Finding Biographical Information

There will be many times that you will need to find biographical information about individuals. You may wish to check the credentials of authors and scholars, find out about the past of an international or political figure in the news, or just find out more about a person or family out of pure curiosity.

You may already know some of the following techniques for finding biographical information:

• look in either a general or a subject encyclopedia

• search the HSU Library Catalog with the person's name as subject

• look in periodical indexes (see OWL 3 for information about using these)

• use an Internet directory or search engine; the Biographical Information section of the Library's Virtual Reference page might be a good place to start

The Library also has many biographical sources in the Reference collection, but a researcher often doesn't know which one will contain information about the person of interest. Fortunately, Biobase (ref micro MC 1419) often makes a search for biographical information quick and easy. This database, on microfiche, located at a table behind the Information desk, is a great time saver. It will lead you to biographical information in over 600 biographical sources, such as Who's Who in America, Dictionary of National Biography, Contemporary Authors, and American Men and Women of Science. A booklet attached to the Biobase table is annotated with the call numbers for sources in the Library.