Online resources

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

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

Access to Research

Access to Research (in library use only)

Access over 1.5 million academic articles on a range of subjects including art, architecture, business, engineering, history, languages, politics, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences.

Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library Edition (in library use only)

Please note: you can temporarily access this site from home during the pandemic by entering your Plymouth Library card number and PIN on our designated webpage.

The leading online resource for family history research.

British Newspaper Archive

British Newspaper Archive (in library use only)

Access to millions of pages of British and Irish newspapers from 1710 to 1955. 100,000 pages are added each month. You'll need to register and log in with your own email address.

Find My Past 

Find my Past (in library use only)

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

John Johnson Collection

John Johnson Collection (in library use only)

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, and advertising.

Naxos Music Library

Naxos Music Library (access in your library or from home using your library card)

Online classical music collection.

Newsbank Newspapers

Newsbank Newspapers (access in your library or from home using your library card)

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

Oxford Bibliographies

Oxford Bibliographies (access in your library or from home using your library card)

Oxford Bibliographies in Victorian Literature and British and Irish Literature. Every article is a respected guide to current thinking in that area, written and reviewed by experts, and with original commentary and annotations.

Oxford Dictionaries

Oxford Dictionaries (access in your library or from home using your library card)

Up-to-date online dictionaries, thesauruses, and language reference content.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (access in your library or from home using your library card)

Over 55,000 biographies of notable Britons.

Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary (access in your library or from home using your library card)

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

Oxford Reference Online 

Oxford Reference (access in your library or from home using your library card)

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

Theory Test Pro

Theory Test Pro (access in your library or from home using your library card)

An online simulation of the UK's driving theory tests for all vehicle categories. It contains all the official test questions licensed from the DVSA, the people who set the tests.

Times Digital Archive

Times Digital Archive (access in your library or from home using your library card)

The complete digital edition of The Times (London) from 1785 to 2012.

Very Short Introductions online

Very Short Introductions (access in your library or from home using your library card)

The perfect way to become an expert in a new subject, fast. Your library card gives you free access to ten of these eBooks. 

Which Magazine

Online version of Which Magazine. Available in Central, Crownhill, Plympton, Plymstock and Southway libraries only. Ask library staff for details.