IMHO, most if not all of the Who's Who publications are marketing concepts
designed to encourage participants to buy a copy of the publication.  One
of the biggest is Who's Who Among American High School Students.  These
students are nominated by their schools, youth groups, etc. and must have
a B average.  Most people I've known who were nominated turned down the
"honor."  Many schools do not even submit names.  No, the Who's Who
publications are not illegal nor are they scams, but the honorees
represent a self-selected population that does not represent the true
"cream of the crop" among a particular group.

-- Kay

Kay Johnson
Serials Coordinator
University of Tennessee
johnsonk@utk.edu

 > Has anyone else received an invitation to be included in the 2006-2007
> edition of National Register's Who's Who in Executives and Professionals?
>
> I spent about 15 minutes on the phone yesterday with one of their
> representatives, giving him brief biographical information, after which he
> mentioned that this publication could not be purchased by libraries (one
> copy is sent to the Library of Congress), that it was only available to
> its 110,000 "members" from the U.S. and Canada * for one of several
> prices, of course.  He stressed that people from the government, business,
> and military establishments would be listed (among others) and they
> certainly wouldn't want someone in a public library photocopying their
> information and then contacting them ...  They sound very much like a
> vanity publisher to me.  (One of the items they offered to provide me with
> was a plaque citing my membership in their publication (no relation to
> Marquis Who's Who) that could also include my library's logo and my
> picture.)
>
> Only afterwards did I go to their website
> (http://www.nationalswhoswho.com/html/aboutus.cfm) or check OCLC.  I
> imagine their sales rep. would be horrified to know that there are 8 other
> libraries besides LC who own one or more volumes of this serial (OCLC
> #42440411).
>
> BTW, this solicitation did not come with my ALA membership number on it.
> The letter simply states: "Your name has been provided to our office from
> one of several sources we employ."
>
> It will be interesting to see if I even get a rough draft of my profile to
> review before this edition goes to press.  :-)
>
> Karen Nadeski
>
> Project Cataloger, Connecticut History Online
> Connecticut State Library
> 231 Capitol Ave.
> Hartford, CT 06106
> 860-757-6544 (voice)
> 860-757-6559 (fax)
> knadeski@cslib.org
> http://www.cthistoryonline.org/
>
>