Biographies
Wellington City Libraries have a wealth of material about the famous, the infamous, and many other interesting people.
QuickSearch Biographies
Searching the computer catalogue
When looking for titles on a particular person, the best approach is from the Basic Search screen, choose the Search Type Subjects, and enter the word "biography" and as much of the individual's name as is known. If this doesn't return any titles, or not as many as expected, repeat the search with just the individual's name i.e. leave out the word "biography".
To find titles about those in a particular occupation, also choose the Search Type Subjects, and enter the word "biography" and the job e.g. biography politicians.
Similarly to find titles about those from a particular country, also choose the Search Type Subjects, and enter the word "biography" and the name of the country e.g. biography Russia.
To simply see all our available titles in the adult Biography collection, choose the Search Type Call Number browse, and enter the word "biography". This will take you to an alphabetical list of all the Biography titles.
Layout
Each Library has a dedicated, sign-posted area for biographical books.
In the Central Library this area is at the south end of the 1st Floor, on the Victoria St side.
The Children's and Young Adult sections of each Library also have collections of biographies aimed at younger readers.
Biographies on individuals have a spine label of 'B', followed by the first 3 letters of the subject's surname e.g. biographies of Robert Muldoon will be labelled B MUL.
Members of royal families however are labelled according to their first names i.e. books on Queen Elizabeth's I and II will both be found at B ELI.
Biographies on more than one person have a spine label of 'Bc', followed by the first 3 letters of either the title or author of the book. Check the computer catalogue to confirm in each case. These collected biographies are shelved in the same general area as, but apart from, the other biographies.
The Central Library has a Biography Reference section near the Enquiries desk at the south end of the 1st Floor. This includes a good range of New Zealand and international Who's Who and similar titles. There is other reference only material on the 2nd Floor in the New Zealand and Maori collections.
In addition to the Biography sections, there are books about some individuals shelved along with titles on the subject for which they became known. Books about popular, jazz and classical music musicians and composers are shelved in the subject area rather than with biographies. Though new books about artists, architects, photographers, actors and sports people are shelved in the biography section, older titles can be found with the relevant books in the main non-fiction sequence. Some of these call numbers are as follows:
| Architects | 720.92 |
| Photographers | 770.92 |
| Popular music and jazz artists | 786.9 |
| Classical music composers and performers | 789 & 789.2 |
| Movie actors | 791.43092 |
| Rugby and league players | 796.33092 |
| Cricket players | 796.358092 |
The corresponding Reference only sections may contain useful biographical material.
Check out the Biography page in mygateway.info for access to online biography resources. Ask at any library enquiries desk if you need help with these resources.
