The MLA Bibliography is concerned with "critical works on literature, language, and folklore", and is available in two forms: an annual bound cumulation in two volumes (in the Index section of the Reference collection) and a computer version accessible via Liberty login (under 'Commercial Databases'). You should be familiar with both forms, since they each have advantages and drawbacks.

The print form has appeared in two annual volumes since 1981: one volume is an alphabetical index of subjects (a thesaurus of the terms used by MLA indexers) and the other lists the year's literature (articles, books, essays in festschriften and other collections, dissertations) in a classified arrangement. Each item appears only once in the latter source, classified by literary period, then by author, then by the work discussed. A 1991 article on George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession is found thus:

	Irish literature/1900-1999
		Shaw, George Bernard (1856-1950)
			Drama/Mrs. Warren's Profession
				[6390] Yae, Young-soo "individual Will and
				Social Environment in G.B. Shaw's "Mrs.
				Warren's Profession." JELL. 1991 Spring
				37(1):213-32 [In Korean; Eng. sum.]
				[Treatment of will of heroine; relationship
				to society.]

(before 1981 the MLA had no subject index).

The searcher should look both under listings of authors and under likely subjects in the Subject Index volume. The Subject Index serves as an index of authors and includes "languages, groups, genres, stylistic and structural features, themes, sources, influences, processes, theories..." as well as cross references [use for, see also].