To me, one has to be ever so careful when looking up topics on the web. To be sure, there are many legitimate sites out there that offer honest information. But I still trust books more. Maybe I am a luddite, but I am not there with you yet. Best of luck with your culling and downsizing. Are you staying in the same area or heading to new pastures?

PAM

I am rethinking of lot of material as well. I have a great many books, some of them quite huge, which I used for work back when there was no Internet, but I realized recently that I haven't looked in any of them for a few years now. I am also planning a move sometime before the end of the year and it's really hard to envision a reason to heft those along.

There are many things I wouldn't cull yet, and some in other areas which also can go I guess.

[Getting rid of reference books always makes me think of Lucifer's Hammer in which one man when he knows the comet is going to hit wraps all his books in plastic and buries them, and is able to retrieve them post apocalypse and save the day because of access to all that information!]

Absolutely. I own 3 dictionaries and have not taken one down off the shelf in years and years. The American Heritage Dictionary is one of my links (along with Readers Paradise, naturally) across the top of my browser.

Pam, I believe that most of us have a discerning intelligence that can filter out the bogus or near bogus info. We recognize proselytizing when we see it. I know wikipedia is notorious, but in my experience it is overwhelmingly conscientious. A few controversial entries get all the bad press. I've edited a few entries myself - adding info on topics I know and linking to support data. I'm amazed at how quickly the wikipedia is updated.

I agree with using the internet more and more, carefully choosing where I find information. I rarely consult my cookbooks, for example, instead searching the net and comparing recipes, reading reviews. I also like using the net for my DIY projects around the house. I enjoy finding new products and ideas that are not in the books on my shelves. Also searching for information about current people in the news is more likely to be up-to-date. One of my biggest kicks is looking up song lyrics...songs that I've always hummed along to now have words. Love it!

Funny this topic should come up as I have just culled an entire shelf of reference books. I had quite a number of crossword dictionaries that I had never opened, some older but undistinguished dictionaries, a reference encyclopedia that was hopelessly outdated and without charm, and a few other unremarkable volumes. I still have a couple of dictionaries, but those are usually on the coffee table or dinner table, in frequent use by DH. I use the internet for information but am careful about what I find. One subject that is terribly unreliable online is the authorship of songs and music. Often a performer is listed as the songwriter when in fact it was written by a completely different person. And yes, I love Wikipedia and have spent hours browsing there. I would fact-check anything before using the information, though.

I definitely use the web more than traditional book references. But of course, I verify when the information is going to be used professionally. Wikipedia is a good source for other sources, too, as there is often a works cited at the bottom of the article.

I completely agree about checking carefully the information found on the Internet. I usually check several sources and compare and contrast.

desta, I enjoyed hearing about "Lucifer's Hammer." :-)

Really I use both all the time. I revel in information. The board game Trivial Pursuit was invented for people whose minds work the way mine does, not so much smart, but hoarders of odd facts.

Periodically I go through my reference and other information books to cull, just as I do with fiction. Partly it is my library training. But reference books can go seriously out of date. Then the information in them is no longer valid. Other books have information that is of lasting value and those I keep indefinitely. I'm also a sucker for a well crafted binding, but that is another issue!

I also use the internet heavily. It is my opinion that neither books nor online sources truly replace the other. They are instead wonderful complements.

Rosefolly

I could never get rid of my reference books and as I can't spell and nor can the 'spell check' on the computer (insists on American English) I keep a large and very informative dictionary at hand. . .well, at foot as it sits on the floor beneath the desk. Nor would I want to part with the various atlases, guide books, tomes on flowers, insects, birds etc.
I agree that the Internet info needs careful checking, although it is not always easy to know what is correct. eg Have been looking up as much as possible about Evelyn Waugh re the Brideshead discussion and keep thinking "I've just read that" only to find one writer has 'borrowed' whole chunks from a previous writer. I make a point of ignoring anything of a 'student' nature and everything where the word awesome is used. ;-)

I don't have a lot of reference books. I, too, use a couple of internet dictionaries because that is usually where I am when I want to use a particular word; but I still have my original dictionary from my first year at college, Webster's 7th Collegiate. I like it because it has words the way I learned them.

I did replace my world atlas a couple of years ago. The old one was sadly out of date. I also have an atlas of the Bible and Strong's Bible Concordance, and strong is what you have to be in order to be able to pick it up.

I use the computer a lot for general reference work.

Veer:

I think it should be possible to change your Spell Chek to British English by changing the properties.

leel, you would think think it possible but Firefox doesn't allow us to use British English. I just asked the DH about it and he laughed and asked "What is British English? In England we just speak English!" Over here we think you speak American English. ;-) And it wasn't until I arrived at RP that I found such a difference in our two ways of spelling words. I know my spelling is bad (I blame it on an early 'progressive' education) but occasionally RP'ers have thought it necessary to put me right and when I have looked-up the 'corrected' word I have found it to be spelt the 'English' way. . . .and apparently 'spelt' is spelt incorrectly . .. or maybe my grammar is wrong. What do you say for 'spelt' in the US?

Vee - "spelt" in American English is "spelled", but you and I both know that "spelt" is ok.... :-)

I think "spelt" is some kind of grain they sell in the whole foods store. :)