Reference | Lawrence University

Reference and Research Assistance

The Reference Desk is located on the main floor to your right as you enter the library. It is staffed by librarians who aid users with their research and help them make the best use of the the library's facilities. The reference librarians offer guidance in any subject using print, electronic, and media resources available at Lawrence, off campus, or on the Web. Have a question? We're happy to help!

Librarians also meet with classes to help with research, and create guides for these class sessions.

Reference Online

The library provides access to many online reference resources. You may want to try these starting points:

Research Guides Our research guides are designed for broad subject areas and topics (such as academic citation, evaluating books and articles, and writing an annotated bibliography) as well as for specific courses.
Quick Reference: Sources to help you find facts and other helpful information
Electronic Resources A categorized listing of all of our databases and other electronic resources.

Reference Collections in the Library

The reference area contains a basic collection of research materials. Books in the reference collection are arranged by Library of Congress call numbers (A-Z).
The collection includes:

Bibliographies
Guides and manuals
Indexes and abstracts
Encyclopedias, both general and subject
Dictionaries, both general and subject
Statistical sources
Directories
Microforms
Biographical sources
Maps and atlases
Catalogs for locating United States government documents

Books in the reference area are listed in LUCIA, the library catalog. If you have difficulty locating a book, please ask a reference librarian. Materials in the reference area may not be checked out of the library.

The reference librarians are at your service. They are there to help you get the most benefit from the library's resources.