Metabibliography
Encyclopedia
A metabibliography is a bibliography
of bibliographies.
Bibliographies serve the finding of relevant documents. Metabibliographies serve the finding of the relevant bibliographies in which the relevant documents may be found. One might quote Patrick Wilson:
"For if knowledge is power, power over knowledge is power to increase one's power; and if the stock of writings is thought of mainly as it represents a stock of writings is thought of mainly as it represents a stock of knowledge, it is natural propose treating it as a "resource" to be subjected to rational control, managemenet and utilization." (Wilson, 1968, p. 145).
However, in reality metabibliographies are not the most valuable among information resources. They are valuable for building reference collections, but usually of less interest to the average user, who rely on bibliographies selected by others.
Besterman, T. A. (1965-1966). A world bibliography of bibliographies and of bibliographical catalogues, calendars, abstracts, digests, indexes and the like. 4. Ed. Vol. 1-5. Totowa.
Bibliographic index. A cumulative bibliography of bibliographies. New York : Wilson, 1938-. Vol. 1-. (terminated). Retrieved from: http://www.hwwilson.com/Databases/biblio.htm
Carroll, B. A.; Fink, C. F. & Mohraz, J. E. (Eds.). (1983). Peace and war. A guide to bibliographies. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-Clio. (War/peace bibliography series. #16 ).
"Dialindex" (File 411). Dialog. (See Dialog blue sheet: http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0411.html).
Gale Directory of online, portable, and internet databases. (See: Dialog blue sheet: dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0230.html).
Lester, R. (Ed.). (2005-). The New Walford Guide to reference rsources Vol. 1-3. (Vol. 1, 2005: Science, Technology and Medicine. Vol. 2, 2007: The Social Sciences; Vol. 3, 2013: The Arts: Visual Arts, Music, Language and Literature. (1st edition published 1959).
Totok, W. & Weitzel, R. (Eds.). (1984-1985). Handbuch der bibliographischen Nachschlagewerke. Hrsg. v. Hans-Jürgen und Dagmar Kernchen. 6., erw., völlig neu bearb. Aufl. Frankfurt a.M. : Klostermann. (2 Vols).
Webb, W. H. et al. (Ed.). (1986). Sources of information in the social sciences. A Guide to the literature. 3. ed. Chicago : American Library Association.
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...
of bibliographies.
Bibliographies serve the finding of relevant documents. Metabibliographies serve the finding of the relevant bibliographies in which the relevant documents may be found. One might quote Patrick Wilson:
"For if knowledge is power, power over knowledge is power to increase one's power; and if the stock of writings is thought of mainly as it represents a stock of writings is thought of mainly as it represents a stock of knowledge, it is natural propose treating it as a "resource" to be subjected to rational control, managemenet and utilization." (Wilson, 1968, p. 145).
However, in reality metabibliographies are not the most valuable among information resources. They are valuable for building reference collections, but usually of less interest to the average user, who rely on bibliographies selected by others.
Examples
Balay, R. (Ed.). (1996). Guide to reference books. 11th ed. Chicago: American Library Association. Now as an online service: Guide to reference (2008- ).Besterman, T. A. (1965-1966). A world bibliography of bibliographies and of bibliographical catalogues, calendars, abstracts, digests, indexes and the like. 4. Ed. Vol. 1-5. Totowa.
Bibliographic index. A cumulative bibliography of bibliographies. New York : Wilson, 1938-. Vol. 1-. (terminated). Retrieved from: http://www.hwwilson.com/Databases/biblio.htm
Carroll, B. A.; Fink, C. F. & Mohraz, J. E. (Eds.). (1983). Peace and war. A guide to bibliographies. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-Clio. (War/peace bibliography series. #16 ).
"Dialindex" (File 411). Dialog. (See Dialog blue sheet: http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0411.html).
Gale Directory of online, portable, and internet databases. (See: Dialog blue sheet: dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0230.html).
Lester, R. (Ed.). (2005-). The New Walford Guide to reference rsources Vol. 1-3. (Vol. 1, 2005: Science, Technology and Medicine. Vol. 2, 2007: The Social Sciences; Vol. 3, 2013: The Arts: Visual Arts, Music, Language and Literature. (1st edition published 1959).
Totok, W. & Weitzel, R. (Eds.). (1984-1985). Handbuch der bibliographischen Nachschlagewerke. Hrsg. v. Hans-Jürgen und Dagmar Kernchen. 6., erw., völlig neu bearb. Aufl. Frankfurt a.M. : Klostermann. (2 Vols).
Webb, W. H. et al. (Ed.). (1986). Sources of information in the social sciences. A Guide to the literature. 3. ed. Chicago : American Library Association.
See also
- Bibliographic controlBibliographic controlIn library and information science, bibliographic control is the process by which information resources are described so that users are able to find and select that information resource. An information resource could be a book, a movie, or an image, among other things...
- Guide to information sourcesGuide to information sourcesA Guide to information sources is a kind of metabibliography...
(or: Bibliographic guide, literature guide, guide to reference materials subject gateway). - Wikipedia:List of bibliographies