Reference materials are those books and other items that may only be used in the library - you may not check them out of the library.

Books in the reference department are non-fiction and may be on any subject.    For the most part, reference books are not meant to be read cover-to-cover or even chapter-by-chapter. They often provide brief coverage and limited background information on a topic. Reference books provide quick information such as facts, dates, spellings and definitions.

Reference books might contain:

• statistics about job growth for an industry

• the corporate address and earnings information for the Ford Motor Company

• the format to use when citing an article in a research paper