A selection of specialized dictionaries/encyclopedias is listed below.
Also see Appendix A to the MLA Handbook, which lists "Selected Reference Works by Field," e.g. Art, Education, History, Language and Literature and Religion.
For dictionaries, thesauruses, quotations, literary terms, and companions to literature. ORO contains the full text of more than 100 dictionary, language and subject reference books. Some of the resources most useful to literary study include The Concise Oxford Dictionary, The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, The Dictionary of Art, The Oxford Companion to British Literature, The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, The Oxford Companion to American Literature.
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
REF PR85.C29 1993
Handbook to Literature
REF PN41.H355 2006
The Feminist Companion to Literature in English : Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present
REF PN471.F45 1990t
The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism
REF PN81.C656 1995t
Offers a clear and succinct explanation of terms, groups, and schools of thought.
The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (3rd ed.)
REF PN44.5 .M86 2009
General Encyclopedias
Encyclopædia Britannica
REF AE5.E363 Lederman Law Library (15th ed., 2003)
AE5.E363 Stauffer Library Compact Shelving (15th ed., 1997)
A general encyclopedia, so don't expect extensive coverage or entries on more obscure authors. However, it does provide good overview information on major authors, and articles may give information on where to find the more influential criticism.
Encyclopædia Britannica
REF AE5.E56
This 11th edition is still useful to humanities students for topics concerning the nineteenth century or in which nineteenth-century scholarship was strong.
The following is a very selective list of examples of the library's numerous resources for specialized literature.
The Alexander Pope Encyclopedia
REF PR3632.R64 2004
A Jane Austen Encyclopedia
REF PR4036.A28 1998
Mary Shelley Encyclopedia
REF PR5398.A2M67
Shakespeare: an Oxford Guide
REF PR2976.S333 2003
Virginia Woolf A to Z
REF PR6045.O72Z729 1995