Online information resources

The online information websites you can use are listed below.

Use the following links to learn about the sites. To login in to each site you need to type DCC followed by your library card number, which can be found on your library card, B_line or Gold card.

The only exception to this is the Britannica website, just use your library card number for this site.

New - Life in Britain
An essential guide for those wanting to apply for British citizenship or settlement.

Cobra – business information
A business encyclopaedia covering all aspects of starting and running a business from how to employ staff and market your business to business profiles on running a retail service to starting a gardening business. It also includes an extensive business legal Library.

Guardian and Observer Newspaper Archive
Archives for two well known national newspapers - search by keyword to help you with your family history, research or homework.

Issues Online
The UK's first comprehensive reference source with articles addressing contemporary social issues.

Citizens Advice Notes Service (CANS)
An online UK legal publication that provides accurate and up-to-date legal information for the public.

Kompass
Find UK company information as well as details of their products and services.

British Standards 
Search the complete catalogue of British Standards and view in full text.

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online
Fully searchable, completely comprehensive bilingual dictionaries, and unique study materials that provide extra help with learning in French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Who’s Who and Who was Who
Search for information about famous and influential people of today and from the past, going back to 1898.

Oxford Reference Online
A world of information; over 100 dictionary, language, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
More than 50,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2002.

Oxford English Dictionary
The very last word on the English language. It contains the meaning, history and pronunciation of over half a million words. 

Grove Art Online  
The largest encyclopedia of the visual arts from prehistory to the present day. Students, artists, art lovers – this is for you.

Grove Music Online
Music and musicians from jazz to opera, all aspects of music, its history and performance. Hear it as well as read about it!

Encyclopaedia Britannica
The world’s most trusted source of information online. Enjoy instant access to every topic imaginable in over 120,000 articles, a world atlas, thousands of images and videos, a dictionary and thesaurus, and a guide to the web's best sites.

Infotrac Newspapers
Access to 10 national newspapers from 1985 to date, 50 journals and periodicals covering subjects from astronomy and computing right through to geography and science. Including The Times Newspaper Archive 1785 to 1985 and 19th Century Newspapers - a fascinating collection of 19th century British newspapers held by the British Library. It includes the Derby Mercury, the county’s most important newspaper for the period.

World Book
Contains over 25,000 articles and 27,500 illustrations, photos and charts, as well as a dictionary and interactive atlas.

You can also reserve and renew your library books, CDs and DVDs online using our online Library Catalogue.