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Online resources information and research

You can get free access to these subscription websites with your library card. This includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, classical music, newspapers, homework help and more.

If you're not a member, you'll need to join a library.

Services that you need to be in a library to use

Some of our resources and services are only available when you access them from a library. Find a library.

Access to Research

Access to Research

Access over 1.5 million academic articles on a range of subjects.

Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library Edition

The leading online resource for family history research.

BFI Replay

BFI Replay is a free digital archive from the BFI available to libraries.

With 60 years of screen stories, digitised and preserved for the public to view. The collection includes media from The Box, the BFI National Archive and other partner UK Regions and Nations Film Archives.

British Newspaper Archive

British Newspaper Archive

Access to millions of pages of British and Irish newspapers from 1710 to 1955. You'll need to register and log in with your own email address.

Find My Past 

Find My Past

Search or browse this collection of 650 million family history records.

John Johnson Collection

John Johnson Collection

Access to thousands of items selected from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera. Categories include

  • nineteenth-century entertainment
  • the booktrade
  • popular prints
  • crimes
  • murders and executions
  • advertising

Which Magazine

Read the digital Which magazine using our library computers. Library staff will need to log you on to the Which website.

Central Library has paper copies of Which magazine. Ask library staff for details.


Services you can access from home

You can access these services from or home or in a library using your library card.

Naxos Music Library

Naxos Music Library 

A wide selection of online music free to use from home or in a library with your library card.

Newsbank Newspapers

Newsbank Newspapers

Full text articles from a range of local, national and international newspapers.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Over 55,000 biographies of notable Britons.

Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

Online access to the most authoritative and comprehensive English dictionary in the world.

Oxford Reference Online 

Oxford Reference

Fast access to top-quality, authoritative information on every subject - from Art to Zoology.

Times Digital Archive

Times Digital Archive

The complete digital edition of The Times (London) from 1785 to 2019.