A reference work is a compendium of information, usually of a specific type, compiled in a book for ease of reference. That is, the information is intended to be quickly found when needed. Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read cover to cover. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid use of the first person, and emphasize facts. Indexes are commonly provided in many types of reference work. Updated editions are published as needed, in some cases annually. A compendium is a comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. ... In general, a reference is something that refers or points to something else, or acts as a connection or a link between two things. ... An index is a detailed list, usually arranged alphabetically, of the specific information in a book publication or multimedia collection. ... In printmaking, an edition is a set of prints off one plate, composing a limited run of prints. ... An annual publication, more often called simply an annual, is a book or a magazine, comic book or comic strip published yearly. ...

In comparison, a reference book or reference-only book in a library is one that may only be used in the library and not borrowed from the library. Many such books are reference works (in the first sense) which are usually used only briefly or photocopied from, and therefore do not need to be borrowed. Keeping them in the library assures that they will always be available for use on demand. Other reference-only books are ones that are too valuable to permit borrowers to take them out. Reference-only items may be shelved in a reference collection located separately from circulating items or individual reference-only items may be shelved among items available for borrowing. A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ...

Reference work may also refer to the work that librarians perform at a library reference desk. A librarian is a person who looks after the storage and retrieval of information. ... The reference desk or information desk of a library is a public service desk where professional librarians offer help to library users. ...

Examples of the first type of reference work:

• Almanac
• Atlas
• Citation index
• Concordance
• Dictionary or Lexicon (the latter generally provides more grammatical analysis)
• Directory
• Encyclopedia
• Gazetteer
• Handbook
• Mathematical tables
• Periodical index
• Scientific tables
• Thesaurus

See also: Wikipedia's list of reference tables An almanac (also spelled almanack, especially in Commonwealth English) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. ... For other meanings of Atlas, see Atlas (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Look up Concordance on Wiktionary, the free dictionary see Concordance system for usage in politics. ... A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. ... A lexicon is usually a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ... In computing, a directory, catalog, or folder, is an entity in a file system which contains a group of files and other directories. ... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia or encyclopaedia, also (rarely) encyclopædia,[1] is a written compendium of knowledge. ... A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary, an important reference for information about places and place-names (see: toponomy), used in conjunction with an atlas. ... Before calculators were cheap and plentiful, people would use mathematical tables —lists of numbers showing the results of calculation with varying variables— to simplify and drastically speed up computation. ... The word thesaurus is derived from 16th century New Latin, in turn from Latin thesaurus, from ancient Greek thesauros, store-house, treasury. Besides its meaning as a treasury or storehouse, it more commonly means a listing of words with similar, related, or opposite meanings (this new meaning of thesaurus dates... Almanac · Categories · Glossaries · Lists · Overviews · Portals · Questions · Site news · Index Art | Biography | Culture | Geography | History | Mathematics | Philosophy | Science | Society | Technology Reference List of library and information science topics List of almanacs List of digital library projects List of encyclopedias List of How-tos List of magazines List of United States...