Encyclopedia - give background information in all fields of knowledge, while special subjects provide information on a single subject area. The articles are brief and give only the most important details.
Almanacs and Yearbooks - are characterized by the recency of the content materials since they are published annually. Almanacs describe current information both in narrative and statistical forms.
Atlases - are collections of maps and of facts about the geography of the world or of its parts. The index of an atlas is an alphabetical list of places, along with indications of where the places may be found on particular maps. Using the index to consult the atlas is the quickest and surest way of finding the right map and the right spot.
Guidebooks - provide basic information about a specific place, like a particular country, region, city, or individual museum or building.
Anthology - is a collection of extracts from the writings of various authors, often on one subject or of one kind (a collection of poems, short stories, essays, plays, etc; the so-called readings).
Dictionaries - are reference tools dealing with words of a language or terms in a particular subject area. There dictionaries for almost every language in the world. There are also dictionaries of terms in special subjects and of people in special fields.
