Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works in a person's day-to-day life: how someone earns money, manages it, invests it, and donates it to help others. As librarians, we must realize that when patrons come to us for guidance in the area of financial literacy, they are trusting us to provide not only reliable information for…

Reference services in public libraries are changing dramatically. The Internet, online databases, and shrinking budgets are all making it necessary for non-traditional reference staff to become familiar with online reference tools. Recognizing the need for cross-training, Chesapeake Public Library (CPL) developed a program called the Database…

This article presents an interview with Casper Grathwohl, VP and publisher of reference at Oxford University Press (OUP), regarding his background of reference publishing, his role in OUP, and his plans of moving on with Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO). Over the past 12 years, Grathwohl, has led a successful transition of the venerable…

What is the future direction of reference books? What types of policies are libraries implementing regarding the purchase of electronic reference books? Are libraries still buying hard copy reference items when an electronic equivalent is available? This paper discusses a national survey of libraries regarding the purchase and use of electronic…

As individuals become more and more comfortable mediating all kinds of situations online and through various technologies, their virtual selves increasingly overlap their "real" lives. Posting a "happy birthday!" message on Facebook is as automatic as dropping a card in the mail. E-mailing relevant links to co-workers happens as naturally as…

In spring semester 2009, two of the authors taught LIB 5020--Information Sources & Services to graduate library science students at Appalachian State University. The course covers information seeking patterns and provides an overview of reference services. The course is also designed to examine and evaluate library reference materials and…

Reference librarians often encounter "instrument seekers," library users who need to find a complete psychosocial test, scale, or questionnaire to use or adapt for research or clinical use. This article focuses on the resources that can help to answer these types of questions. Reference books, monographs, journal articles, and online…

Argues that some reference librarians, often without knowing it, have become fact-totems--people who have made objects of worship out of facts. In suggesting an antidote to this "Gradgrind pedagogy," the author critically reviews some "reference" books. (JD)

An annotated bibliography of biographical sources in the reference collection at the State University of New York at Albany University Libraries is presented. Biographical reference works are listed under the headings: International; United States; Foreign Countries By Country; Special and Professional Groups; Artists By Country and Continent;…

Indexes, abstracts, and reference tools that will supplement, or substitute for, use of computer based ERIC are included in this annotated bibliography. A total of eighteen citations are listed with call numbers and shelving area at the State University of New York at Albany Universities Libraries. (AP)

For the reference librarian, who has more to work with than ever before, a review of purposes and uses of general and specialized dictionaries, bibliographies, and indexes. (JS)

The number of electronic resources has climbed up steadily in recent times. Some of these e-resources are reference sources, mostly in Science, Technology and Medicine (STM), which publishers convert to electronic for obvious reasons. The library budgets for materials usually have two main lines, budget for one time purchase (monographs) and…

The separate undergraduate library was originated to provide students with the same quality of library services as are available in a good liberal arts college library. This paper deals with how reference librarians have used this opportunity to provide reference services for the undergraduate student. The major emphasis is on case studies of…

Explains in simple terms the nature and function of a number of basic types of business and industrial financial ratios. An annotated list of five basic sources for ratios is included and a reference list and bibliography are attached. (JL)

Purpose: Aims to investigate the impact of the internet on reference services in public libraries in England. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review provides the policy context for UK public library services and highlights developments in digital reference. A questionnaire was administered in 2003 to a sample of the public library…