Ready Reference, Ready Reference, Ready Rfffrerreser..

Let's just start by stating the obvious, librarians are known to be wells of knowledge. We are magicians with all of the answers to the universe. There could probably be an entire encyclopedia set dedicated to questions that librarians are asked on a daily basis. This is probably one of my favorite parts of the job. Some of the questions we get are intriguing while others edge on uncomfortable. So for this blog post I want to introduce ready reference, and some sources that librarians might find useful. (Pssst they are also free).

According to Charles Williamson reference work is, "A study of the standard works of reference, general and special encyclopedias, dictionaries, annuals, indexes to periodicals, ready reference manuals of every kind, special bibliographies, and the more important newspapers and periodicals. Works of similar scope are compared, and the limitations of each pointed out. Lists of questions made up from practical experience are given, and the method of finding the answers (Cassell, 2018)."

Some major reference sources include:

• Answering questions about Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Libraries and Publishing, and Bibliographic Networks - Bibliographic Resources.

• Answering Questions about Anything and Everything - Encyclopedias

• Answering Ready Reference Sources

• Answering Questions about Words - Dictionaries, Concordances, and Manuals

• Answering Questions about Events and Issues, Past and Present - Databases

• Answering Questions about Health, Law, and Business

• Answering Questions about Geography, Countries, and Travel - Atlases, Gazetteers, Maps, Geographic Information Systems, and Travel Guides.

• Answering Questions about the Lives of People - Biographical Information Sources

• Answering Questions about Government and Related Issues - Government Information Sources.

Some free ready reference sources are:

• Internet Movie Database (IMDB). www.imdb.com

• Encyclopedia Britannica. www.britannica.com

• Census.gov. www.census.gov

• Dictionary.com http://dictionary.com

• Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.com

• DailyMed. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed

• Congress.gov. www.congress.gov

• IRS www.irs.gov

• U.S. Census Bureau "Maps and Data." www.census.gov/geo/maps-data

• Biography.com www.biography.com

• Goodreads www.goodreads.com

Resources:

Cassell, K.A. and Hiremath, U. (2018).Reference and Information Services in the 21stCentury: An Introduction. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc