Credo Reference or Credo (formerly Xrefer) is an American

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

that offers online reference content by

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

and partners with libraries to develop information-literacy programs or produce library marketing plans and materials.Swoger, Bonnie
eReviews: Literati by Credo
. Library Journal. 2012-05-15. Accessed: 2014-11-10. Founded in 1999, Credo Reference provides full-text online versions of over 3,500 published reference works from more than 100 publishers in a variety of major subjects.Brynko, Barbara
Sweet: The Rise of Credo Reference
Information Today. 2011-06-16. Accessed: 2011-06-16. (Archived by WebCite at ) These include general and subject dictionaries as well as encyclopedias. The company's customers are libraries, library systems, k-12 schools, and universities, which subscribe to the service for their patrons' use.Sheret, L. (2013). Literati by Credo. The Charleston Advisor, 14(3), 20-25. (http://mds.marshall.edu/lib_faculty/33/). Accessed: 2014-12-02 In 2010, a review of general reference sources by Library Journal focused on Credo Reference and three similar services.Golderman, Gail; Connolly, Bruce

LibraryJournal.com. 2011-06-15. Accessed: 2011-06-15. (Archived by WebCite® at ) The review noted Credo Reference's internal linking within the site from one reference work to another.

History

The company was founded as Xrefer in 1999. Xrefer initially provided free access to several dozen reference works. In 2002,

Béla Hatvany Béla Hatvany is a pioneer in the automation of libraries and the information industry. Companies founded by him have been responsible for the first Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), the first CD-ROMs, the first networked CD-ROM, the first cli ...

, founder of Computer Library Services (CLSI) and

Silverplatter SilverPlatter Information, Inc. was one of the first companies to produce commercial reference databases on CD-ROMs. It was founded in 1983 in the United Kingdom by Béla Hatvany and Walt Winshall with the explicit intention of using CD technolog ...

, invested in Xrefer and funded the company's transition to becoming an online reference database product for libraries. The company established an office in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, MA USA, which would later become its headquarters. The name Credo Reference was adopted in June 2007; the company also moved its

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

office from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in that year. In 2018, Credo Reference was acquired by

Infobase Publishing Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, includin ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control American digital libraries Commercial digital libraries 1999 establishments in Massachusetts

History

References

Further reading

External links