Faculty Workshop on Information Literacy

Faculty Workshop on Information Literacy
Session Two:
Standard Reference Sources

Megan S. Mitchell, Reference Librarian
Friday, January 10, 1997

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

general works
- American Heritage Dictionary
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
subject specific works
- Dictionary of Symbols in Western Art
- Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology

Handbooks, Manuals & Guides

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
Chicago Manual of Style
Guide to Reference Books

Directories

Encyclopedia of Associations
National Faculty Directory
American Art Directory
Directories in Print

Almanacs & Yearbooks

World Almanac
Weather Almanac
Almanac of American Politics
Europa World Year Book
United Nations Year Book

Biographical Sources

retrospective or current
general or specialized
essay or directory format
Biography Index

Biographical Sources

Retrospective
- Dictionary of American Biography
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Biographical Sources

Current
- Who's Who series
- Current Biography
- American Men and Women of Science
- Contemporary Authors

Geographical Sources

gazetteers
travel guides
maps
atlases
- current
- historical
- thematic

Bibliographies

enumerative or annotated
"universal" or subject specific
format specific or inclusive
retrospective or current

Bibliographies

many other reference books include bibliographies
Bibliographic Index
Bulletin of Bibliography

Indexes & Abstracts

general
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature
- Book Review Index
- Alternative Press Index

Indexes & Abstracts

inter-disciplinary
- Social Sciences Index
- Humanities Index
- General Science Index

Indexes & Abstracts

subject
- Music Index
- Chemical Abstracts
- ArtBibliographies Modern

Indexes & Abstracts

single title or source
- New York Times Index
material in collections or anthologies
- Play Index
specialized
- citation indexes

Reference Sources Unique to Particular Disciplines

thematic catalogs
exhibition or auction catalogs
concordances
spectral data sources
statistical sources

Electronic Reference Sources

CD-ROM or on-line
Internet/World Wide Web

Electronic Reference Sources

dictionaries & encyclopedias
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.
- Britannica Online
misc. reference sources
- telephone and ZIP code directories
- World Fact Book

Electronic Reference Sources

periodical indexes
- most disciplines have some electronic version of their data
- search engines vary in useability
- time period coverage varies

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