Scharphedin2
06-09-2007, 03:59 PM
Back when I lived in Chicago, I often used to go to the Harold Washington Library, and look through a couple of volumes of the gigantic reference work called DLB. I learned of many authors that way, and I only managed to leave an almost untraceable scratch in the surface of all that this work has to offer.
For those not familiar with DLB, it is a reference work extending into several hundred encyclopedia-style volumes. Each volume covers a number of authors with a brief essay describing the life and times of the author in question, a bibliography, and a list of secondary sources. Then follows, a condensation of study and criticism of the author -- this can often take up 30, 50 or even a hundred pages, depending on how much has been written on a given author, and his/her place and stature in history.
Aside from recommending this work to anyone not already familiar with it, my purpose with this thread is to find out, if anyone here knows of a way that someone like me, living in Sweden, without connection to any American library or educational establishment, can gain access to the online version of the DLB. I understand that it now exists online, but it is not offered to the public.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
For those not familiar with DLB, it is a reference work extending into several hundred encyclopedia-style volumes. Each volume covers a number of authors with a brief essay describing the life and times of the author in question, a bibliography, and a list of secondary sources. Then follows, a condensation of study and criticism of the author -- this can often take up 30, 50 or even a hundred pages, depending on how much has been written on a given author, and his/her place and stature in history.
Aside from recommending this work to anyone not already familiar with it, my purpose with this thread is to find out, if anyone here knows of a way that someone like me, living in Sweden, without connection to any American library or educational establishment, can gain access to the online version of the DLB. I understand that it now exists online, but it is not offered to the public.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.