[Yulpub] Who's Who/ Who Was Who in America and BioRC

[Suzanne Lorimer]

I just had a question about the relationship of Who's Was Who in America and
Biography Resource Center, and I thought others might find this information
useful.

The Marquis titles that are available through Biography Resource Center -- where
they appear under the title "The Complete Marquis Who's Who" -- provide ". . .
biographies from 20 respected Marquis sources, encompassing print volumes
published from 1985 to the present".  This means that only the contents of
v.10+ of Who Was Who in America (WWWA) are available online.  So for citations
to entries in v.1-9, which you may find in other sources, including online in
Biography and Genealogy Master Index, you have to use the print volumes of
WWWA, which are held in various locations on campus.

When searching for someone in BioRC, the entries located in any Marquis title do
NOT appear in the first list of results returned.  After entering your search
and retrieving your list of results, you must click on the tab for Marquis
Who's Who, which automatically runs the search in the Marquis products ONLY. 
The Marquis titles are not included in the general search in BioRC.

The Complete Marquis Who's Who also appears to include NO entries from Who WAS
Who in America.  My guess is that this is because ALL entries from the Marquis
Who's Who database that come originally from ANY edition of Who's Who in
America since 1985 will cite as their source, Who's Who in America.  The title,
Who WAS Who in America, which grows by the addition of entries from Who's Who in
America for people who have died, is an artifact of the print world where the
current Who's Who in America included entries only for living people and
"dumped" all entries for persons deceased into WWWA.

I hope that all this makes some sense and will is information that will someday
be useful to you!

-Sue

Suzanne Lorimer
Coordinator of Research Services
Sterling Memorial Library
Yale University
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven, CT 06520-8240
(203) 432-8371