Arts and Culture | Biography | Business and Legal
Education and Encyclopaedias | Consumer Advice | Test Preparation | Other Useful Links
You can access local, national and international information at all libraries in Highland. Follow the link on the right to read our stock policy for reference and local history material. The most comprehensive collection is in the Reference Library at Inverness Library, Farraline Park (contact e-mail: invernessreference.library@highland.gov.uk), but in every community library you can access a range of electronic information services - equivalent to having a large city library on your doorstep.
Use the menu bar above to navigate to the appropriate category and browse the available resources. In order to access them you are invited to become a member of your local library (see Your Local Library). We would recommend booking a session on a computer offering free internet access at your local library. Alternatively, you can log on at home, using your library card to gain access to these web sites.
Arts and Culture
Am Baile - The Highland Council's bilingual website, discover the history and culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
Oxford Grove Dictionary of Art
- An innovative new gateway that offers users the ability to access and search the vast content of Grove Art Online and Oxford art reference in one location.
Please note: access to Oxford Art Online requires the letters "high" before your library number in 'Library Barcode Login' box.
Oxford Grove Music Online & Oxford Encyclopeadia of Popular Music
- A wealth of information on music, musicians and instruments. Click on the "library barcode user" option, then type in the barcode number on your card.
Please note: access to Oxford Music Online requires the letters "high" before your library number in 'Library Barcode Login' box.
Biography
DNB - the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- An illustrated collection of more than 57,000 specially written biographies of the men and women from around the world who shaped all aspects of Britain's past.
Please note: Remote access to Oxford DNB requires the letters "high" before your library number.
Who’s Who
- the essential directory of the noteworthy and influential in all walks of life, in the UK and worldwide. Plus Who Was Who: over 100,000 entries from the archives of Who’s Who dating back to 1898. NB: to access this site you need to enter the letters "high" before your library card number into the library card number field.
Business and Legal
SCOTBIS (Scottish Business Information Service)
Provides a free research service for businesses across Scotland. Based on the vast resources of the National Library of Scotland. At NLS, you can access market research reports, business databases, international directories, and business and trade journals.
Kompass UK – a directory of information about companies, products and services throughout the UK. More than 23 million references to the products and services of over 1.8 million companies are stored in our database.
N.B. To access this resource from your home computer, please click here.
CANS advice notes - a detailed and practical summary of the laws of Scotland, England and Wales. NB: If you are accessing CANS from a Highland Council or Peoples Network computer you do not need to logon as a subscriber. Go straight to searching the site. If accessing from home you will need to select 'Highland Libraries' from the drop-down menu and then logon with your library card.
Education and Encyclopaedias
Credo Reference - Credo Reference is a completely customizable general reference solution for learners and librarians. Its full-text, aggregated content covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference.
Encyclopedia Britannica - a resource with more than 120,000 articles, daily features, regular updates and links to news reports. Now also available in different versions aimed at children and young people of school age. Choose from Britannica Online, Britannica Student and Britannica Junior
Britannica age 18 + Student age 12 to 18 Junior age group 5 to 11
Know Uk - an on-line library combining the contents of over 100 well known and useful reference books, and making them searchable in a user friendly way. Look at the Advanced Search option to see which publications are covered. KnowUK also gives you access to NewsUK
News UK - this enables you to search for news articles in the on-line archives of Scottish and UK newspapers.
OED - Oxford English Dictionary
- The definitive record of the English language and is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past.
Please note: Remote access to OED requires the letters "high" before your library number.
ORO – Oxford Reference Online Premium Collection
- The Premium Collection includes a superb range of Oxford titles, updated regularly with an expanding range of key titles in the acclaimed Oxford Companions and Oxford Dictionaries series, plus the Visual English Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and new heavily illustrated natural history titles such as the Encyclopedia of Mammals.
Please note: Remote access to Oxford Reference requires the letters"high" before your library number.
Statistical Accounts of Scotland - 1791-1845
Essential sources of study of Scottish life from the 18th and 19th centuries. Based largely on information supplied by each parish church minister, they provide a rich record of a wide variety of topics.
Click here for access to non-subsribers and browse scanned pages.
For full access to the enhanced service for research purposes, please ask your librarian for login access to Highland Libraries subscription.
World Book Online - on-line encyclopaedia. World Book articles are clear and concisely written, packed with facts from the world of knowledge and understandable to students of all ages and levels. N.B. to access this resource from your home computer, please click here.
Internet Public Library (IPL) - Information you can trust
- a public service organization and a learning/teaching environment, providing access to collections of high quality Internet resources, newspapers, magazines and special collections for a range of age groups.
Consumer Advice
Which? Online - Highland Libraries can now offer access to Which? Online accessible at Inverness Library only. This site provides expert, unbiased information to help you make the right choice, whatever you’re buying. Access is by subscriber login. Please ask Inverness Library staff to enter the username and password.
Test Preparation
Life in Great Britain – Your Guide to British Life, Culture and Customs
This website provides preparation material for the "Life in the UK" test. The course material has been reproduced from Chapters of the “Life in the United Kingdom: A journey into Citizenship -Second Edition 2007” handbook published by the Home Office. The online material features split paragraphs and illustrations, making the text easier to digest.
Theory Test Pro - practice for your driving theory test.
A highly realistic online simulation of the UK's driving theory test. It contains the entire official test questions licensed from the DSA, the people who set the tests. You are required to create a free user account and password to access Theory Test Pro.
Other Useful Links
Highland Libraries Online Catalogue
High-Societies - Community information directory
Highland Virtual Learning Community
Ask Scotland - professional library reference service
Intute - find the best web resources for research and study
Google
Yahoo
BBC Website
Health Information Plus
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