Sample Searches

Biography Resource Center Sample Searches

Biography Resource Center is a comprehensive online biographical reference database designed to meet the needs of public, school and academic libraries in the areas of literature, science, multicultural studies, business, entertainment, politics, sports, government, history, arts and newsmakers.

Search 1:

Find a list of female African American scientists.

Solution:

1. Open Biography Resource Center and go to the "Biographical Facts Search" page.
2. Enter "scientist" in the "Occupation:" entry box or select it by clicking on the "View Occupation Terms" link.
3. Select "African American" in the "Ethnicity:" box.
4. Select "Female" in the "Gender:" box.
5. Click on the "Search" button to retrieve more than 160 female African American scientists.

Search 2:

A customer wanted to know how to find biographical information on writers from Albania.

Solution:

1. Opened Biography Resource Center and went to the "Biographical Facts Search" page.
2. Clicked on "View Occupation Terms" under "Occupation:" and selected "Writer".
3. Under "Nationality:" "Albanian" was selected.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved biographical information on five Albanian authors.

Search 3:

A reference librarian learning to use Biography Resource Center at San Antonio College in Texas wanted to find magazine articles about the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme, then Prime Minister of Sweden.

Solution:

1. Opened Biography Resource Center and entered "Olof Palme", making sure that "Name contains" was selected.
2. Clicked on the "Search" button to retrieve the biographical records related to Olof Palme.
3. Clicked on the "Magazine Articles" tab and retrieved 17 articles. Fourteen of the articles retrieved dealt in some way with Mr. Palme's assassination.

Search 4:

A school librarian helping a student use Biography Resource Center wants to find out where a former leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, was born and what his birthplace is called today. She also wants to see if she can find a list of books he authored.

Solution:

1. Open Biography Resource Center, enter "Brez" in the "Name Search:" entry box, select "Start of last name" and click on the "Search" button.
2. Select "Brezhnev, Leonid I(lyich) (Russian political leader, 1906-1982)" from the results list.
3. Select the first (and most current) narrative biography (Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003).
4. According to the obituary in the biographical essay, Mr. Brezhnez was born December 19, 1906, in Kamenskoye, Russia. Today it is now called Dneprodzerzhinsk, Ukraine. The essay also includes a list of writings by him.

Search 5:

How can one find biographical information on the Los Angeles radio talk show host Larry Elder in Biography Resource Center?

Solution:

1. Open Biography Resource Center and go to the "Advanced Search" page.
2. Enter "Larry Elder" in "Name" in the first entry box.
3. Enter "radio" in "Full text" in the second entry box.
4. Click on the "Search" button to retrieve two biographical articles and a thumbnail biography on the radio talk show host.