Reference book in the context of Periodical literature

Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept in order to settle arguments debated in pubs, and twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in late August 1955.

The first edition topped the bestseller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2026 edition, it is now in its 71st year of publication, published in 100 countries and 40 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database.

Infobase is an American publisher of databases, reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including Facts On File, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, Ferguson Publishing, Vault Law, Omnigraphics, and Chelsea House (which also serves as the imprint for the special collection series, "Bloom's Literary Criticism", under the direction of literary critic Harold Bloom).

Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office filing systems, library catalogs, and reference books.

Collation differs from classification in that the classes themselves are not necessarily ordered. However, even if the order of the classes is irrelevant, the identifiers of the classes may be members of an ordered set, allowing a sorting algorithm to arrange the items by class.

The World's Writing Systems is a reference book about the world's writing systems. The book is edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright and was first published by Oxford University Press in 1996.

The World's Writing Systems systematically explores most of the world's writing systems from the earliest times onwards. There are seventy-four signed articles, arranged in thirteen groups, with seventy-nine contributors (some articles have shared credit, while others merely consulted).

School Library Journal (SLJ) is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology, multimedia, and other information resources that are likely to interest young learners. Reviews are classified by the target audience of the publications: preschool; schoolchildren to 4th grade, grades 5 and up, and teens; and professional librarians themselves ("professional reading"). Fiction, non-fiction, and reference books books are reviewed, as are graphic novels, multimedia, and digital resources.

Jane's Military Communications is an annual reference book (also published online) covering military communications and advances in the equipment used by various armed forces. Published by Jane's Information Group, a subsidiary of IHS Inc., it purports to be "the most comprehensive military communications information resource available." The former European editor of the Journal of Electronic Defense, John Williamson, was appointed editor in 1984. Previously R. J. Raggett was the editor.

Rodney Cowton, Defence Correspondent of the Times reviewed Jane's Military Communications 1983. Mr Raggett provided shipboard communications analysis of the Falklands Conflict from the British perspective: facilities for shipboard information storage and processing too small; backlogs of up to 1,000 messages; rooms not large enough to handle increased people traffic of the war environment; Argentines were able to intercept insecure communications. In 1983 these problems were considered "inevitable" considering the volume of up to 250,000 messages. 'Bob' Raggett predicted in the introduction that, by 2000, "electronic systems could render a nuclear attack by an unfriendly power virtually impossible".