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Biography: Books

A guide to finding biographical and autobiographical information.

LC Subject Headings

"Biography" can be at the beginning of the subject heading in the catalog, such as:

More commonly, however, "Biography" is used as a subheading; for example:

It may be more beneficial, therefore, to search for the term "Biography" within the subject words, rather than just browsing the subject terms alphabetically.  See the example at right for how to do this in WestCat.

Note: autobiographies also use "Biography" as a subheading in LC subject headings (the subject heading "Autobiography" is specifically for works about autobiographies as a literary form).  There is no good way to limit specifically to autobiographies in WestCat, as keyword searches for "Autobiography" result in false drops from BISAC Subject Headings in newer records that begin with "Biography & Autobiography".  Try a keyword search for "Autobiography", but be aware that some may be biographies, too.

Searching for Books

Search for books locally:

To search for the term "Biography" within the subject words, use the Advanced Search screen in WestCat and select "Subject Words" in the "Search by:" menu.  You can add other keywords to the second search box to narrow down your search to a particular person, place, or topic:

 

Also try I-Share for more titles: