Biographical reference work
As biographical reference (sometimes Personenlexikon ) or more generally biographical information means are in the Information Science Reference or information means referred to, due to their installation or structure for selectively retrieving information for biography are suitable for a specific person, in content is therefore Collected biographies .
Often, bibliographical information can also be found with the entry on the respective person , for example on secondary literature or, for writers, on editions of the works. Conversely, bibliographic reference works that are structured by author often also contain brief biographical information on the individual authors, such as life dates. Mixed forms that offer both detailed bibliographic information and a presentation of the biography are called biobibliographies , a well-known example is the Biographisch-Bibliographische Kirchenlexikon (BBKL).
Depending on how the group of people treated is limited, biographical reference works are distinguished:
- spatial:
- National biography (example: general German biography ),
- Regional biography (example: Baden biographies ),
- Local biography (example: Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon )
- temporal:
- Epoch biography (example: Biographical Lexicon for the Weimar Republic . Munich 1988)
- according to group or institution:
- Group biography (example: Who is who in Judaism? Munich 2 1996),
- Professional biography (example: Personal Lexicon Religion and Theology. Göttingen 1998),
- Professional biography (example: Large singer lexicon. Munich 1997; Biographical lexicon of nursing history. Berlin & Wiesbaden 1997),
- Institutional biography (example: Directory of members of the German Mathematicians Association. Berlin 1956 ff.)
Prosopography , the systematic compilation and research of a certain group of people and the resulting work (example: Prosopographia Imperii Romani ) are among the forms of biographical information media that are specific to historical studies .
If a biography dispenses with spatial restrictions, one speaks of international biographies, if there are no restrictions on the group of persons represented, one speaks of general biographies . A biography that does not impose any spatial, temporal or thematic restrictions on itself is called a universal biography . Examples of such broad-based works that list people from “all times and peoples” are primarily historical, such as François-Xavier de Feller's six-volume work Biographie universelle ou dictionnaire des hommes qui se sont faits un nom par leur génie, leurs talents, leurs vertus , leurs ereurs ou leurs crimes of 1781.
See also
- List of biographical reference works
- List of national, regional and local biographies
- List of dictionaries in German
literature
- Klaus Schreiber: Biographical Information Means: Typology with Examples: Reviews of 836 general and technical collective biographies from the beginning of the nineties to the end of 1998. 2 volumes. Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-87068-549-2 .
