New York, New York, December 12th, 2002
Acclaimed WilsonWeb database Biography Reference Bank now boasts an innovative new structure that makes finding information more precise, as new content swells the number of people covered beyond 400,000. The new structure and content come as the database is relaunched on the all-new WilsonWeb interface, which offers a host of new features for more precise and convenient searching.

Honored by Library Journal as a 2001 Best Reference Source (and by Reference Books Bulletin as a Top Ten Biography Reference Source for 2001), Biography Reference Bank brings users in-depth profiles of prominent individuals from a wide range of professions, photos, and links to related magazine articles and book reviews.

Better-organized Data

Because the database can include a daunting number of entries of various types about an individual, searches now retrieve a single master record. The master record, in turn, features hotlinks to each category of material available: original Wilson profiles, profiles licensed from other reference publishers, magazine articles with the person as subject, and records of books by and about. From the page for each category, users click to the citation of interest.

"The new ‘hierarchy’ brings users to the right articles more quickly, saving time at library workstations," comments Ron Miller, Wilson Director of Product Management. "All available items are instantly apparent to searchers."

More (and More Diverse) Content

The new structure is timely, as an ever-wider array of content becomes available on the database. In addition to the in-depth narrative profiles that are a hallmark of Wilson biography databases, Biography Reference Bank now incorporates any article that has the person of interest as subject, from any of thousands of periodicals indexed by the full range of Wilson periodicals databases. From biographical articles to "favorite recipes" and everything in between, these additional entries vastly increase the range of relevant articles retrieved by users.

"An editorial by a prominent Middle Eastern ambassador, for instance, may still be valuable to biography researchers, though it’s not about the person in the strict sense," points out Ron Miller. "Easy access to this ‘peripheral’ information opens up a whole new world of relevant articles to biography researchers."

New Licensed Content

Additionally, over 11,500 biographical profiles are being added to Biography Reference Bank in early 2003, the result of licensing agreements with publishers Harvard University Press, Houghton-Mifflin, Greenwood Publishing, and James Clarke.

Harvard University Press contributed some 1,500 profiles from its Notable American Women sourcebooks. New content from Houghton-Mifflin adds to the ethnic diversity of coverage, including profiles from The Encyclopedia of North American Indians among its 3,250 entries. More than 6,000 of the new biographies were contributed by Greenwood Press, originally appearing in one-of-a-kind sources such as Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists, Biographical Dictionary of the United States Secretaries of the Treasury, Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers, and others. Some 1,500 profiles from James Clarke cover individuals from the Middle Ages.

New, Completely Redesigned WilsonWeb Interface

The all-new WilsonWeb interface offers new features for more precise and convenient searching: intuitive navigation, detailed user statistics, natural-language searching, full text searching, relevancy-ranking of results (based on Wilson’s indexing metadata), WilsonLink SFX-powered technology, administrative control, customization options, and much more. 

Contact: 
Roseward Sky
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2272
Email: rsky@hwwilson.com

Eileen Sutter
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2312
Email: esutter@hwwilson.com