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Coventry Libraries provide access to free online resources to ensure everyone has access to high-quality information.

E-resources are available from all Coventry Libraries and most resources are available 24/7 on your own device.

Guidance and links for each resource can be found on each of the pages.

Links are also available via the Coventry Libraries Solus App [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries-1/search-library-catalogue].

Help

Library staff can help you use any e-resource provided by the library service.

Access to Research

Access to Research gives free, walk-in access to a wide range of academic articles and research in public libraries across the UK. Subjects include art, architecture, business, engineering, history, languages, politics, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences. All content provided is digital and can be accessed from your designated library terminal, via a search delivery service called Summon. Access to Research is available to the general public and may be of special interest to students and independent researchers.

You can use Access to Research for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Access to Research

Please note: This e-resource does not allow remote access. You can only use this e-resource on a public network computer in the library.

If you are already a member of the library, you might want to book a computer [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries-1/digital-information/4] before you visit.

Use Access to Research online via the website

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service.

Ancestry (Library Edition)

Ancestry (Library Edition) offers free access to popular subscription-based genealogy website Ancestry.com. Ancestry (Library Edition) provides access to billions of historical documents, millions of historical photos, plus local narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over 30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s. It has unparalleled coverage of the United Kingdom, including census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as collections from other areas of the world.

You can use Ancestry (Library Edition) for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Ancestry (Library Edition) on a Library computer

Please note: This e-resource does not allow remote access. You can only use this e-resource on a public network computer in the library.

Use Ancestry (Library Edition) online via the website:

If you are already a member of the library, you might want to book a computer [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries-1/digital-information/4] before you visit.

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service.

Find My Past (British Edition)

Find My Past (British Edition) is a searchable online archive of millions of records – everything from parish and school records to censuses and from migration records to military collections.

Access to 1921 Census of England and Wales on Find My Past (charge applies)

You can use Find My Past (British Edition) for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

Find My Past (British Edition) [https://www.findmypast.co.uk/]

Please note: This e-resource does not allow remote access. You can only use this e-resource on a public network computer in the library.

If you are already a member of the library, you might want to book a computer [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries-1/digital-information/4] before you visit.

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Developed specifically for public libraries, the new Britannica Library provides you with access to three sites in one, with age-appropriate material from the child-friendly database through to the adult learning collection. Now students of all ages will find it easy to conduct research, complete homework assignments and work on special projects. Britannica Library’s intuitive design seamlessly adapts to all devices including tablets, smartphones and computers.

Special features:

  • Streamlined homepages enable you to access content at your reading level in an age-appropriate environment
  • Learning games to engage young learners
  • Thousands of magazine and journal articles directly related to search topics
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary with audio pronunciations
  • ‘My Britannica’ to save and share articles, images and videos in a personal account
  • 90,000 images, video clips and audio clips
  • Subject Browse, from Animals and the Arts, to Science and Maths
  • 129,000 of the web’s best sites related to search topics
  • Biography Browse
  • How-to documents for creating book reviews, presentations, research papers and science reports
  • Read-Aloud feature ideal for enabling comprehension for young readers and English language learners
  • World Atlas
  • Compare Countries
  • Primary Sources

You can use Encyclopaedia Britannica for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Encyclopaedia Britannica 

Use Encyclopaedia Britannica online via the website 

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Go Citizen

Go Citizen is an online study resource for candidates preparing for the Life in the UK test or British citizenship test. This is a comprehensive and proven study package. It includes an online version of the latest official study materials licensed from the Home Office, the people who write the handbook, plus hundreds of practice test questions in the same format at the official test.

You can use Go Citizen for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Go Citizen

Use Go Citizen online via the website

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Learn My Way

Learn My Way has free online courses for beginners to learn digital skills, stay safe and connected and to make the most of the online world.

Learn about these subjects

  • Using your computer or device including: using a keyboard, using a mouse and using a touchscreen
  • Online basics including: using the Internet, using online forms and using email
  • Office programs including: an introduction to office programs, creating documents and creating spreadsheets
  • More Internet skills including: video calling, online shopping and socialising online
  • Online safety including: keeping your device safe, being safe online and keeping your personal data safe
  • Finding a job online including: job hunting online, the National Careers Service website: a how to guide and jobs and interviews
  • Improving your health online including GP services online: a how to guide and The NHS website: a how to guide
  • Managing your money online including online and mobile banking and how to make money work
  • Public services online including using public services online and Universal Credit: a how to guide

How to use Learn My Way

Access Learn My Way [https://www.learnmyway.com/]

You will need to register for an account.

Help 

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library. [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary]

Staff supported sessions
Library Day Time
Coundon Library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/coundonlibrary] Mondays 11am-12noon
Jubilee Crescent Library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/jubileecrescentlibrary] Tuesdays 1.30pm-2.30pm
Willenhall Library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/willenhalllibrary] Mondays 5pm-6pm

Oxford Art

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to Grove Art Online, the authority on art from pre-history to present day.

Grove Art Online is the foremost scholarly art encyclopedia, covering both Western and non-Western art. First published as the landmark 34-volume Dictionary of Art, the content of Grove Art encompasses all aspects of visual culture. It features articles about topics as varied as Fauvism and Frida Kahlo, bibliographies for further research, and thousands of searchable images made available through Oxford’s partnerships with museums, galleries, and other outstanding arts organizations.

Through the Oxford Art Online gateway, users can access the vast content of Grove Art Online and other Oxford art reference titles in one location. Grove Art Online includes access to the full text of The Dictionary of Art, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, as well as articles and bibliographies available exclusively online.

Grove Art Online is a living resource, with scholars and specialists from around the world continually reviewing and updating existing content and contributing new articles. In addition to its vast number of entries on the visual arts, Grove Art Online features a host of exceptional learning resources that organize the content for use in art and art history classrooms.

User benefits

  • Over 30,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts for comprehensive coverage of painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, textiles, jewellery, interior design, furniture, glass, metalwork, artists, patrons, places, styles, groups, movements, institutions, museums, and more
  • Over 20,000 biographies of artists, architects, patrons, collectors, dealers, writers, and more
  • Over 7,000 searchable images and 40,000 editorially selected image links
  • Learning resources including resources designed by the Education Department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York
  • Thematic guides and timelines
  • More than 500,000 biographical citations
  • Regular updates keep you up to date on the most current thinking by top scholars

“This is a magnificent resource: a vast encyclopedia of art, with both internal and external hyperlinks to even more material … what sets this site apart is the sheer quality of the source of information … This is a remarkable resource and one which is well worth paying for.” - The Guardian

You can use Oxford Art for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Art 

Use Oxford Art online via the website 

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Bibliographies

You can use Oxford Bibliographies for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Bibliographies 

Use Oxford Bibliographies online via the website 

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Dictionaries

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to Oxford Dictionaries Premium, a current English dictionary, grammar, and practical writing resource.

With up-to-date online dictionaries, thesauruses, and language reference content based on the largest language research program in the world, Oxford Dictionaries Premium is an extensive, integrated, smart-linked language resource. It offers quick-search access to definitions of words, phrases, and idioms, with expect guidance on style, usage, grammar, and spelling; plus specialist guides for legal and technical writing.

Oxford Dictionaries Premium provides access to more than 350,000 modern English definitions and entries, 600,000 synonyms and antonyms, and a vast bank of over 1.9 million real English example sentences showing words as they are used in today’s English. With a comprehensive writing skills section, a vocabulary builder, and fully searchable versions of US Hart’s Rules, Garner’s Modern American Usage, and Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Oxford Dictionaries Premium offers expert guidance for all levels of English users, from learners to linguists.

User benefits

  • More than 350,000 entries and definitions and 600,000 synonyms and antonyms
  • Audio pronunciations in both US and British English
  • Updated four times a year with the most current meanings and the least words
  • Searchable complete versions of US Hart’s Rules, Garner’s Modern American Usage, and Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage
  • Specialist dictionaries for writers and editors including the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors and Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage
  • Advanced search options to explore the dictionary by meaning, people and places, subject, region, usage, and word class

“With this database, Oxford has established the template upon which future online dictionaries will be compared … Highly recommended for all libraries, writers, and word lovers.” - Booklist

You can use Oxford Dictionaries for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Dictionaries 

Use Oxford Dictionaries online via the website

Help 

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

 

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) lets you explore the lives of over 58,500 people worldwide in an illustrated online collection of specially written biographies. This vast resource covers individuals who have shaped all aspects of British history, from the Romans to present day. Written by specialist authors, ODNB biographies introduce you to the people behind British history’s great events, as well as its literature, science, art, music, and ideas.

Originally launched with the complete text of the 60-volume Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the first 33-volume Dictionary of National Biography, the depth and breadth of the resource continues to expand with new biographies and research tools added throughout the year. Alongside the versatile search options, you can discover the wealth of content through themed articles, reference lists, special features, and learning resources.

User benefits

  • Quick and easy access to over 59,000 biographies of the people who have helped shape British history
  • Over 11,000 specialist contributors from 35 different countries
  • Custom built for biographical research with versatile search and browse options
  • Over 11,000 portrait illustrations (the largest collection ever published)
  • Regular updates add new biographies, themed articles, reference lists, learning resources, and podcasts

“Portals for the general reader need primarily to be accessible; for the specialist they need principally to be reliable: of those reviewed, the British Oxford DNB is pre-eminent because it is both.” - Reviews in History

You can use Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford National Biography

Use Oxford National Biography online via the website

  • Go to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [http://www.oxforddnb.com/]
  • You will need your library card number (the 14-digit number on the back of your library card)

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford English Dictionary

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online.

The OED is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of more than 600,000 words, past and present, from across the English-speaking world.

As a historical dictionary, the OED focuses not only on the meanings of the word, but also on the history of the word, and how it’s meaning has changed over time. The OED traces the history of the English language through 3 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books. Updates revise and extend the OED at regular intervals, each time subtly adjusting our image of the English language.

User benefits

  • Each entry shows sense development, quotation evidence and links to related entries
  • Including the online version of The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary
  • Covering British, American, and other varieties of English, as well as all types of usage from formal to slang
  • Quick and advanced search options allowing the user to search for words in the full text of the dictionary
  • Search and browse by subject, region, usage, or by language or origin
  • Narrow your search to words in quotations, definitions, etymologies, or lemmas (words defined in the dictionary), while limiting by part of speech
  • Updated four times a year with thousands of new and revised meanings

“A much-needed new-media setting for appreciating the richness and history of the English language.” - Wall Street Journal

You can use Oxford English Dictionary for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford English Dictionary

Use Oxford English Dictionary online via the website

  • Go to Oxford English Dictionary [http://www.oed.com/loginpage]
  • You will need your library card number (the 14-digit number on the back of your library card)

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Music

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to Grove Music Online, the definitive source for music scholarship.

Grove Music Online, a part of Oxford Music Online, is a comprehensive compendium of music scholarship drawing from the full texts of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed.), and also includes new and updated articles and bibliographies exclusively available online. Grove Music Online also includes access to The Oxford Companion to Music and The Oxford Dictionary of Music (2nd ed.) which supplements Grove’s more extensive coverage with content geared toward undergraduates and general users.

Grove Music Online is a living resource with scholars and specialists from around the world continually reviewing and updating existing content and contributing new articles, including articles from The Grove Dictionary of American Music (2nd ed.) and the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2nd ed.). In addition to the vast number of entries on music history and culture, Grove Music Online features a host of exceptional learning resources that organise the content for use in the classroom, making it an essential resource for scholars and students alike.

User benefits

  • Features more than 50,000 articles written by over 9,000 leading international experts
  • Links to audio and video recordings as well as score facsimiles, thanks to a partnership with Alexander Street Press
  • Learning resources and timelines
  • Regular updates keep you up to date on the most current thinking by top scholars

“Oxford Music Online is a very user-friendly interface to resources now regarded as reference standards in music research.” - Booklist, Starred Reviews

You can use Oxford Music for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Music 

Use Oxford Music online via the website 

Help 

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Reference

We are pleased to announce that Coventry Libraries and Information Service now provides access to titles from Oxford Reference.

Oxford Reference is an online collection of in-depth, specialist content from Oxford’s award-winning Encyclopedias and Companions, as well as a critical selection of partner publishers’ scholarly works. These major reference titles are available to access online exclusively through Oxford Reference. Each title is fully cross-searchable with over 300,000 overview pages, 275 free timelines, and featured topical entries available on Oxford Reference providing you with a full research pathway.

User benefits

  • Navigate to content quickly and easily with a fresh design and intuitive functionality
  • Quick & advanced search catering for all user levels
  • 300,000 overview pages, 275 free timelines, and online-only quotations titles
  • Illustrations, including photographs, line diagrams, maps, and tables
  • Thousands of high-quality and carefully researched web links
  • Personalization functionality allowing users to save content, searches, and more
  • Sharing is simple with integrated tools for social bookmarking, email, and citation export

“An authoritative, efficient, one-stop shop for quick facts, definitions, and dates, which satisfies the great expectations raised by Oxford’s reputation in reference publishing … While it is true that these separate facts and definitions can be found by scouring the web, no reference site, free or fee based, draws them together so well!” - Choice

You can use Oxford Reference for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Reference 

Use Oxford Reference online via the website

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Oxford Research Encyclopaedias

The Oxford Research Encyclopedias (OREs) offer long-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars. Each of the twenty-five distinct encyclopedias cover both foundational and cutting-edge topics in order to develop, over time, an anchoring knowledge base for major areas of research across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

Today, serious, quality research is challenged by the confounding proliferation of information and misinformation readily accessible online. The OREs draw on expert authors who are able to push beyond the basic facts to provide a researcher with a reliable understanding of an unfamiliar topic.

Substantive, peer-reviewed, and regularly updated, the Oxford Research Encyclopedias combine the speed and flexibility of digital publishing with the rigorous standards of academic publishing. Multi-media features embedded in the articles, along with cross-referenced links to related content, will further expand the utility and scope of the research encyclopedia program.

You can use Oxford Research Encyclopaedias for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Oxford Research Encyclopaedias

Use Oxford Research Encyclopaedias online via the website

  • Go to Oxford Research Encyclopaedias [http://oxfordre.com/]
  • You will need your library card number (the 14-digit number on the back of your library card)

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Times Digital Archive

The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage, with every page of every issue from 1785 to 2014. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context.

Read by both world leaders and the general public, The Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning, objective coverage of world events since its creation in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication.

“We called this 'a dream of a database,' a full-text archive providing access not only to articles from The Times but also to advertising and classified ads, editorials, birth and death notices, book reviews, crossword puzzles, letters to the editor, and the Court Page, which details the activities of the royals.” - Booklist

You can use Times Digital Archive for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Times Digital Archive

Please note: This e-resource does not allow remote access. You can only use this e-resource on a public network computer in the library.

If you are already a member of the library, you might want to book a computer [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries-1/digital-information/4] before you visit.

Use Times Digital Archive online via the website 

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service.

Theory Test Pro

Theory Test Pro is a highly realistic online simulation of the UK’s driving theory test. It contains the official practical test question bank, hazard perception video clips and an online version of the Highway Code. All this material is licensed from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the people who set the tests.

You can use Theory Test Pro for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Theory Test Pro 

Use Theory Test Pro online via the website 

Use Theory Test Pro via the mobile app

Library members can download the Theory Test Pro mobile app for free from the App Store and Google Play.

Key benefits:

  • Practice on the Go: The mobile app allows learners to study and practice anytime, anywhere on their smartphone.
  • Offline Access: Users can continue their preparation even without an internet connection.

How to get started:

  1. Create an Account: Members need to create an account on Coventry Libraries Theory Test Pro [http://coventry.theorytestpro.co.uk/signups/new] sign-up page.
  2. Download the App: Search for 'Theory Test Pro' on the App Store or Google Play.
  3. Sign In: Use the same credentials (email and password) created during the sign-up process to log in to the app.

Help 

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Who Else Writes Like

“I’ve read everything written by my favourite authors, what shall I read next?” Sound familiar? Well this online resource helps answer that dilemma.

Who Else Writes Like is an established reference web resource and reading promotion tool. It is designed to help anyone who enjoys reading fiction to expand the number of writers they read. Librarians and English teachers will find this online resource invaluable for encouraging their members and students to read and to try different authors.

You can use Who Else Writes Like for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Who Else Writes Like

Use Who Else Writes Like online via the website

Help

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

Who Next

When children ask: “Who can I read next?” or “Who writes like my favourite author?”, the answers are here in Who Next. Writers of children’s fiction are listed with suggestions of other authors who write in a similar way, together with key book and series titles.

Browse:

  • in four age groups: 5-7, 8-11, 12-14 and 14+
  • by genre and theme
  • graphic novels, read out loud titles, short stories and titles for dyslexic or struggling readers
  • prize-winning children’s books
  • by country of birth of authors
  • other useful links

This is an invaluable tool for parents, teachers and librarians to help children explore the world of reading. Who Next is compiled by two professional librarians of long experience, drawing on contributions from other librarians.

You can use Who Next for free as part of your library membership. Not a member? Join the library [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/126/libraries/3213/join_find_use/10].

How to use Who Next 

Use Who Next online via the website 

Help 

Library staff are available to help you use any e-resource provided by the library service. Don’t know where the library is? Find a library [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/findalibrary].

BFI Replay

60 years of screen stories, digitised and preserved for you.

BFI Replay [https://replay.bfi.org.uk/] is a free streaming service for public libraries with thousands of digitised videos and television programmes from the collections of the BFI National Archive and UK regions and nations film archives, alongside contributions from other significant archives such as the BBC and ITV.

Videos from the 1960s to the 2010s, lovingly collected and cared for by archivists over half a century but now at great threat of technology obsolescence, record and reveal an era of rapid social, industrial, political and technological change.

Downloadable activity packs [https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-national-archive/bfi-replay/making-most-bfi-replay] and welcome guides are available.

BFI Replay is exclusively available for you to view from a Library computer. Remember to bring along your headphones!

National Theatre

National Theatre Collection 3 is now available to access for free in Coventry Libraries, making it easier than ever to watch theatre.  

Don't forget your headphones and take your pick from a selection of over 20 performances, ranging from Greek tragedy, adaptations of novels, and Shakespearean classics, to plays centered around Generation Z.

You can access from all Coventry Libraries - available from public computers or when signed in to the Library Guest WiFi:

Drama Online - National Theatre Collection 3 (dramaonlinelibrary.com) [https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/national-theatre-collection-3]

Experience the brilliance of renowned playwrights and talented actors as they bring stories to life on stage, transporting you to different worlds and capturing the essence of human emotion. Don't miss out on this chance to enrich your cultural experience and be inspired by the best of British theatre all whilst visiting your local library.

Free e-resource websites

The library service provides free access to a range of e-resources.

Here are some links to websites that may be useful for any enquiries.

Quick reference and encyclopaedias

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica - the world’s oldest and most trusted English language encyclopaedia including the Junior, Student and Adult editions. You will need your library card number (no spaces).
  • Oxford Dictionaries - English dictionary and thesaurus. You will need your library card number (no spaces).
  • Oxford English Dictionary - definitive record of the English language including meanings, history and pronunciations. You will need your library card number (no spaces).
  • Oxford Reference - You will need your library card number (no spaces).
  • Oxford Research Encyclopaedias - You will need your library card number (no spaces).
  • Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page] - the world’s largest free encyclopaedia.

Biography

  • Biography [https://www.biography.com/] - over 7,000 concise biographies of notable people.
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - You will need your library card number (no spaces).

Books and reading

Business

Careers advice

Citizenship

  • Go Citizen - online study resource for candidates preparing for the Life in the UK test. You will need your library card number (no spaces).

Consumer advice and reviews

  • Which? - product and service reviews, independently rated by experts. Only available on library computers (please ask a member of staff to log you onto the site).

Domestic violence

Driving and transport

Film, TV, music, and the arts

Food poverty

Further education

General

Government

Health

Healthy eating

Higher education

Housing

Jobs

Languages

Learning

LGBT+

Local history and family history

  • Ancestry (Library Edition) - Only available on library computers.
  • Coventry Archives [https://www.theherbert.org/history_centre/default.aspx] (including Coventry records office and local studies collection) - located inside the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
  • Find My Past (British Edition) - Only available on library computers.
  • The Gazette [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/] (including the London Gazette, the Belfast Gazette, and the Edinburgh Gazette) - publish statutory notices including insolvency and estates of the deceased.
  • Historic Coventry [https://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/] - a treasure trove of local history including photos, maps, drawings, and a discussion forum to share your memories of the city.

Maps

  • National Library of Scotland (Maps) [https://maps.nls.uk/] - digitised historical Ordnance Survey maps for England, Wales and Scotland, other maps specific to Scotland.

Mental health

Money management

News archive

  • Times Digital Archive - Only available on library computers.

Rape and sexual abuse

  • CRASAC (Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre) [http://www.crasac.org.uk/] - free, confidential support to anyone from the age of 5 years old who has been affected by sexual violence, no matter when or how it happened.

Refugees and migrants

Sexual exploitation

Statistics

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