Phone Books
Phone books are very useful for looking up information such as
addresses and phone numbers.
There are two main types of phone books (or sometimes, two
main sections within a single phone book): the "white pages" and
the "yellow pages".
The
white pages are used to look up individuals
in a specific geographic region.
- States are divided up into smaller sections (usually based
around larger cities/towns or counties), each with a separate phone book.
- People are listed alphabetically by last name.
- Within a certain group of last names, individuals are
listed alphabetically by first initial or first name.
- If two or more people share the same last and first names,
the listings are sorted either alphabetically by city the person lives in or
numerically by street address.
The yellow pages
are used to look up businesses in a specific geographic region.
- The organization of this section is different than that of
the white pages, in that the yellow pages are divided into categories.
- Businesses are listed within a specific category, and
within this category, listings are alphabetical.
- Often the yellow pages include advertisements for
businesses, in addition to the name, location, and phone number informational
listings.
Sometimes, a phone book will also have
blue pages, which are usually
listings for federal, state, and local governmental offices and services.
This section is usually arranged as follows:
- Federal offices & organizations
- State offices & organizations
- Local offices & organizations, alphabetized by town, then
organization
Click here to view
samples of phone book pages.