Biographies are usually shelved by the last name of the subject. For example:
| book about Anwar Sadat |
| B SAD |
Collective biographies, Dewey number 920, are books which contain the biographies of many people. However, they may not display in a card catalog search. Consider researching a collective biography that is organized by category. For example:
| time period | Biographical Encyclopedia of the 20th Century |
| occupation | Historic World Leaders |
| country | Leaders of the Middle East |