Who's Who of Canadian Women

John D. Blackwell is Reference Librarian/Collections Coordinator of the
Goldfarb Library at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

The foremost source on the prominent women of this country, Who’s Who
of Canadian Women (WWCW) is an essential reference work for office,
home, school, and library. WWCW is far more comprehensive in its
coverage of women’s achievements than, for instance, the generic
Canadian Who’s Who.

WWCW first appeared in 1984 and was relaunched with substantially
expanded scope in 1995. The seventh edition contains 3435 entries,
profiling Canadian women in the arts, academia, business, the media,
politics, science, sports, and the volunteer/nonprofit sectors, women
who have made a difference in their fields, their communities, and
beyond. An editorial advisory committee seeks out candidates and
considers nominations for inclusion on a merit basis only. There is no
charge for a listing.

Entries include name, degrees, spheres of endeavor, profession, birth
place and year, education and career details, selected credits and
publications, honors, affiliations, and interests. Some entries also
include a postal address, telephone/fax number, e-mail address, and a
brief statement about career philosophy. The directory is indexed by
company name and primary occupation.

For the first time, WWCW is now available in a CD-ROM version, which
offers many advantages over the print format. The electronic database
may be searched by name, keyword (i.e., full text), header category
(e.g., career, job title, company or industry, honors, publications,
affiliations, education, degrees, community, interests, place or date of
birth, etc.), or complex combinations of the above. The full or partial
contents of one or more entries can be printed or downloaded to
Microsoft Word or WordPerfect files. An on-line tutorial, a list of
“power tips,” and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs)
provide valuable assistance for getting the most out of this powerful
search engine (e.g., how to use wildcards). The impressive search
capability of WWCW’s CD-ROM makes it particularly useful for
researchers wishing to identify or contact a specialized group of
notable Canadian women; the program will even print mailing lists.