A metabibliography (or biblio-bibliography) is a

bibliography Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''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 knowledge, it is natural to propose treating it as a "resource" to be subjected to rational control, management and utilization."

Patrick Wilson Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor and director. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty'' (2000–2001) and ''Oklahoma ...

, ''Two kinds of Power: an essay on bibliographical control.'' Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1968, p. 148. Metabibliographies 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 bibliographic index is a bibliography intended to help find a publication. Citations are usually listed by author and subject in separate sections, or in a single alphabetical sequence under a system of authorized headings collectively known as ...

. A cumulative bibliography of bibliographies''. New York : Wilson, 1938-2011. 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 resources''. 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). * Malcles, Louise Noelle (1950). ''Les sources du travail bibliographique''. Geneva: E. Droz. 3 vols. in 4: tome 1. Bibliographies generales; tome 2. Bibliographies specialisees; sciences humaines (2 vols.); tome 3. Bibliographies specialisees; sciences exactes et techniques. * 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.

References

{{Authority control Information science Bibliography Reference works Works about history Sources

Examples

See also

References