CRL licensing and community input features are only available with a CRL member login.
If your institution is a CRL Member please:
log in or sign upCRL Status:
Expired Offer
Feedback:
0 User comments 0 0
Overview
The microfiche edition of K. G. Saur's Biographical Archives has been digitized and issued as a group of databases known as the World Biographical Information System (WBIS) Online. Reference works including biographical lexicons, encyclopedias, and monographs dating from the 16th century through the 1990s are the sources of biographical entries and articles on more than five million people from various countries from the 4th millennium B.C. to the late 20th century.
Provider
Details
Subject Areas
Resource Types
Major Languages
CRL Review
Collection Content
The microfiche edition of K.G. Saur's Biographical Archives has been digitized and issued as a group of databases known as the World Biographical Information System (WBIS) Online. Reference works including biographical lexicons, encyclopedias, and monographs dating from the 16th century up through the 1990s are the sources of over seven million biographical entries and articles on more than five million people from various countries from the 4th millennium B.C. to the late 20th century.
Digitization of the microfiche, at least parts of which are held by many academic libraries, was completed in 2010. The publisher, Walter de Gruyter, reports the number of separate archival database groupings as 47 or 58, depending on how separate parts and supplements are counted. The archival databases groupings represent twenty-five different countries and regions (including Africa, America, Scandinavia, South East Asia, etc.). There are also five different thematic groupings: Arab Islamic; Christianity; Classical World; Middle Ages; and Jewish.
The entries in the thematic groupings supposedly do not significantly repeat the entries from the various country and regional archives. But, as demonstrated in examples from the publisher, the geographic divisions of the archives are actually based on the origin of the biographical reference sources, apparently not on the native origins of the persons chronicled. So entries on American author and humorist Mark Twain appear not only in the American archive volumes, but also in the Jewish, Turkish, and African database archives. Searching under the author’s birth name (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) cites entries in the American and British archives.
The great variety in types and dates of information sources, which shift perspectives over time, is touted as a strength. While some sources date back to the late 16th century, a great number of the reference sources date to the 19th and 20th centuries. The end dates for the databases vary, but none date after 2001. There are no plans at present for further supplements.
Delivery
One can search across any group of archives purchased, but then must consult the individual articles and entries in each archive cited. Unfortunately no name authority control exists. Phrase searches provide the only control; users can also browse and select index terms for most search fields. Name searches are augmented by an occupation classification, and a bibliographic search
The basic K. G. Saur database platform is available in six languages.
Page images of biographical articles are presented as is from the original sources.
Terms
Individual archive volumes and supplements can be purchased separately or in customized combinations. The index can be purchased alone, and is also available by subscription.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The K. G. Saur microfiche set was an extremely ambitious project, covering a comprehensive range of basic biographical resources. For libraries that have found all or part of this set useful, having online text searching available within the entries and across the archives, plus digitized article sources, represents a tremendous improvement in access. Those undertaking extensive biographical groundwork for basic research or name authority consultation will find a wealth of materials, strong in contemporary sources but enriched by updated content through the 1990s.
At the same time, the cautious collections investor will be mindful that there is considerable overlap among the separately priced archives. First, content among various standard biographical reference sources has often been repeated. Furthermore, name entries can be cited in multiple country archives, according to wherever information was published, regardless of the person’s country of origin. Also, inclusion of some early materials that may not conform to current scholarly perspectives could be misleading for inexperienced undergraduate students.
Reviewers
Center for Research Libraries
- Virginia Kerr - Digital Program Manager
Community Ratings
Content scope and completeness
Cost and price-structure
Platform and user interface