Biography: a written record of the life of an individual.
Autobiography: the writing of one’s own history.

The library doesn’t maintain a separate area for biographies, except for one small section – the 920s – on the second floor of the stacks. All other books about a person’s life are found with books about the subject on which their life focused. Those about musicians are in the music sections, sports figures are with sports, writers with their works, etc.

If you know who you want to read about, put his or her name in the search box in “Last name, First name” format and click SUBJECT to get books about that person.

For example, if you do a SUBJECT search for Vonnegut, Kurt your results can include autobiographical books [those he was written himself] as well as those by other authors. You may also find books that aren’t biographical but discuss his works.

If you were only interested in autobiographies you can do the same search and click AUTHOR. The results will include anything he has written about his life as well as his fiction, essays, etc.

Don’t have any idea who to read about?
What interests you? Are you curious about science, or art? Are you an avid music or sports fan? Would you like to know how people viewed history as it happened? Thinking about a profession, a place, or a time period can help you choose.
If you know a subject that interests you, do a SUBJECT search. Try biography baseball players or biography rock musicians, for example.
 
For people in history, you can use KEYWORDs to look for the time period. Combine the name of the event with biography [or personal narratives, diaries, journals, letters, or correspondence]. Usually this will give you primary, first-hand commentary on the events of that time.

Browse!
Go to the area of the library that has books about a subject you like. Take some time to browse the shelves. For instance, the 759s has the books about paintings and painters, the 780s cover music, and the 973s are American history.

Biography Reference Bank
Biography Reference Bank is our most comprehensive biography resource and contains information on over 500,00 people from antiquity to the present. It contains full text of articles from many biographical reference books, including all volumes of Current Biography, the World Author Series, Nobel Prize Winners, World Artists, World Film Directors, American Reformers, and numerous biographical books on musicians and composers.

In addition to the biographies, this database contains magazine and book review citations, including review excerpts. The Biography Reference also contains thousands of images.

Biographies Plus Illustrated
Biographies Plus Illustrated contains over 111,000 biographies and obituaries and more than 32,000 photographs.

Current Biography Illustrated
Current Biography Illustrated has more than 15,000 full text biographies and more than 9,400 obituaries, with photographs, from all volumes of Current Biography Yearbook, 1940 to the present.

Junior Authors & Illustrators
Junior Authors and Illustrators profiles prominent authors, illustrators, and translators of children's books. Many artists and authors have provided autobiographical statements that describe ways they have been encouraged in their unique talents. Each profile includes a bibliography of selected works, as well as lists of additional biographical sources.