The Guide was written in the first decade of the twentieth century by Alice Bertha Kroeger, head of the Library School at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She developed a 104-page volume meant to educate students and professionals within the library community. Filled with short articles and indexes to other publications for further reading, Kroeger used her book to “codify both the principles of education for reference librarianship and reference librarianship’s province of expertise” (Kieft, 331). It also included a series of indexes describing and evaluating reference publications on a variety of topics and was meant to help the aspiring librarian learn about the most useful and reliable reference sources available on the market. The American Library Association published her book as "Guide to the Study and Use of Reference Books: A Manual for Librarians, Teachers and Students". Kroeger produced two editions, one in 1902 and a second in 1907.