A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The Oxford English Dictionary first records such a usage in 1633. The term has a variety of other meanings. Academia and education The Yale College Programs of Study, referred to as the Blue Book Blue book exam, a type of test involving writing an essay, typically into a pamphlet – traditionally blue colored – called a "blue book" Blue and Brown Books, the Blue Book of Lecture Notes for 1933-1934 for Ludwig Wittgenstein lectures Construction The Blue Book of Building and Construction, was a yellow pages-like buyers guide of company information targeted towards commercial construction, first published in 1913. The guide contains information on architects, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, vendors, and other companies relevant to the commercial bidding and build process. The hardbound book was retired in 2016 and subsequently replaced by a bi-annual regional magazine called the Who's Who in Building and Construction. The prior content of the hard bound book is now completely online and called The Blue Book Network. The company which publishes the information is Jefferson Valley, New York-based Contractor's Register. Computing and technology Blue Book (CD standard), the name of one format from the Rainbow Book standards for compact discs, defining the Enhanced CD standard Blue Book (CCITT), a set of telecommunications recommendations issued by the International Telecommunication Union Standardisation Sector in 1988 A common name of the book Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation, and any virtual machine implementation based on Smalltalk Blue Book protocol, the file transfer protocol of the Coloured Book protocols The Java Virtual Machine specification Blue Books, spacecraft data and telemetry recommendations made by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Ingo Wegener's Blue Book, an influential textbook in circuit complexity formally titled The Complexity of Boolean Functions (1987) Government and finance In the Traineeship scheme of the European Commission, internship candidates who pass a preselection are added to a Blue Book, from which the final successful candidates are chosen The publications of the European Central Bank describing the main payment and securities settlement systems in the EU Member States. A publication of the United Nations Protocol and Liaison Service containing listings relating to Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Blue pages,