Information source

"Source" means the origin of something. An information source is a source of information for somebody, i.e. anything that might inform a person about something or provide knowledge to somebody. Information sources may be observations, people, speeches, documents, pictures, organizations etc. They may be primary sources, secondary sources, tertiary sources and so on.

Different epistemologies have different views regarding the importance of different kinds of information sources. Empiricism regards sense data as the ultimate information sources, while other epistemologies have different views (cf., source criticism).

In Library and information science
Library and information science is a field devoted to help users find relevant information sources and to organize information.

Examples of works made in order to help users identify relevant information sources are:


 * Adams, Stephen R. (2005). Information Sources in Patents. 2nd ed. K. G. Saur. (Guides to Information Sources)


 * O'Hare, Christine (2007). Business Information Sources.  Library Assn Pub Ltd.


 * Stebbins, Leslie F.  (2005). Student Guide to Research in the Digital Age: How to Locate and Evaluate Information Sources. Libraries Unlimited.