Languages, Literatures & Cultures

• Chinese Dictionaries
• French Dictionaries
• German Dictionaries
• Italian Dictionaries
• Japanese Dictionaries
• Russian Dictionaries
• Spanish Dictionaries

Service available to SUNY New Paltz students & faculty when the Information Desk is staffed.  Books must contain "Ref" in the call number, such as Encyclopedia of India [Ref DS405 .E556 2006  ]

Copies are to be used only for study and research. 

Copyright law is observed.  During busy times, the patron may be asked to pick up copies at a later time.  Not more than 20 pages of the Reference Book may be copied.  Please fill out the Free Reference Copy Request form at the Information Desk. 

Use Reference Sources, such as encyclopedias, to get a general overview of your topic. They are not intended to be read cover-to-cover, but rather provide you with more concise information as you begin to explore a topic. Reference sources generally provide several things:

• Background information about a topic.
• Brief, factual overviews of topics.
• Information about important dates, events, and people associated with a topic.
• Terminology and definitions of terms related to a topic.
• Articles written by authors with exertise in the subject matter.
• Bibliographies of sources for further reading.

Reference books are located on the Main Floor of the Sojourner Truth Library.

Use the  in the Library Catalog and Limit search to: Reference Collection

The STL also subscribes to many electronic Reference book collections through various library databases