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An encyclopaedia of references

Punjabi is the mother tongue of 120 million people inhabiting vast swathes of area all over the globe.

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Kuldip Singh Dhir

Punjabi is the mother tongue of 120 million people inhabiting vast swathes of area all over the globe. It is tenth most-spoken language of the world, the fourth most-spoken language in Canada and the second-largest language in the UK. Endowed with statutory status as official language in Indian Punjab, it has an enviable academic and literary status. 

Postgraduate studies, research in universities, research centres, literary organisations and publishing industry have resulted in unimaginatively large volume of literature. This is growing by the day, giving impetus to further development and research, which must be based on objective facts and figures. Bibliographies, catalogues, gazetteers, encyclopedias dictionaries, directories and indexes help in digging information buried in libraries. The quality and quantity of research output depends on the availability of quality reference sources, which still remain a neglected area in Punjabi studies.

Reference sources provide research support as well as background information, which is required by the scholar contributing to intellectual and professional development. These are deigned to be consulted and not read through which means that these should be precise, comprehensive and dependable.

This descriptive treatise identifies and describes 500 plus reference works, an enviable figure in the face of paucity of such material in Punjabi. Keeping in view the global reach and spread of Punjabi, the editors of this tertiary source of information have identified, classified, listed and described briefly much needed research material in English for all those who are interested in our language. The editors are aware that knowledge is growing exponentially in this age of information resulting in publication glut and that generation, distribution and consumption of information is necessary for development of language. 

Dr. Satija is an internationally acknowledged scholar of library science. Co-editors Sukhdev Singh and  Harish Chander are experienced senior librarians. They have spent years of patient painstaking field and deskwork in locating, compiling and summarising over 500 vital reference sources. All the sources have been given serial numbers with cross reference of the numbers wherever needed. The research material has been arranged and classified in 10 sections, each with a distinct field of interrogation. 

Thus, the scholars can look up for bibliographical sources, directories, encyclopedias, dictionaries, multilingual dictionaries, technical lexicons, subject dictionaries, Sikh Gurus, Gurdwaras, Sikh scripture, eminent persons, various genres of literature, litterateurs, research dissertations, folklore, etc. Detailed author and title index, both in Punjabi and English, make this work all the more useful. A must have work for every serious reader of Punjabi indeed.

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