Statewide Reference Services - Newark Public Library

Statewide Reference Services


Contact

Newark Public Library
5 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Tel: (973) 733-7779
Fax: (973) 733-5648
Text: 201–563–1034
reference@npl.org

For inquiries related to New Jersey information:
Tel: 973-733-7775
njreference@npl.org

Our Services

Any New Jersey Library Network member library is invited to contact The Newark Public Library for information, assistance, and materials to answer reference questions.  Contact us:
–by telephone, 973-733-7779 (or, for New Jersey topics, 973-733-7775)
–by email, reference@npl.org (or, for New Jersey topics, njreference@npl.org)
Patrons with extensive research needs are invited to visit us at 5 Washington Street during library hours, or to use the fee-based Gateway Service.

Reference requests are accepted until 15 minutes before closing.

Common Reference Services

Art

Business

Government Documents

Music

New Jersey

Patents and Trademarks

Art
Phone: (973) 733-7779
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/reference-center/
Guide to art Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/Art
Art ID Form: Word Document or PDF

Scope: fine arts, commercial art, architecture, antiques and collectibles, crafts, costume, furniture, glass, graphics, interior design, jewelry, landscape architecture and design, needlework, numismatics, photography, textiles.
Collection includes books, illustrated books, periodicals, slides, auction catalogs, and pictures.
Special strengths in biography, art identification, and pricing.

Business
Phone: (973) 733-7779
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/reference-center/
Guide to business Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/Business

Scope: accounting, advertising, banking, business history, finance, insurance, investments, management, marketing, real estate, sales, small business, and other business-related areas.
Collection includes trade directories and annual reports. Strong retrospective holdings of standard business reference sources.

N.J. Documents:
New Jersey Information Center
Phone: (973) 733-7775
Email: njreference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/charles-f-cummings-new-jersey-information-center/
Guide to New Jersey Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/NJ

Scope: publications from the Newark, Essex County, and New Jersey State governments, extending back into the 19th century.

U.S. Documents:
Reference
Phone: (973) 733-7779
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/u-s-government-documents-regional-depository-services/
Guide to U.S. Documents Web sites: www.npl.org/Pages/Collections/govedocs.html#netdocs

Scope: Regional Depository since 1906. Special strengths: materials from Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Treasury, and Transportation. Also strong holdings from Census Bureau, International Trade Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Smithsonian Institution, and Small Business Administration.

Note: A significant proportion of U.S. documents in the depository are included in the catalog of the Library.

Music
Phone: (973) 733-7779
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/reference-center/
The Newark Public Library’s Song Index: http://songindex.npl.org
Guide to music Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/Music

Scope: information about all kinds of music — musicians and performers; composition and theory; voice training and instruments; song lyrics and vocal and orchestral scores for musicals, operas, folk songs and dances, oratorios, solo instruments, sacred and part songs.
Collection includes books, periodicals, indexes, scores, fake books, song sheets, compact discs.

New Jersey Information Center
Phone: (973) 733-7775
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/collections-services/charles-f-cummings-new-jersey-information-center/
Guide to New Jersey Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/NJ

Scope: monographs and dissertations on New Jersey history and towns; biographies; manuscripts (e.g. John Cotton Dana, Stephen Crane); Newark Evening News morgue file and subject index; Illustrations Index, Star- Ledger Index, New Jersey Periodicals Index, Librariana Index; newspaper clippings; postcards; periodicals, pictures, maps, and atlases.

Patents and Trademarks
Phone: (973) 733-7779
Email: reference@npl.org
URL: http://www.npl.org/patents-trademarks/
Guide to Patents Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/Patents
Guide to Trademarks Web sites: https://nplwebguides.pbwiki.com/Trademarks

U.S. Patents – full text of all U.S. utility patents from 1790 to the present. Also, design patents, plant patents, reissue patents, and defensive publications. Patent abstracts are available in the Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark Office, which is held from 1872 to the present. Indexes prior to 1872 are available in the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Patents. Patents can be searched on the CD-ROM and DVD CASSIS system.

U.S. Trademarks are published in the Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark Office. These can be searched on the CD-ROM CASSIS system.

Libraries turn to us first for answers to questions like:

Art
Identification of works of art: artist, title, date, subject, and auction records.
Biographies of artists.
History, style, and values of antiques.
History and techniques of handicrafts.

Business
Details of stock splits.
History of the names of a business.
Manufacturers of products, past and present.
Small business management.

Government Documents
Bills, laws, reports, and other legislative publications.
Census and other statistical data.
Information from cabinet level departments and other agencies.

Music
Words and music to thousands of popular songs.
Scores to classical works, operas, and musicals.
Information about musical instruments.
Biographical and critical material about composers.

New Jersey
Pictures of thousands of New Jersey people, places, and events.
Historical statistics.
Biographies of notables.

Patents and Trademarks
How many patents have been issued to a company.
Who owns the patent on a product.
What the original logo for a company looked like.

Statewide Services at The Newark Public Library are funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Library.