What are Reference Books?
Reference books are books that are meant to stay in the library for everyone to use. This includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and handbooks. They are shelved on the 1st floor and are located right in the middle of the floor as you come into the library, and also behind the reference desk.
On the topic of world religions, there are a lot of excellent reference books that you can use that are found on the Encyclopedias tab.
This is a view of the reference shelves that are behind the New Books on the first floor. The reference books on ethics are shelved here.To find Reference books, you need to use the Library catalog, or just go to the reference shelves on the first floor if you have the call number of a reference book already.
Where is the Library Catalog?
| On the main library page, select Books & More, then enter a search term in the search box. |  |
Searching the Library Catalog
Once you have clicked on the Books & more tab, you can type in your topic in the search box, as is shown below.
Then you click on the Search Button to the right of the search box.
The search results page then displays. What is shown below is a part of the results page.
In the example above, the first two books are electronic books and the third is a reference book, because it has the letters "Ref" in front of the call number.
The book that I will choose will be number 3, Encyclopedia of Values and Ethics. Go to the next box to find out what to do next.
Once you have found a book on the results list that you wish to find, you need to do the following.
How Reference Books are arranged on the shelves
The Reference books on the 1st floor are arranged in a specific manner. Our Library uses the Library of Congress Classification system, which assigns a letter or letters to specific subjects, just like the 3rd floor books.