Examples of almanacs and fact books are Information Please Almanac, World Almanac and Book of Facts , The African American Almanac, and Statistical Abstract of the United States. General almanacs and fact books are classified in the AY section of reference. The following are links to some excellent online sources for facts and statistics. However, library collections also include dictionaries and indexes devoted exclusively to information about people. Information included in biographical sources usually includes the place and date of birth, details about the person's education and major work experiences, contributions to their chosen field, and date of death.
Biographical sources vary as to how much detailed coverage provided.
These sources may include people from many subject areas, but are often specific to one field, like music, or geographic area, like a state or region. Biographical reference sources can tell you how old Dan Rather is or why Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheel chair. Examples of biographical reference sources are Almanac of Famous People , Great Lives From History , and People Who Shaped the Century . These general biographical sources can be found in the CT section of the library. Other biographical sources can be found in particular subject areas of the reference collection.