Guide to Reference Books

By Robert Balay

This is a consolidated edition of the American Library Association's reference tool for librarians and researchers. The 11th edition of the Guide to Reference Books brings together most useful... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0838906699
• ISBN13: 9780838906699
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: American Library Association
• Length: 2020 Pages
• Weight: 7.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 3.0" x 8.7" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Winchell to Sheehy to Balay

When I was in Library School at UCLA in 1989, one of the first things I did was purchase "Sheehy" (shorthand reference for 10th edition of this work) for what I considered was a bargain at 95 bucks. It singlehandedly paid for itself in the savings in my time - I didn't have to come and use the library copies for research or the extensive bibliographic verification required within the profession. I wondered in 1989, and I still wonder, why there isn't an online version or a CD-ROM version. "Balay" is a unique work so don't bother comparison shopping. Its organized compilation of reference resources is of the utter highest quality. I think of it now as akin to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) - something for which a true bibliophile (or library geek) might pine but would probably purchase only upon receiving a financial windfall. (Yes, I do own a copy of the OED - 1st edition, compact.) At this price "Balay" is pretty much an institutional purchase, rather than a personal one. But, if you're a new library student with 300 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, this would still be a great time saver. Hint, buy it as early in your library career as possible to amortize your savings in time. Then, keep it as an heirloom of a soon to be bygone era - the age of print.