The book retrieval tool has the following advantages: it can be printed and distributed at one time, which is convenient for long-term use and has high practical value; Small size, easy to carry, not limited by time and space, and convenient for interlibrary loan. The shortcomings of book-based retrieval tools are: long publishing cycle, unable to reflect the latest information at any time; It is inconvenient to consult, and the retrieval tools based on books lag behind the actual development; Out-of-date information cannot be eliminated from book-based retrieval tools.
(2) Card retrieval tool This card retrieval tool has the following advantages: it can be edited at any time, sorted at any time, and used at any time, with the nature of assembly line. Disadvantages: for example, it is huge, takes up a lot of space, is not easy to sort, and has few retrieval points. This tool is basically out of date now. (3) Micro-retrieval tools
Advantages: small size, fast editing speed and wide distribution. Disadvantages are that you can't add or subtract at any time, you need a special reader for reading, and it's inconvenient to use. (4) Machine-readable retrieval tools (network retrieval tools) have the advantages of multiple retrieval with one input, fast retrieval speed, high quality, automatic cataloging and convenient centralized cataloging, and can use various modern communication equipment to form a retrieval network to realize online and network retrieval. 2. According to the characteristics of descriptive information, retrieval tools can be divided into catalogues, indexes, abstracts, reference books, search engines and databases. (1) Directory Retrieval Tool All searchable directories can be called directory retrieval tools. It mainly reports the appearance characteristics of information, describes specific publishing matters and its collection information. The general catalogue can be divided into national catalogue, joint catalogue and collection catalogue according to its collection scope; According to the scope of the report, it is divided into comprehensive catalogue and special catalogue. (2) Index retrieval tools
External or internal characteristics of information (such as title, author, subject, classification, etc.). ) are described in various retrieval languages and organized according to certain methods, so that users can further find tools for the original information content according to the investigated clues. The difference between index and catalogue is that it can reveal not only the external characteristics of information, but also the internal characteristics of information. Common indexes are subject index, classified index and keyword index.
(3) Abstract retrieval tool abstract generally consists of two parts: title and content abstract. It describes the external characteristics of information, and also adds a summary part to reveal the characteristics of content. It is the main retrieval tool for reporting, accumulating and retrieving information systematically, and it is also the core of traditional retrieval tools. According to the purpose and use, abstracts can be divided into reportage abstracts, indicative abstracts, reportage-indicative abstracts, critical abstracts and transformational abstracts. (4) Reference books
This is the general name of all kinds of commonly used reference books that analyze and record a large number of specific and commonly used scientific databases and facts for future reference. These include dictionaries, dictionaries, yearbooks, encyclopedias, guides, handbooks, catalogues, etc.
(5) Search engines
Search engine is a tool to organize network information according to different categories and realize information retrieval by searching web addresses. It is a network retrieval tool, which can retrieve both general information clues and the full text of original information, as well as general text information and multimedia information. (6) Database Strictly speaking, a database includes the contents of directories, indexes, abstracts, search engines and other tools. However, due to the particularity of its organization, it can also be considered as a retrieval tool.
3. According to the scope of inclusion
According to the collection scope, retrieval tools can be divided into comprehensive retrieval tools, professional retrieval tools and individual retrieval tools.
(1) comprehensive retrieval tool
It covers a wide range of disciplines and involves more types and languages of information. For example, the American engineering index. (2) Professional retrieval tools
The scope of the subject is relatively narrow, limited to the reported information of a certain subject or specialty, but the type of information contained in this subject is relatively comprehensive. For example, American Chemical Abstracts.
(3) Single retrieval tool means that the types of documents collected are relatively single, and the description format of documents is also standard and standardized. For example, China Patent Bulletin is a typical single retrieval tool, which only contains a single document type-patent documents. Its description format is simple and standardized, and it is easy to find.