TIME ALMANAC A ready reference instructional guide to a free, online almanac

Adam Apo

LIS 704 99

History

• This almanac was first published in 1947 as the

Information Please Almanac.

• Since 1997, TIME partnered with Information Please to

release what is now called the TIME Almanac with

Information Please1

• This resource is available both online and in print.

How to access:

• Time Almanac can be accessed, free of charge, from any

computer with access to the internet by visiting:

http://www.infoplease.com/

• This website also provides information from

encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and various archives.

Who does this almanac serve?

Because TIME Almanac provides in-depth facts and figures

on a myriad of topics while also providing general

information for building foundational knowledge on a topic,

it can be used by adults of most technological abilities.

TIME and Information Please also produce an online

children's almanac2 that can be found at:

http://www.factmonster.com/

What questions can TIME answer?

• General information and up-to-date facts and figures in

the following areas:

• World

• U.S.

• History & Government

• Biography

• Sports

• Calendars

• Arts & Entertainment

• Business

• Society & Culture

• Health & Science

What questions, specifically?

Due to the broad sweep of areas covered by TIME Almanac, it is difficult to cover the total granularity of questions that can be answered by this resource. But here are some examples:

1. How many births were in Arkansas in 2012?

2. Who won Best Picture at the 1967 Academy Awards?

3. What percentage of same-sex couples in the U.S. have children?

4. What religion is most represented in the global population?

5. What percentages of individual income tax returns have been filed electronically through the years?

6. What country produced the greatest number of refugees last year?

7. On what day was Easter in 1861?

8. When was the longest running overtime game in Stanley Cup history?

Arrangement of information

TIME Almanac arranges information both by:

• reference source (e.g. encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, etc.)

• subject area (e.g. biography, health, arts, etc.)

The various reference sources used are the result of

partnerships with Columbia Encyclopedia, Magellan Geographix,

and Random House Dictionary.3

While a new print edition is released yearly, the online almanac

is updated weekly to include news and current events.

How to use

Information can be accessed one of three ways:

1. Search by keyword

2. Browse by reference source

3. Browse by subject

The next few slides will take us through the process of

searching by each of the above methods.

1. SEARCH BY KEYWORD

1. Search by keyword

The search bar can be located in the top right corner of any

page of the Information Please website. Let’s run a sample

search for the city of Chicago.

1. Search by keyword

Always check the source format (e.g. almanac, dictionary, etc.) and

subject (e.g. United States, Arts & Entertainment, etc.) from which the

result was taken. This is found in parentheses.

1. Search by keyword

When we click on the result taken from “Almanac—United States”, we

can see the subject thread in the top left and links to “Chicago” listed in

the Encyclopedia in the bottom right.

2. BROWSE BY

REFERENCE SOURCE

2. Browse by reference source

We may also browse information exclusively from each

reference source. This can be found at the bottom of the

homepage.

2. Browse by reference source

If we click on “Atlas,” for

example, one can browse

maps, cities, countries,

flags, etc.

Each of these tools links us

to other sources as well. For

example, we find

encyclopedia entries from

information found in the

atlas

3. BROWSE BY SUBJECT

3. Browse by subject

At the top of every page, one can find the subject menu bar

by which you may browse via subject area.

3. Browse by subject

For example, if you click on “cities” within the “U.S.” subject, one may

browse more specific sub categories within that subject.

Questions

If you have any further questions about using this resource,

you may contact me at apoadam@my.dom.edu.

Adam Apo

March 22, 2015

References1 TIME Almanac with Information Please. (2015). Retrieved from

http://www.infoplease.com/

2 TIME Almanac for Kids with Information Please. (2015). Retrieved from

http://www.factmonster.com/

3Information Please—Partners. (March 2015). Retrieved from

http://www.infoplease.com/partners.html