Reference Resources in
Print and Online
for K-12
Last updated
June 11, 2007 06:25 PM
Table of Contents
I.
Local Libraries
II.
Reference Resources
III.
Selected Articles
I.
Local
Libraries
http://www.murraystate.edu/msml/msml.htm
Harry Lee Waterfield Library
http://www.murraystate.edu/msml/msml.htm
http://racertrac.murraystate.edu
|
Calloway County Public Library |
|
| Calloway County
Public Library, serving an area of 34,000 residents, has a collection of
58,000 books and periodicals; in addition, there are 440 CDs, records,
cassettes and other audio materials, as well as 750 video items, such as
DVDs and VHS tapes. Internet terminals are available for use by the
general public. |
|
Location |
|
710 Main Street
Murray KY 42071
|
| Phone |
|
270-753-2288 |
|
|
GRAVES COUNTY
PUBLIC LIBRARY
http://www.gcpl.org |
601 N. 17th Street
Mayfield, KY 42066 270-247-2911 Fax: 270-247-2990
|
Graves County Public Library, serving an area of 37,000
residents, has a collection of 58,000 books and periodicals; in addition,
there are 270 CDs, records, cassettes and other audio materials, as well
as 1,540 video items, such as DVDs and VHS tapes. Internet terminals are
available for use by the general public.
|
Marshall County Public
Library System
Marshall County, Kentucky
@ Benton 
@ Calvert
City @ Hardin
The
Hopkins County-Madisonville Public Library
http://www.publiclibrary.org
Our library began in a little room in the back of Miss Georgia Bishop's shop on
the corner of South Main and Bishop Street in 1921. On April 17, 1926 the
library moved to 107 Union Street (which now houses the Historical Society)
where it flourished for 49 years. The door to the current location was opened
on February 2, 1975. The library now has over 37,000 library card holders,
85,000 books and an annual circulation of over 200,000. In 1976 the Branch
Library in Dawson Springs was opened with funds from a demonstration project
grant.
We are funded by an interlocal agreement between the City of Madisonville and
Hopkins County government. We receive minimal state funding; monetary donations
are welcome. Memorial contributions, Bestsellers Club purchases and birthday
gifts are acknowledged by bookplates and cards to the Honoree or to their
family. We are very proud of the changes we have been able to implement within
our budgetary constraints. We invite you to come by and visit us!
Libraries in Hopkinsville/Christian
County:
-
HOPKINSVILLE-CHRISTIAN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
-
905 Bethel Street
Hopkinsville
270-887-4262
-
(Operating income: $439,701; Location: 1101 BETHEL STREET; 82,772 books;
1,968 audio materials; 3,140 video materials; 110 serial subscriptions)
Hopkinsville Community
College Library
http://www.hopcc.kctcs.net/library/index.htm
The Mission of the
Hopkinsville Community College
is to support the college’s credit and non-credit curricular needs. The Library
accomplishes this objective by maintaining a climate conducive to the
educational experience, by functioning as a repository for a diversity of
resources, by furnishing instruction in library and research skills, and by
supplying miscellaneous services that enhance and facilitate learning.
II. Reference
Sources
A.
What is a Reference Source?
There are several definitions of a reference
source:
Library of Congress
:
"Any publication from which authoritative information can be
obtained."
Reference and Users
Services
: "A
work compiled specifically to supply information on a certain
subject or group of subjects in a form which will facilitate its
easy use."
American Library
Association
:
"Any source used to obtain authoritative information in a
reference transaction."
Online
Dictionary of Library and Information Science
:
"Any
publication from which
authoritative
information can be obtained, including but not limited
to
reference books,
catalog
records,
printed
indexes
and
abstracting services, and
bibliographic databases. Individuals and services
outside the
library
that can be relied upon to provide authoritative information are
considered resources for
referral."
-
-
reference book
-
-
A
book designed to be consulted when
authoritative
information is needed,
rather than read
cover to cover. Reference
books often consist of a series of
signed or
unsigned "entries"
listed
alphabetically under
headwords or
headings, or in some other
arrangement (classified,
numeric, etc.). The category includes
almanacs,
atlases,
bibliographies,
biographical sources,
catalogs,
concordances,
dictionaries,
directories,
discographies and
filmographies,
encyclopedias,
glossaries,
handbooks,
indexes,
manuals,
research guides,
union lists,
yearbooks, etc., whether
published commercially or
as
government documents.
Long reference
works may be
issued in
multivolume
sets, with any indexes in the last volume.
Reference works that require continuous
updating may be published
serially, sometimes as
loose-leaf services.
In
libraries,
reference books are shelved in a separate section called the
reference stacks
and are not allowed to
circulate
because they are needed to answer questions at the
reference desk.
Reference books are
reviewed
in
American Reference
Books Annual,
CHOICE,
Library Journal,
the
Reference Books
Bulletin
section
of
Booklist,
Reference Services Review, and
Reference and User
Services Quarterly published by
RUSA.
The Gale Group provides a
searchable
database
of
Reference Reviews.
The two leading
bibliographies
of English-language
reference materials are Guide to Reference Books published by
the
American Library
Association and Walford's Guide to Reference
Materials published by the
Library Association
(UK). For
online
reference resources, see
lii.org's
directory
of
Reference Sources or
Services. Compare with
circulating book.
B.
General Reference Sources
http://www.bartleby.com
http://www.bibliomania.com
Research
Bibliomania brings you an extensive
library of reference books, biographies, classic non-fiction and religious
texts. We will be adding to this library regularly and are always interested in
your recommendations for books. Send your suggestions to
comments@boards.bibliomania.com
If you want to receive email alerts on new texts, please
register and click the box.
Reference
Bibliomania's reference section is
where you can find, in one place, fully searchable copies of your favourite
language reference books, including dictionaries (Websters), books of
quotations (Grocotts), books of synonyms (Soules), a thesaurus (Rogets),
dictionaries of literary sources (Brewers) and linguistics (Hobson
Jobson), and non-literature reference books
.
Welcome
to h2g2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/
Welcome to
h2g2 -
the unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything. It's like an
encyclopedia, only better because all the entries are written by people like you!
h2g2 is an unconventional guide to
life, the
universe and
everything, an encyclopaedic project
where entries are written by people from all over the world. h2g2 was launched
in April 1999, and the BBC took over the running of the site in February 2001 as
part of our drive to develop new and innovative online services.
The Guide is written by visitors to the website - people like you
- and already it has thousands of entries on all sorts of
subjects. The result is a living, breathing
guide that's constantly being updated and revised, driven forward by the very
people who use it.
h2g2's inspiration comes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy, the best-selling book by
Douglas Adams (who was one of the original
founders of the site). Back in 1971, Douglas lay drunk in a field in Innsbruck,
Austria, thinking about the galaxy and how you might find your way around it.
His solution, the 'Guide', was an ingenious device that offered advice about
almost any place, object, entity or event you might care to name - all at the
convenience of your fingertips. This vision is now approaching reality on the
Internet in the form of h2g2.
http://www.ipl.org
The IPL was founded by a class at the University of Michigan's
School of Information, and Michigan SI students almost
exclusively generated its content and managed the Ask a Question reference
service. As of January 1, 2007, the IPL has moved to
Drexel University's College of
Information Science and Technology. Now,
many other schools are part of the IPL
Consortium!
Read about how the IPL Consortium came to be…
http://www.itools.com/
http://lii.org/
Librarians' Internet Index (LII) is
a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, Washington
state, the nation, and the world.
Every Thursday morning we send out our free
newsletter, New This Week, which features dozens of high-quality websites
carefully selected, described, and organized by our team of librarians. Topics
include current events and issues, holidays and seasons, helpful tools for
information users, human interest, and more.
You can subscribe to our newsletter by email or
RSS, or read us on the Web. We have close to 40,000 subscribers, many from our
funding states of California and Washington.
You can also search and browse our website for
the best of the Web. We have over 20,000 entries, also maintained by our
librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics.
We also offer featured collections. These have
ranged from The Grapes of Web (a companion to the 2002 California statewide
Steinbeck reading program) to such topics as taxes, elections, and September 11.
http://www.libraryspot.com/
We created
LibrarySpot.com to break through the information overload of the Web
and bring the best library and reference sites together with
insightful editorial in one user-friendly spot. Sites featured on
LibrarySpot.com are hand-selected and reviewed by our editorial team
for their exceptional quality, content and utility.
Published by StartSpot Mediaworks, Inc. in the
Northwestern
University/Evanston Research Park in Evanston, Ill.,
LibrarySpot.com is the first in a family of vertical information
portals designed to make finding the best topical information on the
Internet a quick, easy and enjoyable experience.
http://www.refdesk.com
Refdesk has three goals: (1) fast access, (2) intuitive and easy navigation and
(3) comprehensive content, rationally indexed. The prevailing philosophy here
is: simplicity. "Simplicity is the natural result of profound thought." And,
very difficult to achieve.
For an overview of refdesk's content and organization, start with
Welcome
to Refdesk and
Site Map.
Each day on the Net begins anew with a visit to
First
Things First. To stay current with additions to refdesk, see
New
Sites Added during the week. Other features include
Indispensable Sites and
Editor's Picks. Recognition for refdesk is at
Awards and Reviews. Feedback from
site visitors is available at
Comments
and Testimonials.
C.
Encyclopedias
Defining Encyclopedias
Reference.com »
Feature Articles
» What is an Encyclopedia?
At the most basic level, encyclopedias
can be characterized as books about things, while
dictionaries are books about words. Encyclopedias
synthesize knowledge, giving readers a view of what is
known about a myriad of specific topics, and present an
orderly assembly of the facts essential to an
understanding of each topic. Modern encyclopedias are
designed to serve as a point of reference from which a
reader can proceed to other sources that contain more
detailed information. The term encyclopedia derives from
classical Greek meaning "rounded education" (enkyklios
paideia, "circle of learning").
The value of any encyclopedia depends on
the needs of the individual user. No matter how good it
may be, no single encyclopedia can satisfy the needs of
all users. Some works are designed for ready reference,
others offer sophisticated discussion of complex
subjects, and others excel in the straightforward
presentation of information for the browser.
There are a number of criteria by which
to assess any given encyclopedia, such as: introduction
(the intended purpose of the encyclopedia), scope (the
work's range and contents), authority (the source of
information, the collaborators), currency (ability to
keep up with recent developments), accuracy (the attempt
to be error-free), clarity (organization and
readability), objectivity (filtering out bias),
accessibility (ease of finding what you want), special
features, and format. Any user can perform a personal
evaluation of an encyclopedia, or consult a professional
evaluation like that in
Encyclopedias, Atlases and
Dictionaries (by Marion Sader, publisher
Libraries Unlimited) or "Purchasing an Encyclopedia:
Twelve Points to Consider" a publication by the American
Library Association.
|
What is an Encyclopedia? |
◦An
encyclopedia is a set of books with articles on
every topic you can think of.
◦Each article in the encyclopedia gives
you information
about the topic.
◦Guide words on used in an encyclopedia
to help you
find information.
◦An encyclopedia has the topics in
alphabetical order. |
 |
|
Click on the girl above to practice using an encyclopedia. |
-
encyclopedia
-
A
book or
numbered
set of books containing
authoritative
summary
information about
a variety of
topics in
the form of short
essays,
usually arranged
alphabetically by
headword or
classified in some
manner. An entry may be
signed or
unsigned,
with or without
illustration or a list of references for
further reading.
Headwords and
text are
usually
revised
periodically for
publication in a new
edition. In a
multivolume encyclopedia, any
indexes are usually
located at the end of the last
volume. Encyclopedias
may be general (example: Encyclopedia Americana) or
specialized,
usually by
subject (Encyclopedia of Bad Taste) or
discipline (Encyclopedia
of Social Work). In
electronic
publishing, encyclopedias were one of the first
formats to include
multimedia and
interactive
elements (example: Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Online).
The modern encyclopedia began with the 21-volume
Encyclopédie
edited by Denis Diderot and Jean d'Alembert, an expression of the
rationalism of the 18th-century Enlightenment (Cornell
University Library). Also spelled encyclopaedia.
Synonymous with cyclopedia. Compare with
dictionary.
Historical Encyclopedias
Chambers's
http://www.cyclopedia.org
Ephraim Chamber's Cyclopaedia:
or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1727; 2d ed., London, 1738,
with two-volume supplement
in 1753) became the foundation for Diderot's Encyclopédie
and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It earned its editor a place in the Royal
Society of London and a grave in Westminster Abbey in 1745. Chambers worked as
an apprentice for
John Senex, a bookseller and globemaker, and he supplemented his income by
writing literary essays and translating. Chambers bequeathed to the encyclopedic
tradition the technical apparatus of an elaborate system of cross-references. In
the entry on "Reference," he argued that multiple cross-references were
essential to the constitution of encyclopedic knowledge for, by connecting all
the parts of the work, they transformed a compilation into a single treatise. In
his preface to the work, Chambers outlined in detail the genealogical tree of
knowledge. All knowledge stemmed from two root categories: natural and
scientific knowledge formed one root; artificial and technical knowledge
constituted the other. These two radical sources then exfoliated into some
forty-seven definable branches of knowledge, each one representing a budding
discipline. Each discipline could then be described in an ordered way by listing
the logical sequence of subtopics it handled. Chambers emphasized science,
technology, and philosophy. One irresistible note: there was no place for
history to appear in his tree graph of knowledge.
Encyclopédie,
ou
dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
Encyclopédie, ou
dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
(that is, "Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the
sciences, arts, and crafts") was an
encyclopedia
published in
France between 1751 and
1766, with later supplements and revisions in 1772, 1777 and
1780 and numerous foreign editions and later derivatives.
Its introduction, the
Preliminary Discourse,
is considered an important exposition of
Enlightenment
ideals. The Encyclopédie's self-professed aim was "to
change the way people think."
http://www.hti.umich.edu/d/did
This site has been
designed to make accessible to teachers, students, and other
interested English- language readers translations of articles
from the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond
d'Alembert in the 18th century.
More >>
Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire
raisonné
des sciences, des arts et des métiers
The Encyclopédie ou
Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers,
par une Société de Gens de lettres was published under
the direction of Diderot and d'Alembert, with 17 volumes of
text and 11 volumes of plates between 1751 and 1772.
Containing 72,000 articles written by more than 140
contributors, the Encyclopédie was a massive
reference work for the arts and sciences, as well as a
machine de guerre which served to propagate the ideas of the
French Enlightenment. The impact of the Encyclopédie
was enormous. Through its attempt to classify learning and
to open all domains of human activity to its readers, the
Encyclopédie gave expression to many of the most
important intellectual and social developments of its time.
Encyclopædia
Britannica
http://corporate.britannica.com/company_info.html
The
Encyclopædia Britannica was born in 18th-century Scotland amid the great
intellectual ferment known as the Scottish Enlightenment. It was then and there,
in Edinburgh, that Adam Smith prepared The Wealth of Nations, Sir Walter Scott
wrote novels, Robert Burns poetry, David Hume and Adam Ferguson philosophy, and
James Boswell grew to manhood and attended the university. According to one
chronicler of Britannica history, Edinburgh in the mid-1700s was "a city on the
verge of a golden age, a center of learning and a home of writers, thinkers, and
philosophers, wags, wits, and teachers."
It was against this setting that Colin Macfarquhar, a printer,
and Andrew Bell, an engraver, decided to create an encyclopedia that would serve
the new era of scholarship and enlightenment. They formed a "Society of
Gentlemen" to publish their new reference work and hired the
twenty-eight-year-old scholar William Smellie to edit it. It would be arranged
alphabetically, "compiled upon a new plan in which the different Sciences and
Arts are digested into distinct Treatises or Systems," and its chief virtue was
to be, in the editor’s word, "utility."
The first edition of the Britannica was published one section at
a time, in "fascicles," over a three-year period, beginning in 1768. The
three-volume set, completed in 1771, quickly sold out. Encouraged this success,
the publishers issued the second edition in 10 volumes (1777-84).
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org
The
LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia
is based on what many consider to be the best encyclopedia ever
written: the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
first published in 1911. While many of the science and health
articles are obviously outdated, much of the biographical and
historical articles is more complete and in-depth compared to
those available elsewhere. At a time when many encyclopedias
have capsulated and condensed important knowledge, the 11th
edition is generally much more in-depth and thorough on its
topics. It is not uncommon for its entries to be 5 to 10 times
the length of other encyclopedias. As a research tool, this 11th
edition is unparallelled - even today. LoveToKnow is now giving
you all these thousands of entries, preserving the treasured
entries that make it so unique, and where necessary and possible
adding the current point of view. We hope that you enjoy and
learn from the LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia and
that it becomes one of your favorite places for reference
information.
Funk & Wagnalls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Funk & Wagnalls is a
publisher
based in
New York City.
Isaac Kaufmann Funk
founded the business in 1876 as I.K. Funk &
Company. The firm's first publication was the
Metropolitan Pulpit. In
1877,
Adam Willis Wagnalls,
one of Funk's classmates at Wittenberg College,
now
Wittenberg University,
joined the firm as a partner. The two changed
the name of the firm to Funk & Wagnalls Company
in
1890.
Prior to 1890, F. & W. published
only religious-oriented works. The publication
of
The Literary Digest
in 1890 marked a change for the firm to a
publisher of general reference
dictionaries
and
encyclopedias.
The firm followed in
1894
with its most memorable publication, The
Standard Dictionary of the English Language.
1912
saw the publication of the Funk & Wagnalls
Standard Encyclopedia.
In
1953,
the firm began to sell its
reference publications through a
supermarket
continuity marketing
campaign, encouraging consumers
to include the latest volume of
the encyclopedia on their
shopping lists.
By
1971,
the company, known as Funk &
Wagnalls, Inc. had been bought
by
Reader's Digest Association
in
1965
and then again by the firm
Dun &
Bradstreet.
In subsequent years, the
publication rights to the
company's reference works (aside
from the encyclopedia) were
acquired by other firms.
The publication
rights to the encyclopedia were
spun off by Dun & Bradstreet in
1983,
and were bought up once more in
1990
by K-III Holdings Inc. In
1998,
as part of the Information
division of Primedia Inc.
(renamed K-III Holdings),
Funk & Wagnalls Standard
Encyclopedia became the
website funkandwagnalls.com.
This short-lived venture was
shut down in
2001.
The encyclopedia exists today
only as Funk & Wagnalls
New Encyclopedia, an
electronic reference provided to
educational institutions by the
World Almanac Education Group.
Some content from
the encyclopedia became a part
of
Microsoft's
Encarta
digital encyclopedia.
In the
1960's,
Funk and Wagnalls became part of
one of the iconic jokes on the
ground-breaking show
Laugh
In, who
frequently made the reference
"Look that up in your Funk and
Wagnalls", a play on the
perceived profanity when
speaking the word "funk".
Modern Encyclopedias
Knowledge. Trust.
Tradition—A Britannica favorite
Encyclopædia Britannica
combines 238 years of heritage with up-to-date information to produce the
world's most indispensable reference set. It is the gateway to understanding,
offering a boundless range of information written by Nobel Prize winners, expert
authors and curators, and established authorities on nearly every subject
imaginable including history, geography, physics, biographies, health and
medicine, art, sports, and current events. Thirty-two impressive volumes capture
the staggering breadth and depth of human understanding with unsurpassed
accuracy and accessibility. In an age when anyone can post their version of the
facts on the Internet, Encyclopædia Britannica maintains its
reputation as the most authoritative source of the information and ideas people
need for work, school, and the sheer joy of discovery.
http://encarta.msn.com
MSN Encarta Encyclopedia contains award-winning content to help
you learn about almost anything. Some of the content is available free of
charge. For access to MSN Encarta Premium content, become a subscriber of
MSN Encarta Premium.
