What are research reference materials?

Atlases contain an organized group of pictorial or illustrated political, cultural, physical, road, and/or thematic maps. Atlases may be organized around a specific subject, theme, or geographic area.

Examples include:

Specialty Map Resource:

Atlases

These are collections of maps in book form. In addition to purely geographical atlases, there are specialized ones for a variety of subjects: history, religion, art, architecture, commercial, diseases, sports, exploration, ocean, stars, etc. Atlases are located on the atlas cases in the reference print collection section.  Examples are Atlas of World Geography and Atlas of the Great Plains. The Census Atlas of the United States (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is available online.

Gazetteers

A listing of geographical features and locations, complete with longitude and latitudes, and short descriptions. Examples include the Historical Gazetteer of the United States and the Utah Atlas & Gazetteer.

Almanacs

Yearly compilations of facts, dates, and statistics. They can be general or subject specific. Examples include Library and Book Trade Almanac, World Almanac and Book of Facts 2019, and Old Farmer's Almanac.

Directories

A listing of organizations, people, companies, institutions, etc., with a brief description of each including contact information. Online resource ReferenceUSA

Manuals

Manuals provide"how to" information, such as how to write a correct citation. Examples include 
The Merck Manual Of Diagnosis And Therapy and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. 

Yearbooks

These are annual documentary, historical, or memorial compendiums of facts, photographs, statistics, and other information from the preceding year, often limited to a specific country, institution, discipline, or subject. Print resource - Broadcasting & cable yearbook

The above types of reference sources list is adapted from Carol Zoppel, Research and Instruction librarian's types of reference sources list. 

Encyclopedias contain full coverage of information about an area of knowledge. They can be general or can cover a specific subject, and contain alphabetically organized entries with varying detail. These are great starting points for fact-finding, getting background topic information, learning of key events and individuals, or starting a research project. Below is a major general encyclopedia.  See Best Practices on this guides Home page to pinpoint valuable subject-specific encyclopedias.

(859) 985-3109 Reference Desk

(859) 985-3109 Reference Desk

(895) 985-3364 Circulation Desk

(895) 985-3364 Circulation Desk

(859) 212-6621 Text-The-Library

(859) 212-6621 Text-The-Library

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As as saw in Step #4 of the research process, reference sources are key to a successful research strategy. They can provide a good, working knowledge of key issues and sub-topics and provide ideas for other sources to explore. To figure out how to use various types of reference sources, feel free to Ask a Librarian.

Reference sources generally fall into three categories:

Fact tools

This is the most common type of reference source. Fact tools contain bits of useful data, such as descriptions, definitions, statistics, lists, quotes or rules. They include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, atlases, almanacs, quotation books and style manuals.

Finding tools

Finding tools point you to books and articles on your topic and can exist in either print or electronic form. Typically you search within a finding source by topic. Some examples include catalogs, databases, indexes and bibliographies.

Hybrid tools

Just like the name suggests, hybrid tools combine both fact and finding functions. They contain information about a topic, and a list of recommended resources. Many specialized reference encyclopedias--and even Wikipedia--are considered hybrids.