Most areas have a city or county public library to help with reference and research. College and university libraries often provide some public access to their collections. Even a small library has resources that, if used creatively, can often answer a question or at least suggest a source where information can be found. Every library has a reference collection of books for use in the library, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, magazine indexes, compilations of statistics, biographical directories, and so on. They can provide a great deal of information quickly.
Many libraries have online searching, usually for a fee, and CD-ROMs for readers to use themselves.
Many provide access to the Internet and the World Wide Web. This guide gives examples of some of the general reference works that are in many libraries and that will help find the needed information. There are many more sources, both general and subject-oriented, in libraries. Some of the publications listed here may be available only at larger public or research libraries, or at libraries which are depositories for U.S. government publications and which by law must be open to the public for their depository collections. Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, sources can change, appear, or disappear without warning.