Reference library online

General reference Family history Literature and music Business information Newspapers and magazines Learning

General reference

(Only in libraries).
Free access to over 30 million academic articles from a huge range of journals. Subjects include art, architecture, business, engineering, history, languages, politics, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences.

Britannica online

(Use your library card number to login).
Online version of the complete Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Available in three levels: Junior (for age 6-10), Student (for age 10-15) and Adult (for age 15+).

Credo Reference

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Search in hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos. Ideal for research projects and homework.

Dictionary of National Biography

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
An illustrated collection of biographies of over 55,000 men and women who shaped Britain, from earliest times to present.

Go Citizen

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Official study materials to prepare for the Life in the UK or British Citizenship tests.

Oxford Dictionaries Pro

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
Definitions of words and phrases with expert guidance on style, usage, grammar and spelling. Now includes French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Portuguese dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
The definitive English dictionary that lists the meanings, history and pronunciation of over 500,000 English words.

Oxford Reference Online

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
A selection of searchable reference titles on a variety of subjects. Includes encyclopedias, dictionaries and books of quotations.

Theory test pro

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Practise the official UK theory driving test for cars and motorcycles. Available in over 60 languages.

Which?

(In libraries only).
Read the latest Which? magazine products and services reviews. Ask a member of staff to login.

Who's who and who was who?

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
A huge range of short biographies of noteworthy and influential people.

Family history

Ancestry Library edition

(Only in libraries)
Research your family history for free in your local library.

Find my past

(Only in libraries).
Research your family history.

Hertfordshire names online

Access many of our indexes to local and family history sources, such as pre-1837 marriages, wills, newspapers and magazines, tithe awards and records about the poor.

Literature and music

Naxos Music Library

(Use your library card number to login).

Streaming music website, focusing on classical music, also with jazz, world music and classic rock.

Our licence allows for 10 users to have access at the same time. If access is denied, please try again at a later time.

Who else writes like?

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Find an author whose books you like and see which other writers are recommended. You can also browse by genre or explore prize winners.

Newspapers and magazines

Press Reader

(Card number to log in).
Read over 4000 newspapers from 100 countries in 60 languages.

By default, your full name is visible to other Hertfordshire customers on PressReader. You can change your user name and edit your privacy settings.

Magazines with Libby

(Login with your card number and PIN).
Read more than 370 popular magazines, all in full colour.

British Library Newspapers

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Full runs of 48 influential British national and regional newspapers.

British Newspaper Archive

(Only in libraries).
100s of local and regional UK newspapers from 19th and 20th century. You'll need to create an account but you'll have free unlimited credits when you use this in the library.

News Gale OneFile

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A collection of 1000s of national, international and local newspapers, including all UK broadsheets and tabloids.

The Illustrated London News 1842 - 2003

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Access the entire 160 year run of the newspaper with 260,000 searchable pages and more than 1.5 million high quality colour images.

The John Johnson Collection

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
An archive of programmes, playbills, prospectuses, popular prints and advertising materials from 18th, 19th and early 20th century.

Sunday Times Historical Archive 1822 - 2016

(Use your library card number to login).
Search or browse 600,000 pages of this historic newspaper. Articles are searchable.

Times Digital Archive 1785 - 2019

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Every page of every issue. Fully searchable.

UK reference centre

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number).
Full text and bibliographic information for general reference publications, including journals, biographies and images, some dating back to 1975.

Learning

Learnmyway

Free basic courses for beginners on using a computer, browsing the web, sending an email, online safety and finding work online.

FutureLearn

Over 1000 online courses from top universities and specialist organisations. Courses “Included in Unlimited” have a free access option.

OpenLearn

Free learning from The Open University with over 1000 courses covering a wide range of subjects, from Greek history to renewable energy, and everything in between.

Fiero Code

(Login with "hertsb" and your library card number) Fiero Code is a self-guided platform that teaches you how to code through hundreds of coding tutorials and dozens of real-world projects. Create your account for free and start coding.