Reference

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Form / Introduction / Reference

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it. — Samuel Johnson

—————————

Introduction¹

Introduction to Reference Work (W. A. Katz)

Reference ²

Dictionary

Reference : a work (such as a dictionary or encyclopedia) containing useful facts or information — Webster

Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, OneLook

Thesaurus

Roget’s II (Thesaurus.com), Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, Visuwords

Encyclopedia

Reference work is a work, such as a book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid use of the first person, and emphasize facts. Reference works include dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, bibliographies, biographical sources, catalogs such as library catalogs and art catalogs, concordances, directories such as business directories, discographies, filmographies, glossaries, handbooks and manuals. — Wikipedia

Reference

Library of Congress Research and Reference Services
Library of Congress Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites

Refdesk
Refdesk Reference Shelves on the Net
Refdesk Essential Reference Tools
Refdesk Quick Reference
Refdesk Indispensable Links

InfoPlease
LibrarySpot
Martindale’s
Wolfram Alpha

Project Gutenberg
Bibliomania

Wikipedia’s Reference Desk
Wikipedia’s Reference Works Category
Wikipedia’s General Reference Portal

———————-

Innovation

Research

Locating Fair and Balanced Sources (Internet Public Library)

————————–

Preservation

History

Worlds of Reference (Tom McArthur)
You could look it up: the reference shelf from ancient Babylon to Wikipedia (Jack Lynch)
A Reference Guide To Reference In You Could Look It Up (Genevieve Valentine, NPR)

Library

WorldCat, Library of Congress, UPenn Online Books, Open Library

—————————

Participation

How to Make a Great Quick-Reference Guide (Ryan Knott, Tech Smith)

Expression

Fun

Reference Librarianship in Star Wars
Jedi Master ‘Madame’ Jocasta Nu

Humor

——–

Here are links to pages about closely related subjects.

Knowledge Form

Introduction Discipline

Reference Dictionary, Thesaurus, Glossary, Encyclopedia, Outline, Guide

——

Notes

1. The resources on this page are are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma.

2. Some of the information on this page as well as the classification scheme used for the resources on all of the pages on Cosma was initially developed in the year 2000 while Mary E. Hopper was taking a course entitled LS407 Reference/Information Services at the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. It was a legendary, very rigorous course taught by Dr. Allen Smith.

Reference 2

Reference

Reference ²