Who's Who
Who's Who (or Who is Who) is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of notable persons. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication "Who's Who", a reference work on contemporary prominent people in Britain published annually since 1849. In addition to legitimate reference works, some "Who's Who" lists involve the selling of "memberships" in fraudulent directories that are created online or through instant publishing services. AARP, the  University at Buffalo and the Government of South Australia have published warnings of these "Who's Who" scams. Non-English publications. Some "Who's Who" books have a title in the language of the country concerned: Other publications and scams. The title ""Who's Who"" is in the public domain, and thousands of "Who's Who" compilations of varying scope and quality (and similar publications without the words "Who's Who") have been published by various authors and publishers. Some publications have been described as scams; they list any people likely to buy the book, or to pay for inclusion , with no criterion of genuine notability. They may offer vanity awards or expensive trophies. One example was the "Who's Who Among American High School Students" which was criticized for questionable nomination practices as well as whether the listing's entries are fact-checked and accurate. According to the admissions vice president of Hamline University, "It's honestly something that an admissions officer typically wouldn't consider or wouldn't play into an admissions decision," adding that ""Who's Who..." is just trying to sell books". "Who's Who" publications are not all of questionable value, but publishers that select  truly notable people and provide trustworthy information on them are hard to identify. A & C Black's Who's Who is the canonical example of a legitimate "Who's Who" reference work, being the first to use the name and establish the approach in print, publishing annually since 1849. However, the longevity of a publication is not in itself a guarantee. In 1999 Tucker Carlson said in "Forbes" magazine that Marquis Who's Who, founded in 1898 but no longer an independent company, had adopted practices of address harvesting as a revenue stream, undermining its claim to legitimacy as a  reference work listing people of merit. A 2005 "New York Times" article observed that the entries in Marquis Who's Who were "not uniformly fact-checked".