Finding Biographical Information with MARQUIS WHO'S WHO

The Clearwater Public Library and the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative offer Marquis Who 's Who to registered library patrons as a way to search for biographical information on historical and cultural persons.

ACCESSING MARQUIS WHO'S WHO

Click here to access Marquis Who's Who You must be at a library branch in order to access the database.

Select Marquis Who's Who from the second list of databases (the ones that can only be accessed when physically at the library).

The main page of Marquis Who's Who will appear. The default search by name is immediately available. To the left you will see options such as advanced search, search history, and other options.

NAME SEARCH

The most basic search is to search by name:

Note that by default the first name field conducts a wildcard search, so you do not have to input the full name, just the first character. Of course, if you are looking for someone very specific, you can input the entire first name as well.

ADVANCED SEARCH

To conduct an Advanced Search, click on the link to the left of the main screen, and a new form with many options will appear.

As you can see, there are many fields you can fill out:

You can search based on criteria such as city, state, occupations, gender, occupation, and others.

WORKING WITH YOUR SEARCH RESULTS

When you conduct a search and get results, you will get something that looks like this:

Clicking on the link (the person 's name, in blue) will then give you that person 's biography, which will include all the information found in the advanced search fields if known or applicable.

By placing a check mark next to the person 's name, you can save that result and access it at a later point by clicking on the Your Search History link located to the left of the screen:

ABBREVIATIONS LOOKUP

On the left, you can click on the link for Abbreviations Look Up, which will then open up a new window with a long listing of abbreviations such as college degrees and professional associations.

OCCUPATIONS LOOKUP

You can also look up occupations by clicking on the link under the Help button on the left. A pop-up window will appear with a listing of occupations:

SEARCH TIPS

Under the Help button there is a link to Search Tips, which will open up a new window containing comprehensive suggestions on how to get the most out of your search.

• Apostrophes are not recognized by the search engine and should not be used.
• Ampersands (&) are not recognized. Instead, use the W (Within) operator in this manner:
  e.g. tulips W2 chimneys means "tulips within two words of chimneys" instead of tulips & chimneys.
• You can also use the W operator to find an exact phrase:
  e.g. time W1 travel means "time within one word of travel;" i.e., "time travel."
• The W operator can also find essays containing specified words in a specified order:
  e.g., old w4 sea finds documents that contain the word old within four words of the word sea, and old must precede sea.
• You can also use the N operator to find words you specify within the number of words you specify, but in any order:
  e.g. apples N3 bananas finds documents that contain the two words within two words of each other, in any order.

Click here to access Marquis Who's Who

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Page last updated Monday, March 22, 2004

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