The Dictionary of American Biography (DAB), a standard work for any American reference library, has made it on to CD‐ROM. The American Council of Learned Societies published the 20 base volumes between 1929 and 1934. The Council was also responsible for the first eight supplements published between 1944 and 1988. Supplements 9 and 10 were published in 1994 and 1995 by Scribner’s, independently of the Council. The full set with supplements has been copied on to CD‐ROM word for word. There is no new material here for those with the paper edition of DAB. Thus, one still has the limitations of DAB.
It is heavily biased toward dead, white males, although there is some greater diversity in later supplements. One has to have died before December 31, 1980, to be included. It is the same high‐quality, short biographies written by experts that made the paper set the standard in American history reference collections. In addition, the CD‐ROM uses hyper‐text technology to allow readers to cross‐reference other names found in the text. It also includes a search engine that allows users to find and group biographies by gender, birthplace, birth/death dates, occupation, or keywords. Students who need the biographies of the presidents of the United States, provided that they died before 1980, can group them easily enough with this product.
The CD‐ROM’s $595 price tag makes it a bargain compared to the $1,750 for the current paper edition that costs an additional $125 if one wants the comprehensive index. The price is based on a single‐user. The license accommodates use on a local area network; but if one wishes a wide area network, one must call Macmillan to get a price.
A nifty feature of DAB is the Netscape‐based search software. There is no special software designed to run DAB; it is simply packaged to run on Netscape. Since most computer users now have a familiarity with Netscape or the similar Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, there is virtually no learning curve for DAB. There is also very little that needs to be installed if the computer already has Netscape. If not, a copy of Netscape is provided on the CD‐ROM. The use of Netscape for software also means that it does not matter whether one is on the Windows or Macintosh platform.
The system requirements are straightforward. If the computer is capable of logging on to the Net, it can easily run DAB. Otherwise, it can run on Windows 3.x or Windows 95. The TCP/IP stack must be present, which is an Internet protocol. Again, if the computer has been used to surf the Internet, it will be present. There are directions on how to make sure TCP/IP is present.
In short, the use of Netscape makes the DAB user and librarian friendly. It is a hopeful sign of standardization for CD‐ROM products to simplify use. All functions, including copy, bookmarks, and printing, are the same as on Netscape.
The hypertext links in the text of DAB have some significant flaws. It appears that Macmillan used software to recognize names in the text to create links. This leads to odd situations such as the cross‐reference in Marilyn Monroe’s biography to her husband, Joe Dimaggio. Dimaggio died in 1999, not before 1980. The reference takes the user to an article about Josephine Bay Paul, a noted business woman.
None of the editors seemed to have checked for famous historical figures with the same name. There is no problem finding the article for Robert M. La Follette, the Progressive senator from Wisconsin. Yet, try to find his son, Robert M. La Follette Jr, in the master A‐Z list. He also was a US Senator and retrieving his biography presents a problem. An in‐depth search does turn up “Young Bob;” but that will not be apparent to those unfamiliar with the Progressive Era. These are bugs that can easily be fixed and should have been fixed by now in a product that was released in 1997.
Still, given the cost and ease of use, there is more that is good about DAB on CD‐ROM than not. This is an easy way for libraries to save shelf space in the reference collection; and many will want this reference gem in a collected electronic format. It is a recommended purchase.
