Skip to main content

Online Reference Library

Update: problems with Oxford University Press have now been resolved.

To use a OUP resource, you must login to the OUP resource site using your library card number with the prefix ESX. For example, if your library card number is 0123456, use ESX0123456 as your card number in the OUP site; or if your card is C01234D, use ESXC01234D as your card number.


Digital library updates. Click here to find news on our digital offer.

Unfortunately, Libby no longer stocks The Economist. All back issues will be removed from Libby on February 1

We subscribe to lots of great information websites - including newspapers, reference books and family history sites - which you can use free of charge.

Inside library buildings - A larger range of resources is available in libraries.

Outside library buildings - Some resources are available at home using your library card and PIN. Just click the links marked 'sign in required'.

Legal and Business not logged
Business and legal online reference resources

Business and legal

You can access: EMIS - FAME - Grantfinder - IBIS World - Local Data Online - Statista databases using the People's Network computers at BIPC Sussex's Hastings and Eastbourne libraries.

Cobra– at home - Sign in required

COBRA contains all the information you need to turn your idea into a business. Log on and find more than 4,000 factsheets, market reports, contacts and sources of funding and support plus hundreds of practical guides to starting up more than 350 types of business.

Kompass– at home  Sign in required

Information over 43 million companies across 71 countries worldwide.

Family and local history eResources
Family History online reference resources

Family and local history

You can access Ancestry and Find my Past resources using the People's Network computers in our libraries

Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland – at home - Sign in required

Every family name in the UK with more than 100 bearers, and those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census. Includes origins of the name, variant spellings, early bearers and geographical distribution.

Who's Who and Who Was Who – at home - Sign in required

Directory of influential people from around the world from 1897 onwards, written by the people featured in the directory. Read About Who's Who – Oxford University Press.

Training and courses eResources
Online training Courses

Online training and courses

Theory Test Pro– at home - Sign in required

Online simulation for learner drivers to practice for the UK's driving theory test.

Go Citizen– at home - Sign in required

For people preparing for the Life in the UK or British citizenship tests. Includes online study materials from the Home Office and practice test questions.

Reference resources inside library buildings only - Research

Decorative image highlighting the word research

Research and Family History

In the library buildings you have also free access to:

  • Ancestry
  • Find my Past
  • Which? online
  • British Newspaper Archive
  • JSTOR
  • Access to Research
Book a library computer
Dictionaries and encyclopedias not logged
Dictionaries and encyclopedias online reference resources

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

Oxford Reference Online – at home - Sign in required

Search a wide range of Oxford reference books for in-depth information on every subject from art to zoology. Also includes English dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries, timelines, images, maps and flags.

Oxford Art Online – at home - Sign in required

More than 45,000 articles on visual arts worldwide, from prehistory to the present day, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, jewellery and interior design. Includes 'Grove dictionary of art' and 'Benezit dictionary of artists'.

Oxford Music Online – at home - Sign in required

Worldwide music, with more than 45,000 articles on people and places, instruments and techniques, from classical to hip-hop. Includes 'Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians', Oxford reference books and music recordings.

Britannica encyclopedia – at home - Sign in required

Full access to the online encyclopedia. Browse the history timeline, magazine articles, atlases, videos and links to other websites.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography– at home - Sign in required

Explore the lives of more than 57,000 people who shaped Britain's past from the 4th century BC to the year 2002. Search for people, places and organisations, themes such as kings and queens and over 10,000 portraits.

Oxford English Dictionary– at home - Sign in required

An unsurpassed guide for researchers in any discipline to the meaning, history, and usage of over 500,000 words and phrases across the English-speaking world.

 

Newspapers
Enewspapaers online reference resources

eNewspapers and eMagazines

PressReader– at home - Sign in required

Read newspapers and magazines online including today's Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Mail, Vogue, Empire, Focus, Gardener's World, Closer and thousands of others.

Times Digital Archive and Sunday Times Digital Archive– at home - Sign in required

Search the full text of articles, adverts, birth and death notices and images in the Times newspaper from 1785 to 2006. Also search The Sunday Times from 1822 to 2006 for news about the greatest crimes, careers and culture of the last 180 years.

Illustrated London News– at home - Sign in required

Contains 250,000 pages and 750,000 illustrations covering world events such as the Boer war and domestic celebrations including the Great Exhibition of 1851. Highlights include reports by Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Agatha Christie.

Reference resources inside library buildings only - Business databases

Decorative image of a computer showing the available databases at the BIPC Sussex at Eastbourne and Hastings libraries.

Business databases

The Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) Sussex is part of the British Library’s National Network of BIPCs across the UK BIPC Sussex offers a wealth of FREE online business resources that can help you to start your own business, build professional skills, connect with others, and grow. Free access available databases at the BIPC Sussex at Eastbourne and Hastings libraries:

  • COBRA
  • EMIS
  • FAME
  • Grantfinder
  • IBIS World
  • Kompass
  • Local Data Online
  • Statista
Find out more

ESCIS

Link to East Sussex Community Information Service external page.


On East Sussex Community Information (ESCIS) website, you can find community groups, organisations, clubs and services.

View my active saved list