How to use the dictionary

The database contains over 2,300 individual entries on 20th and 21st century writers and literary scholars. Each entry includes a biography (bio) and a bibliography (featuring both primary and secondary sources).

Users searching for a particular entries can find them in several ways:

• by conducting a simple search – enter a given family name (or forename and family name in any order) into the search window on the homepage;
• by conducting a advanced search feature – selected under the Bios tab “Entry title” and then add the family name required in the “search value” field;
• by conducting a Index of entries – find the selected family name in the list of entries.

Both the bios and the bibliography can be treated as a complete dataset that can be searched for several types of information including authors’ place/date of birth, the publishers where their works appeared, and education institutions they were associated with. In this way, the data contained in the dictionary can provide the basis for exploring a variety of research questions.

This feature enables users to find each instance where a given word or phrase appears in the entire database. This is a useful option when searching for the title of a work, the name of a periodical, a publishing house, a place name, or the names of translators, authors of adaptations of works, directors, etc.

This feature divides the database into two datasets: Bios (which are also available in English) and Bibliography. Both datasets are accompanied by a separate set of search criteria. The default setting is “Biographies” and the condition “contains”; for certain criteria, it is possible to set the condition “does not contain”, “contains any” or “empty”. The selected phrase – which can be selected from a list of prompts – should be entered into the “search value” field.

Criteria can be combined, thus narrowing the range of results.

The search results take the form of links to entire entries or to particular bibliographical entries. Detailed information will appear after clicking “See more”.

Entry name – using this search category makes it easy to find a particular biobibliographical entry. Enter a family name (or forename and family name in any order) into the field “search value”.

Professional activity – this section features a dropdown list of suggestions (which becomes visible after clicking the ˅ symbol next to the field “search value”) that are linked to the most common forms of professional practice (genres) appearing in the dictionary, including poet, critic, scriptwriter. It is also possible to enter terms not on the list, such as ‘storyteller’, ‘philosopher’ or ‘press studies scholar’, although it is necessary to bear in mind that the dictionary only includes a record of literary, scholarly and artistic output.

Pseudonym – this category is used to search the pseudonyms and cryptonyms used by the authors and researchers included in the dictionary; it is designed for users to be able to establish quickly the identity of writers whose pieces appeared only under a pseudonym or cryptonym.

Year of birth – the default search setting for this category requires entering a range of years (from-until); omitting one of the limits of the range with also produce search findings and can assist in finding, for example, authors born before or after a given year.

Year of death – searching this category functions in the same way as with Year of birth. Furthermore, if we select “empty” rather than “contains” as a condition, we will find a list of all living authors, while selecting “contains any” will yield a list of results featuring all non-living authors.

Important prizes – this list of suggestions highlights the parts of bios where a particular prize is mentioned.

Important awards and honours – searching using this category follow the same principle as with Important prizes.

Connections to educational institutions – using this category enables uses to find in various ways (via studies, work or membership of scientific councils, for example) individuals associated with a particular Polish or international higher education institutions. The term being searched for can be selected from the dropdown list of suggestions or it can be entered manually.

Author of entry – using this category enables users to select entries written by a particular member of the team of authors.

Last updated – this category differentiates between entries (both bios and bibliographies) that have been updated since 2007 and the rest (not updated). There are only two search options here: entries last updated before 2007 (included) and those updated after 2007.

Bio contains – this category enables a search of the contents of bios for any given term or phrase.

Author’s name – using this category enables users to find all the texts by a given author that have been logged in the dictionary, including texts such as reviews and polemics that appear under an entry relating to a different author. Only the family name should be entered into the search filed, without the first name. The top results that appear are links to the Works section of the particular author (if there is a separate entry about this person). These results are followed by bibliographical entries listed in entries relating to other authors.

Title – using this category enables users to final all bibliographical entries whose titles contain the search term entered. The top results contain data from the Works section of all entries to the dictionary, followed by results from the Discussions and Reviews section.

Year of initial publication – selecting this category results in a prompt to provide a range of years (from-until); omitting one of the limits of the range with also produce search findings and can assist in finding, for example, all works initially published before or after a particular year.

Year of premiere radio broadcast – using this category enables users to search for works according to when they were first broadcast on Polish Radio, either in a range of years (from-until) or in a particular year.

Year of premiere television broadcast - using this category enables users to search for works according to when they were first broadcast on television, either in a range of years (from-until) or in a particular year.

Section – this category enables users to limit the search to particular elements of the dictionary entries (i.e.: Works, Articles in periodicals and books, Song lyrics, Texts in catalogues and albums, Radio plays, Scripts, Unpublished works, Works in other fields, Other forms of artistic output, Translations and adaptations by the Author, Translations and adaptations of the Author’s work, Editorial activities, Discussions and reviews (entirety), Interviews and statements by the Author, General discussions, and Analyses of particular works). If applying this category, users must select a value in the closed list; the results will show all biographies where there is at least one result in the chosen sections. It thus becomes possible to find, for example, the entire dataset of registered Radio plays or to search the database for other formats.

Publisher – the name (or part thereof) of a publishing house should be entered when selecting this category as the “search value”.

Place of initial publication – using this category enables users to search for works that were first published in a chosen location; a place name should be entered in the “search value” field.

Place of performance – using this category allows users to search for theatre performances that took place in a given locality.

Theatre – using this category allows users to search for theatre performances staged at a given Polish theatre; the name (or part thereof) of a theatre should be entered into the “search value” field.

Most important publication series – using this category enables users to search for works published as part of particular publication series; the name (or part thereof) of a series should be entered into the “search value” field.

Name of periodical – this category enables users to search for reviews, discussion pieces and analyses published in a particular periodical; the name (or part thereof) of a periodical should be entered into the “search value” field.

Bibliographical entry contains – using this category allows users to search for bibliographical entries that contain any given word or phrase in their description and metadata.

In each dataset (Bios and Bibliography), the search conditions and search categories can be combined by applying the option “Add further condition to this category” or “Add further category”.