BIOGRAPHY

A Faulk Central Library Research Guide

How to use the Online Catalog to find biographies

A biography is a written account of a person’s life. An autobiography is the written history of a person’s life written by that individual. The Austin Public Library does not shelve all the biographies written for adult readers together in the same section, so you won’t be able to browse them all at once. The best way to find a biography or autobiography in our catalog FindIt is by using the following approach:

From the Quick Search/Home screen, type the person’s name and the phrase “and biography” in the search box. Make sure you’re in the keyword mode, and the drop down menu says “search everything.”

Biographies at the Austin Public Library have been cataloged to reflect the profession or subject specialty in which the person participated. For example, a biography of a musician would be in the music section, and a biography of a movie star would be in the film section. Although we don’t have all biographies written for adult readers in one section for browsing, you can browse all the biographies of musicians or scientists in one area.

Biographies written for young readers are all shelved in the J 921 area of the Youth non-fiction section on the first floor. Biographical encyclopedias for youth are shelved on the reference shelf in the Youth area in the JR 920s.

Biographical Reference Books

Reference books have an R before the call number. In the R 920 area you will find most of our biographical reference books including:

• Almanac of Famous People R 920.02 Al
• Contemporary Black Biography R 920.0092 Co
• Current Biography R 920 Cu
• Dictionary of American Biography R 920 DI
• Encyclopedia of World Biography R 920 EN
• Hispanic American Biography R 920.009268 Hi
• Notable Asian Americans R 920.009295 No
• Who’s Who in America R 920 Wh
• Who’s Who of American Women R 920 Wh

Specialized topical reference books are shelved in other areas of the reference collection. A few representative titles include:

• Biographical Dictionary of Psychology R 150.922 Bi
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography R 509.2 Di
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians R 780.3 Ne
• Who’s Who in Space R 629.4500922 Ca
• Women Filmmakers & Their Films R 791.43082 Wo

Online Databases

The library subscribes to many subscription databases that will help you find biographical information. From the online databases page select the “Biography” link to see what the Library has to offer. Anyone can search the databases at any Austin Public Library location. Austin Public Library Cardholders can access most of the databases remotely from their home or office computers 24 hours a day.

The most popular biographical database is the Biography Resource Center + The Complete Marquis Who’s Who. This easy-to-use and comprehensive database has biographical information on more than one million people throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.

If you’re conducting genealogical research, the Library has two databases that will help, Ancestry.Library Edition and HeritageQuest Online.

If you’re looking for science biographies, you’ll find AccessScience very useful. The database also includes weekly late-breaking science and technology news articles.

Search the Biography and Genealogy Master Index for information on hard-to-find yet noteworthy individuals. This comprehensive index will tell you which biographical reference books include entries about the individual you are researching.

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