Get online with Barnsley Libraries

TO mark 2008 as the National Year of Reading and at a time when 80 percent of people say that they have an interest in their family history, Barnsley Libraries and Archives are delighted to announce that from this month customers can access the Ancestry website free of charge from public terminals in the Central Library, Shambles Street, and in branch libraries across the borough.

As an illustration that reading isn’t always limited to the printed word, ancestry is the most widely used family history website in the world with some 15 million users and a staggering seven billion searchable names.

It can make family history research much easier as it includes the census records for England, Wales and Scotland from 1841 to 1901, as well as the birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales from 1837-2005.

Other useful resources available on the site include British telephone directories dating back to 1880 and a whole host of military records.

Ancestry will compliment the huge number of family and local history resources already available in the Archives and Local Studies Department at Barnsley Central Library. 

The Library Service also has a range of other fabulous online reference resources (for general interest, information, newspapers, music and art lovers) which can be accessed not just from the library PCs but also from a PC at home, work, school or college.

 Simply visit the library website at www.barnsley.gov.uk/libraries, click on the Online Reference Resource page and type in a library membership number. 

Resouces include

• Credo Reference – featuring content from hundreds of reference titles such as ‘Black’s Medical Dictionary’,
• Know UK – a truly comprehensive resource of UK reference information.  The content ranges from directories and guides through to the popular Which? Titles in electronic form such as ‘Which? CV and Interview Book’,
• News UK – the online service developed to provide national and regional news combining the most popular British newspaper titles in one database,
• Oxford Reference Collection – online access to the authoritative gems of Oxford Reference Online, Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Art Online, Oxford Music Online and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

For further information or assistance with these online resources contact Jane Lee, Information & Resources Officer Tel: 01226 773929.

ENDS

Issued by press office, 01226 773375, email: pressoffice@barnsley.gov.uk