RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
For books and other print materials, find the information you need by looking at
both sides of the title page. The title page is at the front of the book, but is not
always the first page. It contains information about the book. The other side of the
title page usually contains details of the publisher, and publication date (see
illustration in Section 5.1.2).
For audiovisual materials, look at the video title frames, the video or audio cassette,
the information printed on the cassette boxes, and any accompanying material.
1. Author information
a) Look for the author (or editor or compiler).
b) Write the family name first, then the first name, separated by a comma.
Example: NGECHU, Mary
c) If the material has two or three authors, list all the authors’ names.
Separate the names with a space, semi-colon and another space.
Example: LANKASTER, Ted ; CAMPBELL, Ian D ;
RADER, Alison
Make extra cards with headings for the second and third names.
d) If the material has more than three authors, use the first name only,
followed by the words ‘et al’ (which mean ‘and others’ in Latin).
Example: AGYEPONG, Irene Akua et al.
e) If the material has an editor or compiler instead of an author, treat the
editor or compiler as the author, but add ‘Ed.’ or ‘Comp.’ in brackets.
Example: DHINGRA, Seema (Ed.)
f) If the author is an organisation, write the name in full.
Example: World Health Organization
2. Title information
a) Look at the title page and back of the title page. The title here might
not be exactly the same as the title on the front cover. Sometimes the
title on the front cover is abbreviated, and the sub-title is not shown.
Write out the title in full. If there is a sub-title, write this out, separated
by a colon with a space before and after. The spaces help to emphasise
that the following text is a sub-title. A colon without a space can be
easily missed, or could be seen as part of the text.
Example:
The malaria manual : guidelines for rapid assessment of social,
economic and cultural aspects of malaria
SECTION 5: ORGANISING THE INFORMATION
15