NURS 1000: Professional Nursing Orientation: Nursing Biography

Titles in this list represent a sampling of nursing and healthcare biography books from the University Libraries.

Click here to find more!  

You can find nursing biographical information from a variety of different sources, including books, databases, articles and websites.

Books

Books are a great place to begin your search for biographical information on a specific nurse.  Check out the sampling of nursing and medical biography books listed on this page to get a head start.

Connect to the University Libraries Catalog to find additional books. The catalog will allow you to search for books according to specific criteria:

• Subject:  Subject searching is a very concise way to find books in the Libraries' collections.  You can search one of two ways --
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings:  These headings are typically assigned to books in the Main Campus libraries' collections.  Some recommended subject headings to begin with include Nurses; Nursing; Nursing History; or Biography.
  • Medical Subject Headings:  These headings are assigned to all books in the Mulford Library's collection on the Health Science Campus.  Some recommended headings to start with include History of Nursing; Biography as Topic; Nurses; or Nursing. 
• Name of individual:  If you are searching for a book on a specific nurse, you can do a Library of Congress Subject search for that person's name.  Be sure to enter the last name first, i.e. Nightingale, Florence. 
• Keyword:  A keyword search will yield results with those terms in the book's title, author, or assigned subject headings.  Keyword searching is a good way to begin your search if you are not sure of the correct subject headings to enter.
• Title or Author: Useful if you know the exact title of the book, or if you are looking for autobiographies or other books written by a specific individual (when searching by author, enter the last name first)

Databases

You can find articles on significant nursing figures by conducting a keyword search for their name in specific nursing or health science databases such as the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) or PubMed (which includes the MEDLINE index).  

Websites

Websites can be great sources of information as long as they are reputable and accurate.  When using a website for scholarly information, be sure to follow the guidelines for website evaluation.

If you found a book in the catalog, but it is available at Mulford, no need to come all the way over to pick it up!  You can request it to be sent to Carlson (and vice versa).  Simply click the Request button in the catalog.  Your book should arrive within 2-3 days. 

If you cannot find a book in the University Libraries Catalog, or if a particular book you want is checked out, you can request it from another OhioLINK library and have it sent to one of the UToledo libraries. Click the OhioLINK button in the catalog, or search the OhioLINK catalog directly and click the Request This Item link for the item you want.