Oxford Says Factual “Errors” Open to Interpretation

-- Library Journal, 3/21/2005 2:00:00 AM

Oxford University Press is firing back at critics deriding its Dictionary of National Biography for alleged factual errors. Oxford’s Rebecca Seger told LJ that many of the challenged entries are based on “current interpretation,” therefore “facts” are subjective. She contends that “everything we have is written by experts, who don’t need as much checking.” More than one scholar also reviewed every ODNB entry before it went to press. She said Oxford is soliciting feedback from the field in order to make corrections to the online version and hopes that the controversy will create a dialog for further scholarship. Robert Faber, director of the ODNB, told LJ that “All errors are regrettable. We don’t go to press with an acceptable level of errors in mind.” He observed that “different evidence can change objective facts,” and that facts are “open to schools of interpretation. Facts can be interpreted differently to different people.”