You can also find information in an encyclopedia by using the Guide Letters on the spine of each volume. If the guide letters look like this Bat-Bur, this means that the volume contains topics, like Batavia, bears, binoculars, bubbles, that naturally come alphabetically between these letters. There are many different sets of encyclopedia. Here are five common ones.

• World Book Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia Americana
• Compton’s Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Grolier Encyclopedia

The second type, specific encyclopedias, focus on one topic. Here are some examples of the wide variety of encyclopedias you may find in your library.

• Better Homes and Gardens Encyclopedia of Cooking
• Childcraft (15 volumes)
• Encyclopedia of World Art (15 volumes)
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Coins
• The Illustrated Family Health Encyclopedia (24 volumes)
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aviation and Space
• Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology
• The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau
• The Baseball Encyclopedia
• Quick Canadian Facts
• The Oxford Companion to Film
• The Trivia Encyclopedia
• Compton’s Precyclopedia (for very young children, 16 volumes])

C. Indexes

Many of the indexes available in the reference area are used to locate additional resource material. For example, periodical indexes list magazine and journal articles by title, author, and subject that go back many years. All entries are arranged alphabetically and are followed by the names of magazines that carried the article, by the month, year and page on which it can be found. When you find a listing for an article you would like to read, the librarian will help you find it, either at the library itself or through an inter-library loan. Some of the indexes you will find in most libraries can be found in a table on the next page.