1997A&AS..123...93P

λ Bootis stars challenge our understanding of diffusion and accretion processes related to stars and their circumstellar environment, and they are interesting components of the classical instability strip. Attempts to derive group properties with statistical methods are severely limited by the small number of unambiguously identified λ Bootis stars. In general, the subject appears to be obscured by incorrect memberships and it is therefore essential to provide a sufficiently large catalogue of definitive group members before modeling the λ Bootis phenomenon. This paper describes the first steps towards this goal, based on our current knowledge of well investigated members, leading to a concise definition of λ Bootis stars: PopI hydrogen burning metal poor (except of C,N,O and S) A-type stars. The definition does not depend on phenomenological features, like flux depressions, colour excesses, vsini values, etc. Based on a new homogeneous catalogue with 45 λ Bootis stars, we discuss classification criteria which can be used for a spectroscopic and photometric all-sky survey for λ Bootis stars in the field and in clusters of different ages.