George A. Spiva Library

Reference Sources

Reference sources are materials such as atlases, encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries and directories that are designed to be used in finding specific items of information, rather than for cover to cover reading.

These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now MSSU faculty, staff and students can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7. From off-campus, you need to enter your Username (1st half of your university email) and PIN.

Below is a list of the online versions of Reference sources to which Spiva Library has access. These sources are also searchable via the Central Search federated search engine.

Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia - provides over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subject areas.

Gale Virtual Reference Library - collection of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Titles include but are not limited to, Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, Countries and Their Cultures, World Education Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Oxford English Dictionary - guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past.

Oxford Reference Online Premium - brings together 100 language and subject dictionaries and reference works - containing well over 60,000 pages - into a single cross-searchable resource.