The word Reference occurs in at least two settings in the Library context; firstly as in The Reference Collection and secondly as Reference List.
A Reference Collection is a physical grouping of important factual and informational books that are available for consultation in the Library but may not be borrowed. The Deane Memorial Library has an excellent collection of subject based dictionaries and encyclopedias and also lexicons, commentaries and concordances.
A Reference List is usually found at the end of a book, a chapter in a book or an article in a journal and provides the details needed to find the publications that the author used to construct their own piece of writing. Also known simply as References, these citations to other books, chapters and articles can sometimes also be found in footnotes.
The Library also provides access to some virtual reference items – they can be found in the online equivalent of a reference collection. Students and staff at Laidlaw College can use The Oxford English Dictionary and Encyclopedia Britannica from the Library website via the Databases section. Use the View more information link.
Wikipedia is a controversial online reference facility; the text may not be authoritative but each entry has a Reference List to sites and publications that can be trusted. Scroll down to the bottom of each article for the References.
Happy searching – do come and ask at the Learning Support Desk in the Library for more information about anything concerned with Reference!
