Biographical Research: Finding Books

Search catalog for books, ebooks, periodicals, government documents, videos, maps etc. held by Fordham at all campuses.  Use the blue arrow to select  SUBJECT search.

CATALOG

Tip:  Use the catalog for a complete biographical work on an individual or topic.

A catalog search is useful when you would like a complete work about one individual, or a full length resource on your biographical topic.  Search the catalog to find books in any format (print, electronic, or microform), audio or visual materials, or Fordham dissertations.

Personal Name Search

Limit your search by SUBJECT.  Type the personal name in the search box - first and last name in either order will yield the same results.

Example:     Desmond Tutu     same as     Tutu Desmond

You can also search by using the Boolean operator AND with the truncated search term biograph$.  The $ symbol will yield all variant endings of the root word, so biograph$ will yield biography, biographies, and biographical.

Example:     Babe Ruth AND biograph$

Biographical Type Search

When searching the catalog for biographical information about a type of person, use the same basic SUBJECT search.  Type in the truncated search term biograph$, followed by the Boolean operator AND, followed by the type of person.

Example:      biograph$  AND hispanic

Bio-bibliographies

Bibliographies are lists of books or information sources.  Sources that contain both biographical and bibliographic information are often indexed with the term bio-bibliography. When searching the catalog for these items, use the same basic SUBJECT search with the term bio-bibliograph$ and a subject term.

Example:    bio-bibliograph$ AND  american drama

Please note:  Not all biographical information is assigned a CT number. Many Library of Congress classes have a designated subclass range for biographical information.

Subclass CT - Auxiliary Sciences of History

CT21-9999 Biography

CT21-22 Biography as an art or literary form

CT31-83 History of biographical literature. Lives of biographers

CT93-206 General collective biography

CT206 Portraits

CT210-3150 National biography

CT3200-9999 Biography. By subject

CT3200-3830 Biography of women (Collective)

CT3990 Academicians. Scholars. Savants

CT9960-9998 Other miscellaneous groups Including adventurers, eccentrics, misers, etc.

CT9999 Blank books for personal records, diaries, etc. 

WorldCat is the global catalog of library collections containing over 46 million records from libraries in over 65 countries.  You can make an InterLibrary Loan request directly from the WorldCat entry for material that Fordham does not own.