Did you know that one of the most powerful yet underutilized book collections in our library lives on the 9th floor? The Bobst Reference Collection contains thousands of encyclopediae, dictionaries, thesauri, factbooks, and canonical texts from an impressive breadth of subjects. Once the natural starting point for most academic research, this collection is now opaque to many users who wonder—when and why would I ever need a physical reference text? What made these texts important to begin with? Why do we still collect these texts in the internet age? 

This workshop will include an online tutorial, discussion, and tour of the physical stacks. We will explore access and search strategies for working with the materials in-person and online. We will then reconsider the academic and creative uses of the reference collection and how reference materials might accentuate your research practice. 

After this session, you will be able to:

• effectively search the Catalog for reference materials 
• confidently navigate the physical stacks of the Bobst Reference Collections
• understand the types of materials within the Collection and imagine appropriate use cases
• consider the Reference Collection within the greater framework of the information cycle and the research process

If you have any concerns about in-person, physical participation (touring the 9th floor of Bobst) or are in need of any accommodations, please contact lia.warner@nyu.edu as soon as possible.