E-Reference Ratings Update: Biography
Nov 15, 2010CRITERIA
scope range and breadth of content
writing quality, quantity, and authority of the writing; consideration of the audience
design visual appeal; strengths and weakness of the interface
bells & whistles inclusion of multimedia files, interactive maps, blogs, and other features
ease of use logic behind the organization; efficiency of the search mechanisms
linking cross-searchability with other files; ability to integrate with and link to other products
RATINGS (for first six criteria; see separate explanation for value)
poor/insufficient
satisfactory/sufficient
good/plentiful
excellent/comprehensive
Value
Value is a relative term, taking into consideration not only cost but myriad related factors. If a product is expensive, does its comprehensiveness and quality warrant the high cost? Are too much time and energy required to find material, given the price? Is it a narrowly defined, inexpensive product that may receive heavy use in a small public library?
Biography
American National Biography Online. Oxford Univ. www.anb.org
Now numbering 19,000, each essay-style article in this semiannually updated resource is attributed to a specific scholar, profiles a deceased individual with an impact on national history, and closes with a bibliographic essay. Entries include a high-quality, Library of Congress–issued photograph or engraving, while sidebar hyperlinks suggest relevant contemporaries. The database interfaces with Oxford Companion to United States History and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, while also offering a “Teacher’s Guide,” 12 thematic “Research Leads,” and a “Biography of the Day.” The search mechanisms remain flexible and uncomplicated.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Gale (Cengage Learning). www.galenet.com/servlet/BGMI
This comprehensive, semiannually updated database draws from more than 1700 biographical guides, allowing researchers to find listings for well over 15 million international figures, living and dead, across multiple publications, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, who’s who’s, and books of literary criticism providing oeuvre surveys. The writing remains minimal, reduced to bibliographic lists. The database is likewise visually spare, but the site does provide a significant springboard to outside information retrieval and remains effortless to navigate.
Biography in Context. Gale (Cengage Learning). www.gale.cengage.com/InContext/
Incorporating the previously separate Biography Resource Center: African Americans, this comprehensive and international resource now contains over 600,000 profiles, adding 50,000 individuals annually. Documentary videos accompany many profiles, all of which are accessible in audio format. Also offered are full-text articles from more than 325 magazines and newspapers. Through an add-on module users can access Marquis Who’s Who biographical sketches. Noteworthy amenities include timely biographical spotlights and detailed teacher lesson plans. Well structured and attractively designed, it organizes profiles by profession.
Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. www.hwwilson.com/Databases/biobank.htm
Now profiling over 660,700 people from antiquity forward, this exceptional database combines entries from five other Wilson products, including Biographies Plus Illustrated and the more subject-specific Junior Authors and Illustrators. There are also 380,000 full-text interviews, critical essays, reviews, speeches, even obituaries. New is a content translation capability, offering conversion into 12 languages, along with audio files of written content. Photographs and illustrations are now high resolution, plentiful, and capable of magnification. Broad in scope, packed with practical amenities, and easily navigable.
Current Biography Illustrated. H.W. Wilson. www.hwwilson.com/Databases/cbillus.htm
Now growing by just 250 profiles each year, this databank includes nearly 25,000 articles and obituaries dating back to 1940. If the subjects are deceased, their obituary is listed first, followed by hyperlinks to profiles that appeared during their lifetime. Entries, once limited to 2500 words, now often extend to 4000 words. These profiles are engagingly written, offering interview quotations, illustrative anecdotes, and further reading. Multiple search criteria and uniform authority controls allow for fruitful data searches.
Dictionary of National Biography Online. Oxford Univ. www.oxforddnb.com
Adding new material three times annually, this engaging resource now profiles 57,348 British citizens and other figures of national influence. Each contributor-signed, essay-style entry is engagingly written and vividly detailed. Included are a host of search options, from article contributor to textual content. Accompanying entries are lovely, high resolution illustrations, currently numbering 10,671. Under the “Themes” tab, researchers can locate nearly 500 scholarly essays about—and links to figures associated with—historical or professional affiliations, like “Cottage coterie” or “Associated Prigs.”
Marquis Who’s Who. Marquis. www.marquiswhoswho.com
Scheduled for a complete restructuring in 2011, this databank, whose printed source celebrated its centenary in 1999, still boasts over 1.4 million contemporary and historical list-like biographies. It also continues to be updated and revised daily, while the front page tracks revisions and additions. Multiple-criteria searches allow for the fortuitous discovery of previously unrecognized associations. While it is still highly accessible and broad in scope, its reconfiguration next year, a Marquis spokesman says, will further enhance its versatility.
Who’s Who & Who Was Who. Oxford Univ.www.ukwhoswho.com
Building on material first published by A&C Black in 1849, this annually updated guide contains entries highlighting the background, family, career achievements, and—when applicable—contact information of over 100,000 British citizens and notables, born since the mid-19th century. While entries are terse, abbreviations initially puzzling, and significant particulars (like cause of death) are omitted, sidebar hyperlinks, which connect users to lists of contemporaries and colleagues, allow for further discoveries.
World Who’s Who. Taylor & Francis. www.worldwhoswho.com
Pulling from Routledge’s seven-title print series Europa Biographical Reference and from self-submitted updates by profiled figures, this database still boasts the same number of entries—60,000—offered two years ago. Profiles of living and recently deceased musicians, writers, artists, clerics, and international politicians remain list-like and abbreviation-studded. Significant omissions, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, narrow its scope. A basic quick-reference tool, this product provides neither subject photographs nor additional reading sources. However, concept, pattern, Boolean, and multicriteria searches ease data location.
