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FIRST STEPS: Accurate Information and Efficient Strategies
Your assignment is to find as much accurate, relevant and
current information on selected individuals as you can in a
limited amount of time.
You can be certain of two things: either you will find useful
information efficiently or you will not. You will find too much
information or too little. Your success will depend, to a certain
extent, upon the quality of your search strategies. The other
part is finding the best reference sources.
The purpose of this GUIDE is to improve your search strategies
and expand your knowledge of reliable biographical reference
materials.
Face one important reality: not every person you are searching
for has a complete, current, and conveniently accessible
biographical history. That fact doesn't mean that you will not be
able to find bits and pieces of an individual's "paper
trail" or his/her's "electronic clone." It usually
means that your search will take longer and probably will be
incomplete. At that point, you may have to develop a strategy of
interviewing people (neighbors, colleagues, relatives) who can
help you flesh out your meager information. There are special
challenges and problems with this kind of "ask the
neighbor" research, but as long as you are aware of the
difficulties (questionable accuracy, fuzzy facts, and special
interests) you can cope.
When you are given a name to check out, get as much data as
you can. Ask about the person's current (and previous!)
profession(s), approximate age, hometown and any other data
nuggets you can extract. You may not be able to get any more than
just the individual's name, but try anyway.
NEXT STEPS: Traps and Shortcomings
A big hurdle to overcome is the relative commonality of many
names. Too often you will discover more than one person with the
same name. The other relevant data you get on an individual will
help you make intelligent choices. People switch jobs, shed
spouses, alter their appearance and even speak untruths. In
addition, recognize the possibility that the information
published (even in so-called reliable sources) may be not only
incomplete, but out-of-date and perhaps inaccurate as well. The
old saw, "Measure twice; cut once," is worth keeping in
mind. Ergo, check your information with more than one source.
Dealing with conflicting information is part of research. Get as
much as you can and be prepared to sort it out, carefully, later
as you collect more data. Be advised that searching for
biographical information is rarely "one-stop shopping."
Don't neglect to note where you got the biographical
information. More than one reporter has had to backtrack to the
reference in order to convince an editor that the data can be
verified!
MOST IMPORTANT: GET THE FULL AND COMPLETE SPELLING OF THE
INDIVIDUAL'S NAME, PLUS ANY NICKNAMES, TITLES, OR OTHER
RELEVANT PARTS TO THE NAME. Write the name down, spell it
back to the individual, make changes and ask for other
relevant details. THEN, START YOUR SEARCH!
Other hard facts include:
Not finding material in a compact, convenient form
from which to quickly retrieve useful information. For
example, long newspaper or magazine feature/profile
articles might be interesting, but rarely is there an
accompanying "box score" of critical data. You
have to wade through the entire piece to filter the
information you need.
Also, what you find, if interesting, may be hopelessly
dated. Depending on the time available to you, keep
searching or resort to alternative strategies mentioned
above.
Some biographical reference material is not cumulated.
That means you have to search through annual volumes.
Don't give up if you don't find what you need in current
volumes; you may have to look farther back. Look for
general sources.
Finally, newspaper and periodical indexes are useful
in revealing WHERE to look for biographical information
on microfilm or bound journals, but they do not give you
the "instant satisfaction" that online
databases, or print versions of biographical dictionaries
and current biographies do.
MORE STEPS: Searching the Basic Printed Reference Sources
There are several places to begin a search for biographical
information on prominent people. Most public and academic
libraries offer the following:
- Biographies Master Index (Humanities Reference Desk)
- Biography Index (Humanities Reference Desk) Z5301 .B5
- Bio-Base (microfiche located at the Humanities
Reference Desk) Serial 30-8
- Business Biographies Master Index Z7164 .C81 B928 1987
If you are fortunate to be affiliated with an organization
that has an in-house library or a reference/research center, you
can solicit help from these information professionals. These
researchers typically have access to dozens of online
databases (available at a price) which can search and
retrieve selected vital information on individuals. Even so, much
valuable biographical material is not available online. Searchers
must rely upon standard printed reference materials. These tools
can be found in almost every public, academic and corporate
library. However, I emphasize NO REFERENCE SOURCE HAS EVERY
INDIVIDUAL. NOR DO THEY HAVE EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERY INDIVIDUAL
LISTED. Those listed below are generally brief, occasionally
incorrect and admittedly biased. They are located near the
reference desks in Davis and House libraries. The reference area
of Davis Library was completely reorganized late this summer, so
check with the reference staff on duty about where particular
material can be located.
FINALLY: Direct Hits
- Who's Who in America E176 .W642 (BA/SS and Humanities
Reference)
- Who's Who in the Southeast
- Who's Who in American Politics
- Who's Who in Finance and Industry
- Who's Who Among Hispanic Americans
Other biographical sources located near the reference desks at
the UNC-CH libraries include:
- Current Biography CT100 .C6
- Contemporary NewsMakers CT120 .C663
- Contemporary Authors Z1010 .C655
- Contemporary Black Leaders E185.96 .F38
- Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television
Biographies PN2012 .W5
- Gale's Biographies PN451 .G35 (SILS)
- Illustrated Who's Who of the Cinema PN1998 .A2 I48
- Film Encyclopedia PN1995.9 .W4 H37 Folio
- Almanac of American Politics (behind BA/SS desk)
JK1012 .A44
- Halliwell's Film Guide PN1993 .H27
ASIDE BAR: Bibliographic and Full-text Access to Online
Information
There may be recent books (biographies or autobiographies)
about the person you are seeking. Don't neglect searching Davis
library's online catalog. For example:
?su Turner, Ted
You may also search the Newspapers and Periodicals Indexes in
this online library catalog. Select item #4 from UNC Data
Network's main menu. You may select from a menu of four
databases: CARL UnCover, Academic Index, Business Index and
Newspaper Indexes. Most of these materials are indexed from
1988-89 to the present. They are current to within one week. CARL
UnCover offers access to the tables of contents of nearly 20,000
journals, many of them popular, trade and scholarly including a
large number of mass comm journals. Follow the screen
instructions; when given an opportunity to select "keyword
searching" do so by pressing the "k" key. If you
are searching for articles about Ted Turner, follow this
procedure:
?fi Ted Turner (return or enter key)
s1 ____ hits in ____ records
?di lo 1-n (return or enter key)
Note the citations and abstracts (available when you specify
lo, the long format) and go to CD-ROMs, microfilmed materials or
bound volumes to read the full text. You may also wish to use the
Nexis/Lexis terminals in Davis library to search for the full
text of your selected articles. Check with the JoMC library for
instruction on searching this full-text online database.
If you have the complete and accurate name of an individual
and that person is prominent enough to have been written about,
you stand a good chance of tracking down some useful information.
Knowing the individual's professional training or experience
usually gets you into a useful information pipeline. For example,
there are over 100 Biographical Dictionaries arranged by
professions. Not all professions have such biographical
references (science, art, film, sports, writing and journalism,
to mention a few, do), still it is one way to begin your search.
Knowing WHERE a person has spent most of his/her's
professional life can be a useful lead. Biographical material on
prominent people in North Carolina can be found in the North
Carolina Collection in UNC-CH's Wilson Library. There you can
find all editions of the North Carolina Manual which provides
biographical sketches of elected and appointed government
officials.
Don't overlook newspaper indexes such as The New York Times
Index, The Washington Post Index, The Wall Street Journal Index.
Bear in mind that these indexes lag several months behind the
current date. They are located in the Davis reference area.
Realize that you will have to use the microfilm to read the
articles you find listed in the index. These newspapers (full
text since 1990) are also available on CD- ROM.
The (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer is available
(full text since 1990) on CD-ROM in the Undergraduate Library. The
Herald-Sun and The Chapel Hill Herald are available (full
text since September 1994) on Nexis in Davis Library. These
sources might offer profiles and features on prominent North
Carolinians.
Periodical indexes (Business Periodical Index and Reader's
Guide to Periodicals) are valuable, but they, too, lag
several months. For example, one issue of Time magazine
offers a full profile of Russ Limbaugh. That profile is too
recent to have been included in a printed index. The only way you
can get around that problem is to check the current issues
manually if you do not have access to online databases.
Take time to become acquainted with these printed biographical
sources. Discover which ones provide the most useful information
for particular professions and time periods. Keep searching.
Barbara Semonche, JoMC Librarian, 1996
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