open your Internet browser (Internet Explorer / Firefox).

• Search for a site or go to a site you would like to include in your Webliography. [In this case religious sites]

• Contd.;

Contd….

• Copy the URL (address) of the site by clicking once on the address and selecting Copy from the Edit Menu.

• Return to the word processing document.

• Paste the URL as number one.

• Directly below the URL, type an annotation for the site.

• Repeat this process as necessary until the list of resources is finalized.

[Note that not all Webliography resources have to be Web-based. ]

Types of Webliographies

• Simple Webliographies• Annotated Webliographies• Subject Webliographies• Author Webliographies• Biographical Webliographies• Illustrative Webliographies• Multilingual Webliographies• Multi-task Webliographies• Webliographies of Webliographies

Advantageous of Webliographies

• Easy access to electronic resources• Easy location & identification of net

resources• Easy evaluation of Web resources• Milti - searching of relevant resources• Easy downloading required electronic

resources• Easy literature survey on e-resources• Easy accessing multimedia resources

A simple Religious Webliography

http://www.sociosite.net/topics/religion.php#buddhism

A descriptive Webliography on Religion

http://www.grhouse.org/links/religion.htm#Atheism

Example – Multi Religious Webliography

http://www.sociosite.net/

BPUSL Library Website

http://www.bpu.ac.lk/library.html

BPUSL Buddhist Webliography

http://www.bpu.ac.lk/ebudhism.html

Contd….