You'll find reference books in the large room to the right of the Reference Desk.  Reference books are used to find quick facts and general information about a topic.  They can be particularly useful to identify terminology, statistics, people, events, timelines, and additional resources.

Books are an underutilized resource.  Librarians and faculty select books that support and reinforce the UIW curriculum.  If an assignment calls for scholarly resources, books qualify.  An added bonus?  Many books have extensive bibliographies that can lead you to additional sources of information. 

Use the Online Catalog to identify books available in the library.

The library subscribes to nearly 50,000 periodicals and most are in an electronic format, accessible through the databases or the Journals link on the library's Web page.

The following tab explains the differences between a popular magazine and a scholarly journal.

For additional information on resources and their reliability/lack of reliability, see the LibGuide Reliable/Reputable Resources.

You'll use a database to locate information on your topic.  Many databases provide the full text of journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  Other databases are electronic collections of standard reference books.  Several are used to locate images.  The library subscribes to more than 100 databases; use the Databases link on the library's Web page to see an alphabetical listing. 

•  Credo Reference - If your instructor requests a library session, this is the database you will learn how to use.  It is an electronic collection of more than 400 reference books; when an article is opened for reading, links to materials owned by the library appear in the left-hand column.

Off campus or in the dormitories, you must use WebVPN to connect to the library's databases.  See the Using the Library From Home LibGuide for more information.

Some resources are considered unacceptable in a university environment: 

·       Wikipedia - articles are not authored; anyone can create an account and make changes to entries.

·       General print encyclopedias - World Book; Encyclopedia Britannica.

·       Many Web pages.  Use the form at the bottom of this box to determine whether a Web page is reliable. 

·       If you have questions about resources, check with your instructor.