Reference Materials

Almanacs and Yearbooks

Almanacs provide ready-reference factual and statistical information. They contain recent statistical information and cover contemporary (yearly) events.

Atlases and Gazetteers

Atlases and gazetteers provide geographical information. Atlases contain maps and related information and can be general in nature or focus specifically on a particular country, state, or region or a particular subject area. Gazetteers list names of towns, villages, rivers, mountains, lakes, and other geographic features. Additionally, gazetteers often provide longitude and latitude and/or population statistics. Atlases sometimes provide a gazetteer as an index to its maps, but gazetteers can also stand alone.

Biographical Sources

Biographical sources provide information about people. These sources can be limited in a variety of ways: by profession, nationality, ethnic group, gender, and the living and dead. The information about the person can be either brief and factual or an in depth article with references and additional information.

Dictionaries

Dictionaries provide information on words and their spelling, definition, pronunciation, syllabication, and origin. There are general dictionaries that cover the words of a language in general and subject dictionaries that cover the words of a specific subject area.

Directories

Directories provide names of people or organizations and pertinent information about them. Directories include such factual information as address, telephone number, and the description of an organization. There are four main types of directories: local, national, subject, and organizational.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias provide concise information on a large variety of topics with the information usually presented in short articles. There are general encyclopedias that cover all fields of knowledge and subject encyclopedias that cover a particular subject in greater depth.

Handbooks

Handbooks provide ready-reference information in special areas or fields of knowledge. The entries are generally concise and sometimes include selected bibliographies.

Indexes

Indexes provide information about the contents of specific works so the information in those works can be located. Indexes are the primary means of locating the contents of periodicals, serials, and pamphlets. They can be in print or electronic form and can provide just citations, citations and an abstract, or citations and the full text. There are also special indexes designed for locating difficult to find material like songs, poetry, and plays.