Designed to assist smaller libraries in selecting suitable reference materials for their collections, this annual review source identifies and describes 538 of the most useful and affordable reference sources available. The reviews cover reference titles published in 1998. Detailed annotations describe the nature, scope, and usability of each work. In addition, the entries furnish complete bibliographic and ordering information. All entries are coded to indicate whether a book is recommended for purchase by school media centers, public libraries, or smaller college libraries. Four main sections include: (1) General Reference Works; (2) Social Sciences (social sciences in general, area studies, economics and business, education, ethnic studies and anthropology, genealogy, geography, history, law, library and information science, military studies, political science, psychology and parapsychology, recreation and sports, sociology, statistics and urban studies, and women's studies); (3) Humanities (humanities in general, communication and mass media, decorative arts, fine arts, language and linguistics, literature, music, mythology/folklore and popular culture, performing arts, and philosophy and religion); and (4) Science and Technology (science and technology in general, agricultural sciences, biological sciences, engineering, heath sciences, high technology, physical sciences, resource sciences, and transportation). Includes author/title and subject indexes. (AEF)