Reference books and online reference library

Reference books in libraries

Most libraries stock a range of printed directories, encyclopedias, and specialist books such as 'Who's Who'. You can borrow or buy some older reference books.

Online reference library – free access to subscription resources

You can search many of these reference books and resources online. Anyone can use our library computers free of charge. Library members can also use your library card and PIN to search them from home.

Available in library and at home

• Britannica encyclopedia – adult, student and junior
• Credo Reference
• East Sussex Community Information Service (ESCIS)
• E-library online catalogue
• Issues Online – current social issues
• Kompass UK business directory
• Newsbank UK newspapers
• Oxford Art
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford Music
• Oxford Reference
• Times Digital Archive 1785-2006
• Who's Who and Who Was Who – online biographies

Find out how to get a PIN for online services.

If you have any problems accessing these resources from home, see our page help using the online reference library.

Available in library only

• Ancestry – library edition
• Find My Past – community edition
• 19th century British pamphlets
• Ireland from the 18th century to the present
• The John Johnson Collection of printed ephemera
• Which? Online – consumer advice in libraries

Other reference websites

Addresses and telephone directories – UK

• 192.com – includes electoral register
• BT telephone directories
• Yellow Pages
• Hull Colour Pages
• Thomson Local
• Scoot
• Royal Mail – postcode finder

Telephone directories – international

• Infobel – international telephone directories – phone books from over 170 countries

Dictionaries and thesaurus

• One Look – search 900 dictionaries
• Dictionary.com
• Roget's Thesaurus
• Rhyme Zone
• Slang Dictionary

Crossword help

• Allwords
• Wordsmith

Biographies

• Biography.com
• Internet Public Library – biographies
• World Wide Web Virtual Library – biographies

Quotations

• Bartlett's Quotations
• Memorable Quotations

General reference information

• Bartleby – reference books, poetry, and full-text fiction and non-fiction
• Internet Public Library – dictionaries, calenders, and encyclopedia
• Ref Desk – links to reference sources including dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps and atlases, quotations, population figures, science facts, time and dates, weights and measures and world religions
• World Wide Web Virtual Library – encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, statistics, almanacs and yearbooks and directories