A Guide to Finding Reference Materials

Find quick facts, definitions, standards, reviews and more!

Reference collections at UNB Libraries provide thousands of dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, guides, bibliographies, atlases, and more, offering some of the best places to start your research. Find:

  • Definitions: Choose from hundreds of language- and subject-specific dictionaries;
  • Facts: Get names, places, dates, keywords and terms;
  • Topic overviews: Specialist encyclopedias, guides, and handbooks can provide detailed overviews of subjects and important issues;
  • Bibliographies and reading lists: Many reference articles provide pointers to other important books, articles, and other materials.

Explore the Reference Universe

Reference Universe searches through article titles and back-of-the-book indexes from over 20,000 print and electronic reference works, at UNB Libraries and beyond. Search results from Reference Universe will provide you with quick links to Quest (to locate print materials on the shelf) and to many of our online reference materials.

Due to system limitations, Reference Universe is not available to off-campus students at UNBSJ.

On the Web

  • Reference Materials: search or browse through hundreds of online reference materials available through UNB Libraries.
  • E-Books: UNB Libraries provides access to e-Books from ebrary, Springer, MyiLbrary and others, which include many reference titles. See eBooks for a listing of available collections.

On the Shelves

Thousands of print reference materials are available throughout the library's collection, and can be located using Quest. Try including the keywords dictionaries, handbooks, or encyclopedias along with other broad search terms in Quest (ex. Africa and encyclopedias). Your search results may include both print and electronic reference titles.

There are several reference collections within the library system, including specialized collections at the Engineering, Harriet Irving, Science & Forestry, and Hans W. Klohn Commons (Saint John) libraries. Try Quest's Advanced Search to limit your search to one location (ex. SCI-REF or HWK-REF).