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Use these books (and other reference books), found in the Reference Collection on the first floor of the library, as a starting place for your research. They are a good place to:
find background information on your subject
find terms and people and places you can use in later database searches
get book/article lists about your subject ("bibliography" or "references")
Keep in mind:
Reference books may not be checked out (to ensure they're available for everybody to use)
You may scan/copy reference book entries at the library printers, either in the Coffee Commons or on the 2nd & 3rd floors.