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The purpose of this paper is to respond to the Special Issue call by developing the case for enhancing understanding of entrepreneurial marketing by utilising biographical research. This builds on the limited existing research in entrepreneurial marketing using this approach.

Five entrepreneurial marketers are assessed using biographical research.

The individuals assessed clearly show the connection between the telling of a life story and how a business is run using an entrepreneurial marketing approach. Biographical techniques succeed in addressing the need for situation specific understanding. Entrepreneurial marketing core competencies help establish competitive advantage through their ability to influence behaviour, market creation and growth activities.

Biographical research contributes towards the additional theoretical and practical insight which entrepreneurial marketing requires.

Entrepreneurial marketers can make use of biographical research findings due to their readability and association with their own practices to help shape future strategies.

The biographical approach has been underutilised in entrepreneurial marketing research. These research results enhance existing understanding of the foundations of entrepreneurial marketing.

Historical Background and Purpose of the Article Our civilization has always had a fascination with the lives of important people. Individuals who inspire us through their cultural, artistic or religious works, who lead our nations, armies or institutions, or who reach high levels of accomplishment in virtually any field seem to exemplify for us the highest ideals of our culture.

The purpose of this bibliographical essay is to provide a critical description of the information sources available for biographical research in U.S. librarianship — both current and retrospective. It also will provide some commentary on the state of the art and on the needs for the future. This essay is the result of my own involvement as a member of the Editorial Board for the Dictionary of American Library Biography.

Interest in the origins and history of city planning in the United States has made it necessary to provide more information about biographical and reference sources on the subject. In tracing the evolution of American city planning, it is often necessary to identify individuals active, for the most part, during the period from 1900 to 1950, who are significant either for the roles they have played in the development of particular cities or regions, or for their advocacy of particular planning principles. Anthony Sutcliffe, who organized the first International Conference on the History of Urban and Regional Planning in 1977, points out the importance of city planning biography in his book, The History of Urban and Regional Planning; An Annotated Bibliography (1981). In the introduction to his chapter on individual planners, he notes the “great attraction of the biographical approach to planning historians” (139).

Publishers are producing new reference sources on film at an astonishing rate. Each week reviews and advertisements appear to announce yet another book. Books vary in scope, subject emphasis, size, price, and of course, quality, and represent both new works and revised or added editions. Not only are American publishers active, but European firms are getting on the bandwagon, too.

To the initiate in French studies, the term “French Literature” might be understood to mean anything — and everything — written in the French language. Etymologists would no doubt support this interpretation wholeheartedly. To scholars of French literature, however, the term has a very different meaning. Professors in the field generally consider French literature to be that written in France since the Middle Ages, a literature which stands apart from other written works in the French language. This is not to say that there is not a very substantial body of literature written, for instance, in French‐speaking Canada, or Algeria, Tunisia, Haiti, or a myriad of other places. Certain individuals specialize in the literature (French) of those countries, but they do not refer to those writings as “French Literature”; they label them “French‐Canadian Literature,” “French‐African Literature,” and the like. This essay will be limited to a discussion of French literature — the major literature of France, considered worthy of special attention or acclaim by readers and scholars worldwide.

As the field of women's studies has grown into a mature academic discipline, the number of sources devoted to women has increased dramatically, particularly in the last decade. Many of these sources are basic, but fill gaps in the literature and refine search strategy. This article focuses on introductory level materials (listed in the bibliography) appropriate for search strategy use. Titles discussed are useful for topic selection (almanacs, annuals), background information (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks), supplementary information (statistical, biographical, bibliographic sources), and access to the library catalog and periodical literature (indexes, abstracts). Sources were culled mainly from American Reference Books Annual, New Books on Women and Feminism, and the “New Reference Books in Women's Studies” section of Feminist Collections. With a few exceptions, these sources have been published since the mid‐eighties and were not discussed in Susan Searing's Introduction to Library Research in Women's Studies or Women's Studies: A Recommended Core Bibliography, 1980–1985 by Catherine Loeb, et al.

Journalism is concerned with the reporting, writing, editing, broadcasting and the photography of news. Editorial or print journalism is limited to writing, editing and reporting and it is one factor in the ever‐growing list of diverse opportunities open to the modern day journalist. Photojournalism, radio and television broadcasting, editorial and newspaper cartoons, public relations and telecommunications are other aspects. All of these are part of “mass media” or “mass communication,” phrases that will be repeated throughout this article. Other areas considered part of the mass media are cinema, advertising, book publishing and sometimes photography.

Some reference books are not only useful but a pleasure to read. For anyone interested in literature, the outstanding example is the Wilson Authors Series, which, for over fifty years, has provided excellent summaries of the lives and works of critically acclaimed or popular writers known to English‐speaking readers. Through their coverage of minor writers and inclusion of the autobiographical statements of many twentieth‐century writers, these volumes have constituted a valuable record of the literary scene. Despite the proliferation of literary reference works in recent years, some covering more authors, others providing lengthier articles, the Wilson series has remained a cornerstone of the reference collections of libraries of all sizes and a model of concise biographical writing.