DIS 220 Information Access: Biographical Sources

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DIS 220 Information Access Biographical Sources

• Dr. John V. Richardson Jr., Professor
• UCLA GSEIS
• Department of Information Studies

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Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• Definitions, Format Relatedness, Functions,
  Varieties
• Social Register
• DALB, A Case Study
• DAB and the ANB the DNB and the new DNB...
• Evaluation Criteria
• Intermediate Rules and Surface Level Rules
• see Question Master

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Definitions

• biography comes from the Greek, bios life and
  grapheim to write
• The history of particular mens lives. --Dryden
• The history of a persons life. --Websters 2nd
  edition

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Ever Widening Circles of Meaning

• History
• 
  
• 
  Biography
• 
  
• 
  
• Autobiography

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Related Formats

• Catalog. Birth and dead dates. See standard
  subdivision Biography
• Newspapers obituary columns, especially the New
  York Times
• Directories, telephone and Polks criss-cross
  especially
• Magazine and journal contributor line

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Functions

• Identification (elitist?) function
• significant individuals
• newsworthy
• admirable (appreciative sketches)
• Directory type function
• addresses
• Answer our curiosity

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Varieties of Biographical Sources

• Vanity (AEA study suggests that of those listed
  about .005 buy)
• Whos Who in American Education
• Whos Who in Poetry in America
• Whos Who in (Clergy, in Law, among Physicians)
• FTC enjoined the publisher of these for unfair
  and deceptive acts and practices in commerce
• Outstanding Educators of America (1975) folded
  after Olive D. Birnbaum, the UW Oshkosh
  Chancellors dog made it into the publication
• Social Register

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Social Register

• Published by the Social Register Association
• Selection by genealogical pedigree, association
  and appears to be influenced by geography
• Washington, DC 7,000 entries (14.3/1000
  population)
• Richmond, Virginia 5640
• Charleston, South Carolina
• Savannah, Georgia
• Atlanta (9.9/1000)
• Providence, Rhode Island 1960 (8.0/1000)

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Social Register continued

• New Orleans, Boston, San Francisco, St. Paul,
  Cincinnati and Dayton, Pittsburgh, NYC (27,720 or
  4.5/1000), Portland, St. Louis, Minneapolis,
  Baltimore, Buffalo, Los Angeles (1,925),
  Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, Cleveland, and
  Chicago (4,280 or 1.4/1000)
• Average 4.5/1000
• Deselection (marry a Hollywood movie star
  Dorothy Benjamin--out when she married Enrico
  Caruso) or a newspaper article about your divorce

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Latest Analysis of Social Register

• old money new money is under-represented
• East Coast versus California (2,517) which is
  fewer than Massachusetts (3,231)
• Maine to Virginia accounts for 2/3 of the
  listings
• New York (5,838) and Pennsylvania (4,200) account
  for one-third
• Texas (424) while North Dakota has one family
• NOKD--marrying outside of Mayflower family--Not
  Our Kind, Dear
• SOURCE Stephen R. Higley, Privilege, Power and
  Place The Geography of the American Upper Class
  (1994)

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DALB, a Case Study

• Whos Who in Library Service (1933, 1943, 1966,
  1970, 1982, 1988--CD-ROM) but, no evaluative
  biographical source for deceased librarians
• 1976 was the centennial anniversary of ALA
• Advisory Board, Editorial Board, and Contributors
  with LU as publisher
• Purpose, history is for self-knowledge and to
  correct lack of self-knowledge

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DALB continued

• Selection Criteria contributions of national
  significance, writings, positions of importance
  (ALA, state, etc.), major achievements in special
  fields, government, philanthropic, or activity
  affecting librarianship. Deceased by 30 June
  1976.
• Sources, each entry would provide details
• Sketches, factual or evaluative
• Photographs?

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DAB (1928) and ANB (1999)

• Standard DAB was published between 1928 and 1937
• the first edition contained 6670 articles of
  which 595 (8.5) are female and only 345 are
  female contributors third supplement had 573
  entries and 60 or 10 were female
• lengthy, signed entries which source material
  cited at the end
• ACLS and Oxford University Press announced new
  effort in 1987
• 24 volumes for 2500 appeared in January 1999
• more than 40 entries are librarians (Green,
  Mudge, Hutchins)
• LQ review essay of 2500 words

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DAB, ANB and librarians
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DAB, DALB, ANB Librarians by Type of Library
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DNB (1900) the DNB in progress

• DNB is the standard source for deceased British
  subjects
• 29,120 articles 932 (3.2 ) are female and 5.7
  are female contributors
• 8th supplement has 745 entries and 5.9 are
  female
• new DNB, 12 areas with a consulting editor
• 24,500 articles (49) at December 1998
• National Portrait Gallery is selecting likenesses

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Selection Criteria

• obviously important
• Who would you say should be in it?
• selection depends upon the knowledgeableness of
  the advisory board and editors

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Evaluation of Biographical Sources

• Selection (filters editing process)
• Sources (primary versus secondary)
• Factual vs. evaluative entries
• Photographs
• Revisions

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Selection (filters editing process)

• What source are we describing
• Male
• Resident of New York or Connecticut
• Earned a degree from a private college
• Was a fraternity member
• Has written a book
• Currently engaged in law, medicine, business or
  education
• Has performed government service
• Active in charities and philanthropies
• Congregationalist, Methodist, or Episcopalian?
• SOURCE Playing the Fame Game (1974), p.
  411.

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Whos Who in America, 1898--

• purpose reference value, WWA (410,000 or the
  number of generals to soldiersin 2005, 12800)
• WWA, Albert N. Marquis, founder
• Whos Who in America shall endeavor to list
  those individuals who are of current national
  reference interest and inquiry either because of
  outstanding achievement in some reputable field
  or because of the positions they hold (1898).
• Achievement, not fame or fashion. Hence, many
  entries may not be well-known by name

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Aris McPherson Rutherford

• Fictitious Greek-Scottish academic in the 1974/75
  edition of Whos Who in America, p. 88
• diploma in distillation engineering from
  Glenlivet
• Professor, Chemical Engineering, University of
  Minnesota
• Author of Sampling Techniques (1957)
• Creator is the inverted doppelganger

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Groves Dictionary of Music

• Esrum-Hellerup, Dag Henrik (named for a
  Copenhagen railway line)
• Baldino, Gudlielmo, also appeared in Grove 6
  based on an entry in the Musik Lexikon Riemann
  (1959 1972)
• Use unpublished material
• Use rare local material
• Subeditors dont mistrust authors
• SOURCE David Fallows _at_ http//www.grovemusic.com
  /

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Gender Issues in Biographical Sources

• Women constitute 51 of the population
• WWA, 16 or 4.6 in another study
• Chambers, 112, and WWW, 112
• American Men and Women of Science, 4.6 are female

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Barbara Cartland, d. 21 May 2000

• Longest entry in Whos Who (British source)
• Author of 723 novels
• On British class barriers and whether they have
  broken down
• Of course they haveor I wouldnt be sitting
  here talking to someone like you.

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Ethnicity and Biographical Sources

• 1811 Philadelphia Census Directory, the first to
  contain blacks
• Where are the blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanic,
  or generally people of color?

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Ghosts in Biographical Sources

• Nigel Molesworth first enters the profession with
  an entry in Whos Who in Library Service, 4th ed.
  (1966)
• Timothy J. Peason also enters the profession in
  1966 as well as 1970 WW in Library Science
• Professor Warren G. Wonka in the Palo Alto
  telephone books (1976)
• World Cat 30624079 The unrelieved paradox
  studies in the theology of Franz Bibfeldt (1994)
• Role of Verification

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Sources (primary versus secondary)

• primary means questionnaire or interview
• secondary means gleaned from the literature
• Repetition does not mean accuracy

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Factual vs. evaluative entries

• descriptive as long as the entries are still
  alive
• Thoughts on My Life -- WWA (Harold Borko)
• evaluative when they are deceased
• appreciative more than evaluative even so
• evaluation still reflects the prevailing critical
  thinking of the age

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Photographs

• very few sources with pictures or portraits
• DAB and DNB encouraged a physical description
• NCAB, the family paid 400 to 2000 for the
  subjects picture to appear
• ALA Portrait Index Doris Dale, in progress?

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Revisions

• correct errors
• excluded names based on reviews, letters to the
  editor
• Whos Who in California (1994) had more than
  3,000 entries but not LA Mayor Richard Riordan,
  David Hockney, USC President Samples or
  Chancellor Young or Steven Spielberg
• George Works and the DALB revision (called the
  DALB supplement)

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Intermediate and Surface Rules

• When is it appropriate to consult a biographical
  source?
• What are the relevant reference interview
  questions which will lead to the correct source
  within this format?
• See http//purl.org/net/Question_Master

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Just A Gentle Reminder

• Remove the diskette now