What I know:
When I think of Reference materials, I think of dictionaries, encyclopedias and rather large-sized books that no one is allowed to check out. No one spends much time in the Reference area and it is just for quick answers to "Where's Waldo"-type questions.
Because of my impressions--correct or not--of the Reference Section, I was surprised to read the long list of materials often housed in the section (Riedling, 2005, p. x). As well, I never really considered that on-line resources are reference. But, of course they are.
Just the other day, a student said to me, "Hey, there is a whole shelf of books here, each one has a different letter of the alphabet!" There is a whole generation of students growing up without ever having used a print encyclopedia. Times change. It is interesting how quickly both the students and I turn to on-line resources.
