• Whether made from papyrus, parchment, or dissertation in East Asia, scrolls were the dominant mode of book in the Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese and Hebrew cultures

• The further modernized codex book format form took over the Roman world by behindhand antiquity, but the scroll format persisted much longer in Asia.

In a library, a general type of non-fiction book which provides information as opposed to telling a story, essay, commentary, or otherwise supporting a point of view, is often referred to as a reference book. A pure general reference book, usually one-volume, with lists of data and information on many topics is called an almanac. An encyclopedia is a book or bent of books designed to have extended in-depth articles on myriad topics. A book listing words, their etymology, meanings, etc. is called a dictionary. A book which is a collection of maps is an atlas. A more specific reference book with tables or lists of data and hookup about a doubting topic, often intended for professional use, is often called a handbook. Books which try to catalogue references and abstracts in a certain roomy area may be called an index, such as Engineering Index, or abstracts Photo Books such as Chemical Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, etc.