Credo Reference is a collection of dictionaries, encyclopaedias, biographies and quotations covering a range of topics including art and design. Among the titles are:
Oxford Art Online includes access to:
The value of reference books is that they provide, for example:
In short, they provide a starting point or grounding, the accepted or consensual knowledge, from which arguments and new knowledge can be developed.
Credo Reference also provides a rudimentary concept-mapping tool, which links back to the dictionaries and encyclopaedias in the collections