The following reference collections are recommended. Libraries should pick the level that they are able to develop and work toward keeping their collection current. Library staff are encouraged to contact the District Library reference staff for access to materials they may not collect or to assist with any reference questions.

Core Reference Collection:

1. National Five Digit Zip Code and Post Office Directory
2. World Book Encyclopedia
3. World Almanac and Book of Facts
4. Telephone book for your community
5. Telephone books for your county
6. Map of the local community
7. Maps of the local community
8. The Congressional Directory
9. The Pennsylvania Manual
10. Rand McNally Road Atlas
11. NADA Official Used Car Guide

Basic Reference Collection:

All Core Reference materials plus:

1. Almanac of Famous People
2. Roberts Rules of Order
3. Gebbie Press All-in-One Media Guide
4. Best Loved Poems of the American People
5. Consumer Reports (with Annual Buying Guide)
6. Mayo Clinic Family Health Guide
7. Guinness Book of World Records
8. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (or) The New York Public Library's Book of Twentieth Century American Quotations (or) The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
9. Current Biography (or) Biography Today
10. Roget's Twenty-First Century Thesaurus
11. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (or) Chicago Manual of Style (or) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (or) MLA Style Manual
12. Occupational Outlook Handbook
13. Four-year colleges (Peterson's) (or) Fiske Guide to Colleges
14. Kovel's Antiques and Collectibles Price List (or) Antiques Price Guide (Miller) (or) Schroeder's Antiques Price Guide
15. The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs (or) PDR Family Guide to Prescription Drugs
16. United States Government Manual
17. Black's Law Dictionary (or) Ballantine's Law Dictionary
18. Lasser's Your Income Tax
19. Chase's Calendar of Events

BASIC PLUS Reference Collection

All of the above plus at least 16 of the following:

1. Famous First Facts
2. Who's Who in America
3. Peterson's Guide to Two-Year Colleges
4. Merriam Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary
5. Fashion in the Western World, 1500 -- 1990
6. A second current encyclopedia (print or CD-ROM)
7. A second family medical health guide
8. Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series (or) Genreflecting: A Guide to Reading Interests in Genre Fiction (or) Now Read On: A Guide in Contemporary Popular Fiction
9. Value Line Investment Survey
10. Harris-Pennsylvania Industrial Directory
11. Hoover's Handbook of American Business
12. Pennsylvania Abstracts
13. Statistical Abstracts of the United States
14. National Geographic Atlas of the World (or) Hammond's Atlas of the World
15. New Book of Popular Science (or) McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
16. Lands & Peoples
17. German-English Dictionary (or) French-English Dictionary (or) Spanish-English Dictionary (or) Latin Dictionary
18. Telephone Directories for Major Cities in the Commonwealth
19. Reader's Digest Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible
20. Pennsylvania Education Directory
21. Leonard Matlin's Movie & Video Guide
22. All Music Guide
23. Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present
24. Rules of the Game: The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of all the Sports in the World
25. The Scholarship Book (Cassidy)