Using OPAC to locate BIOGRAPHY
Directions: Follow the steps below for looking up a BIOGRAPHY in the On-Line Public Accessed Catalog (OPAC). Answer the questions.
1. Go to your School Website and click Students. This will open a drop down menu so you can select the
on-line access to the school library.
2. Do a Search by Ke word using Any Match. Type in the word biography
3. How many matches for Biography books does Sunset have?
4. Notice that the call number for many of the biographies is either 920 or 921 but do they all begin
with those numbers? Give the call number and title of two books that DO NOT begin with 920 or
921.
5. Do a Subject search, Any Match, for Lincoln. Using the Call Numbers 920 or 921 as a guide, write
down how many biographies you think the Sunset Library has on Lincoln.
6. Click on the title: Abraham Lincoln: the prairie years and the war years. Write down the summary of
the book.
7. When you read summaries like “this book describes President Lincoln’s personality,” what does this
mean? In other words, what do you think you would be reading about the president’s
personality if you were to read the book?
8. Go to the Internet and do a search for: Biography definition. Cut and paste the definition into the
space below.
9. If you were going to do a biography on one of the people on staff at your school who would you pick?
10. Write down 5 questions you could ask that staff member that would reveal something about their
personality.
Your Name: Staff Member’s Name:
Below are the 5 questions you would like to ask a staff member. Remember, you want to find out something about their personality.
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