The ethnic diversity and gender represented and the age of the collection of middle level biography collections of one middle school library media center and one public library serving the same community were studied. Shelflists and computer printouts, as well as the books themselves, were used to provide information about the biography collections. The school had a total collection of about 13,500 volumes with 984 biographies covering 665 different subjects. The public library children's department had 614 biographies, with 457 persons represented. Biographies of males outnumbered those of females by about four to one in both collections. The percentages of biographies of Whites exceeded the percentage of White students in both cases. The percentage of biographies of Blacks was 14 to 18 percent under the percentage of Black students, but the percentage of biographies of Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and others was within one percent of the corresponding ethnic student population. The average age of the collection in both libraries was over 20 years. In both collections, the largest number of books had a copyright date in the 1960s. Neither collection was adequate or equitable with regard to gender. Ethnic groups classified as White or Black are not equitably represented, although other ethnic groups are proportionately represented. Seven tables present study data. (Contains 22 references.) (SLD)