STATESMAN WORLD YEARBOOK : MACMILLAN PRESS , LONDON

STATESMAN WORLD YEARBOOK : MACMILLAN PRESS

AUTHORITY

 This 140 years old publication is published by MacMillan press , London , which is  a renowned name in the publishing trade and considered to be authoritative and  re-putative publishers of various reference works in world . so far , as the preparation of this source concerned , its gets developed in various editing processes and finally the Editorial board comprising of numerous scholars in the different fields of human learning approves it for printing . All the editors associated with it are quiet famous and learned personalities of library sphere . Thus authority of the source is well established.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

As the subtitle reads clearly that it provides world level coverage . thus can be said that it is International in scope & covers information about all the countries and states of the world . The yearbook begins with the comparative statistical tables of production of various food grains etc. in various countries . it also gives the chronology of the important events of the world in the beginning .
The textual matter is divided into two parts:

PART - 1:   International Organizations
This part gives information about united nation and its agencies , Inter government agencies , European organization and other International organization including commonwealth giving details about its origin , functions, organization, headquarters , name of the office bears , its publication & so on. At the end of such entry , a useful list of books of reference is also included

PART  -2:  Countries of World
Under this, all the countries of the world have been discuses and a fair idea is highlighted about the culture , customs , traditions , rituals , practices, Belief , Religion, Folk-er, Area , Economic, Constitution, Agriculture, Defense , Sports other related activities etc. have been provided .
This yearbook also provides a great number of Biographical sketches of the Prominent figures from all over the World. The information included in each entry is consisting of the Name of the Person , Date of birth , spouse information , Educational qualification and Achievement of that person in life.

ARRANGEMENT

All the countries and states are discussed in part-2 are arranged in alphabetical order for easy location .Besides , the overall arrangement of information in this reference book is very systematic . some of the countries like Australia , Canada, commonwealth of independent states , Germany , India, and United Kingdom etc. are further subdivided into constituent states in alphabetical order , At the end , three types of indexes have been provided.
The three indexes are:

1. Places and international organizations Index
2. Product's Index
3. Person's Index

These Indexes enhanced the value of this yearbook.

AMOUNT OF INFORMATION

The amount of information given for each country differs in respect of page length coverage . Besides , the information like Defense, Customs , Tradition , Religion, Area, Population etc. it also gives some other information like Climate , National Resources , Foreign policy , Planning , Railway & Aviation, Environmental , Judiciary, and Communication & Diplomats etc . At the end of such entry , a list of books of reference for further reading is appended which is provided with an idea to encourage people to know more information about that country by reading this book. 

TREATMENT

This source being a British source is having emphasize towards England, Europe & to some extend towards United states of America also. Thus, it shows a definite western slant. However , since a long time, efforts are being made for balance for coverage so that the third world countries are now better represented in it than in earlier editions . This has been mentioned in the prefatory matter of this book and claimed by editors.

REVISION POLICY

It may be considered as most up to date yearbook & can be trusted upon for its current information .Since , it is an annual publication, every year the necessary data and information is added and unwanted information is deleted.

FORMAT

This typefaces used in the book helps in reading & identifying heading and sub-headings . This is a single volume book of nearly 1800 pages . However , the binding is strong enough to sustain heavy use . This is provided in the red-color rexine since a long time . The quality of paper is very good. it is very handy & easy to use.

SPECIAL FEATURE

Some of the special features of this yearbook are listed below:

1. Provision of tremendous statistical information provided in comparative table in very begging.
2. It includes excellent current bibliography at the last of each entry.
3. The yearbook provides three types of indexes. so that every item which has been discussed can be captured by users.
4. This contains plenty of biographical information and endures to cover all the prominent figures across the globe.
5. A list of abbreviations used is also provided in the beginning.
6. Additional information of conversion if units , weight & measures is also given.

CONCLUSION

This yearbook is useful for every type of library and proves as a helpful hand to reference librarian to serve the users in the most better way. this yearbook is useful for every age group of human. It can serve them in many different ways individually.