Museum

Thomas J. Watson Library

The Libraries of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Watson Library

    Register here to use the Library.

    For Visitors:
    Tuesday 9:30–5:15
    Wednesday 9:30–5:15
    Thursday 9:30–5:15
    Friday 9:30–6:00
    Saturday 10:00-2:00

    For Museum Staff:
    Monday-Friday 9:00–6:00
    Saturday 10:00-2:00

    Paging ends
    at 3:30pm on weekdays
    at 1:30pm on Saturdays
    See paging times.

    See Access and Hours for more detailed information and Holiday Closings.

  • Nolen Library

    Monday (staff only) 9:00-5:00
    Tuesday-Thursday 9:00-5:00
    (visitors: 9:30-5:00)
    Friday 9:00-6:00
    (visitors: 9:30-6:00)
    Saturday 10:00-6:00
    Sunday 10:00-5:00

    See the Nolen Library page for more detailed information on regular hours and holiday closings.

Filed under: Biographical Resources
Filed under: Databases A-Z
Filed under: Databases: W
Filed under: Full Text

WBIS (World Biographical Information System)

Connect

The WBIS Index provides brief biographical index entries for thousands of notables from all centuries and most countries. The biographical articles referenced are from the 16th to the 20th centuries. We also have access to the WBIS French Biographical Archive I, which provides access to the digitized full-text of articles that are indexed from that archive. As a result, you will find lots of citations with brief biographical information from all of WBIS, and a few with fully digitized articles from the French archive.