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Biography and Genealogy Master Index

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The Biography and Genealogy Master Index is an index of references to more than fifteen million biographical sketches gathered from hundreds of biographical reference books, ranging from Who's Who in America, The New York Times Biographical Service, and Contemporary Newsmakers to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, the Dictionary of Pseudonyms, and the Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling.

This database includes references to entries in books and does not include the actual text of the biographical sketches.  Skokie Public Library owns many of the titles indexed in the Biography and Genealogy Master Index.

• Why use Biography and Genealogy Master Index?
• Searching
• Finding the full text of a biographical sketch
• Handling your results
• Other resources

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Why Use Biography and Genealogy Master Index?

Biography and Genealogy Master Index is a great place to start your research on famous and not-so-famous people.  It compiles the indexes of hundreds of reference books in one place, enabling you to locate information on historical and contemporary figures without having to search through dozens of biographical reference books.  You can use Biography and Genealogy Master Index to:

• Locate reference works with biographical information on people from all time periods, geographic locations, and professions
• Search the indexes of hundreds of reference books at one time
• Determine birth and death dates of important people
• Find the location of pictures of the person you are researching

Questions that can be answered by searching Biography and Genealogy Master Index:

• How can I contact a professor at my old university?
• I'm writing a news story; where can I find background information on some of the experts I will be interviewing?
• I'm interested in reading more about the life of Hildegard of Bingen.  Where should I start?
• Where can I find some information written about George W. Bush before he became President?

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Searching

Basic Searching

The easiest way to search for a person is to type his or her name into the search box on the top of the screen.  Select the name of the person you are seeking from the resulting list.  If the list includes many listings for the same person, we suggest that you first select the name that has the greatest "number of citations" in the middle column.  Alternately, if your search returns too many names or the wrong names, try some of the tips listed below. 

• If you're not sure of the order of the person's name, as in the case of people whose names are comprised of a single word or letter, or people with titles, or people with "compound" names (names with more than one last name, or prefixes such as "de" and "la"), enter as much of the name as you know, in any order in the search box.

  For example:

  Oscar de la Renta Gabriel Garcia Marquez princess diana aeschylus Malcolm X

• To retrieve all entries for a saint, search for the saint's name using both the abbreviation "St." and the spelled out "Saint."  If you would like to narrow your search ahead of time, put quotation marks around your search words.

  For example:

  "St. Peter" or "Saint Peter" St. Catherine or Saint Catherine

• When searching for a hyphenated name, include the hyphen in your search.

  For example:

  Julia Louis-Dreyfuss el-sadaawi, Nawal

• Include apostrophes when searching for names such as O'Mally or D'Amato.

  For example:

  O'Brian instead of obrian D'Souza instead of Dsouza

• Often people are named after other prominent people, such as United States presidents.  If you are searching for someone for whom many people are named, enclose the name in quotes when you are searching in order to eliminate the others.

  For example:

  "Washington, George" instead of Washington, George or George Washington This search will eliminate listings for such people as George Washington Carver (the agricultural chemist famous for his work with peanuts) and George Washington Gale Ferris (the designer of the Ferris wheel).

• If the person you are searching for is very famous and your search yields only a few results, try searching for simpler versions of the name.

  For example:

  Franklin Roosevelt instead of Franklin D Roosevelt or Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Search for nicknames, variations of names, and pseudonyms to find all listings.

  For example:

  Tiger Woods and Eldrick Woods Bill Clinton and William Clinton Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens Mao Zedong and Mao Tse-Tung George Herman Ruth and Babe Ruth T.S. Eliot and Thomas Stearns Eliot

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Advanced Search Tips

The Advanced Search allows you to create complex and thus more specific searches.  Use the Advanced Search to:

• Find references that contain pictures of your subject.
  To find references to books with pictures (can be photographs, drawings, or reproductions of paintings), place a checkmark in the Portrait box (by clicking in the box) near the bottom of the search screen.
• Search for listings only within a particular reference work, such as Contemporary Authors.
  To search for references to a person in only one reference work, enter the title of that book in the Source Title search box.  It is best to enclose these titles in quotations, such as "Dictionary of Literary Biography" or "Who's Who in America" because many of the reference works included in the database have similar titles.
• Search by birth or death years.
  You can enter birth and/or death years to narrow your search in the appropriates search boxes.

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Expert Search

The Expert Search method is designed for experienced searchers who prefer to enter specific search labels and search terms combined with special search characters and Boolean operators such as "and," "or," or "not."

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Finding the Full Text of a Biographical Sketch

A successful search in Biography and Genealogy Master Index results in a list of citations for the person you are interested in.  Make a printout of this list, email it to yourself, or save it to disk, and then check to see if the titles are listed in Skokie Public Library's catalog.  If they are, write down the call numbers and check the shelves for the titles.  If not, ask for assistance at the Reference Desk, call us at 847.673.3733, or send us an email. 

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Handling Your Results

To print a page from Biography and Genealogy Master Index, select the icon from the upper left corner of the results screen.  Then select "Print" from the File menu or select the printer icon on the top menu bar.

If you would like to select only specific text to print, use the mouse to highlight the text, select "Print" from the File menu, then check off the Selection box so that the computer will only print the text you’ve highlighted.

To email a page of references from Biography and Genealogy Master Index, select the icon from the upper left corner of the results screen.  Type your email address in the box indicated on the next screen.  Note that this will email you the page of results as you see them, not the text of the entries from these reference works.

To save or download a screen of information from Biography and Genealogy Master Index, insert a computer disk in to the computer’s disk drive, then select "Save as" from the File menu.  From the "Save as type" box, select either Web page, complete (*.html, *.htm), if you would like to save the information as a Web page or select Text file (*.txt) to save the information as plain text.  This second option will use up less disk space and will enable you to open the document in word processing software such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect.

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Other Resources

There are numerous other resources available both in print and online that will provide you with biographical information.

• The Skokie Public Library Catalog can be used to search for books in the Library on your subject.  To search for books about individuals, search by subject and type the last name first.
• Literature Resources from Gale includes biographical information on over 120,000  novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters from every age and literary discipline. 
• Factiva is an extensive database that includes the full text of articles from thousands of newspapers and business periodicals.  Use this database to search for recent newspaper and magazine articles about your subject.
• WorldCat is an electronic catalog of more than thirty-five million books, sound recordings, videotapes, and other materials owned by libraries around the country and the world. Use this catalog to locate biographical materials on your subject that can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan.

Additionally, the librarians at Skokie Public Library have compiled a list of useful websites for locating biography and history information.

For more information on these or other resources, search our catalog or contact the Information Services Desk at 847.673.3733 or via .