Following the closure of the Central Library for refurbishment, a modified reference service is available on the first floor in Hornchurch Library, North Street, Hornchurch, RM11 1TB.

Stock now available in the Hornchurch Reference Library includes:

• Trade directories
• Telephone directories
• Magazines
• Dictionaries and encyclopedias
• Newspapers including the Times archive
• Quick reference local history material including parish registers and part of the local newspaper archive
• Internet access - there are 16 personal computers for use which are bookable in advance
• On-line resources including Ancestry.com, Introtrac newspaper archive and Britannica online
• A limited number of study and reading desks are also available.

Experienced staff are available to assist you. As well as personal visits enquiries may be made by phone, post or email.

We maintain a list of tutors. Between them they cover most popular academic subjects. If you are looking for a tutor, or are a tutor who wishes to be added to the list, please contact Upminster Library, telephone 01708 434933 or email informationservices.library@havering.gov.uk   Please note that the list is for information purposes only, and inclusion on it does not constitute a recommendation.

New quiz - win £50 worth of Oxford University Press (OUP) books. 

Try Havering Libraries' quiz based on the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. You could win £50 in Oxford University Press books! Click here for the quiz.  DNB Quiz [2Mb]

Please send your completed entries to Upminster Library, 26 Corbets Tey Road,

Upminster RM14 2BB. Closing date is 23 July 2010.

Official Publications Online (OPO)

Official Publications Online (OPO) gives you access to a selection of Government material, including the latest Acts of Parliament, the House of Commons Weekly Information Bulletin and the Daily List. Please see a member of staff in order to set up your account - after this you will be able to log into OPO whenever you wish, in the library or at home.

Life in Great Britain

Citizenship Software

The best way to learn and practice for the British Citizenship Test. Available at your local library.  Life in Britain [197kb]

24/7 national public library services    

Enquire, Read and Discoverare three new services available from the People's Network or any computer linked to the Internet. 

Enquire is a free live question and answer service provided around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by library services in England, the USA and Canada.  It works like instant messaging or a chat room so you can put questions to staff who can help you just as if you were talking face to face or on the telephone.  There's also an email service if you don't need the answer straight away.

Read is a great place to start to get into books and reading online and helps bring readers together, either to meet face to face or on the web.  You can review books with other people online, find out where your nearest reading groups are and visit interesting websites for all types of readers.

Discover is a search engine type service which allows you to find information from a wide range of sources within libraries, museums and archives.

Online Resources

• Ancestry
• Grove Art Online
• Grove Music Online
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford Reference Premium Collection
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Infotrac Custom Newspapers

Ancestry

If you are tracing your family tree you can now use ANCESTRY at Hornchurch and Upminster libraries.  It's available on any of the People's Network machines there using your library card.  Researching from home?  Vouchers for use on www.1901censusonline.comand www.findmypast.comcan be purchased from Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster libraries.  A volunteer is at hand to help on Mondays 10.30-11.30am at Hornchurch Library and on Wednesdays 6.30-7.30pm at Upminster Library.

Grove Art Online

This includes the Dictionary of Art and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.  It contains articles on every aspect of visual arts from prehistory to the present day and gives extensive coverage of World Art, covering various civilisations and cultures, 2,500 art images and line drawings and 40,000 image links from museum sites, biographies of artists, architects, patrons, collectors, dealers, theorists, writers and scholars.  To access Grove Artjust click on the icon above and click through to the Library barcode user login box where you can put havering in lower case followed by your library card number. Eg havering4005678934.

Grove Music Online

This includes the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Dictionary of Opera and New Grove Dictionary of Jazz along with biographies, articles on people, places, instruments, techniques, genres, styles, links to websites, 3-D interactive images of musical instruments, in-depth bibliographies, works lists and audible musical examples from harmony to Handel.  To access Grove Musicjust click on the icon above and click through to the Library barcode user login box where you can put havering in lower case followed by your library card number. Eg havering4005678934.

Oxford English Dictionary

Access to the 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary is now available.  Trace the evolution of more than 600,000 words over the last 1,500 years.  To access OED just click on the icon above and in the Library Card Number box type havering in lower case followed by your library card number Eg havering4005678934.  If you have Norton Antivirus software you may encounter problems accessing OED.  Please email libraryservices@havering.gov.ukif you do.

Oxford Reference Premium Collection

You can now access over a hundred reference books by Oxford University Press from either the People's Network machines in Havering libraries or via your home or work PCs that have Internet access.  To use this you need to be a member of the Havering library service and possess one of the new library cards.  To access Oxford Reference Premium Collectiononline click on the graphic above and in the Library Card Number login box type Havering followed by your library card number.  Use lower case and no spaces.  Eg havering4005678934

You will then have access to a wide range of reference books; over 50 thousand in-depth articles and 1 thousand links to valuable web resources and thousands of figures, maps and illustrations.

There are English dictionaries and thesauruses; English Language Reference such as The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs; Modern Languages such as The Oxford Business French Dictionary; General Reference such as books on quotations or English Place names; Humanities and Social Sciences including books on Art and Architecture, Classics, History, Literature, Military History, Mythology and Folklore, Performing Arts, Politics and Social Sciences and Religion and Philosophy; books on Business and Professional issues such as Economics and Business and Law and finally, Books on Science and Medicine such as the Biological Sciences, Computing, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Food and Nutrition, Medicine and Physical Sciences and Mathematics.

Encyclopedia Britannica Library Edition Online 

We are pleased to announce that library members can now access a choice of three age specific sections; Junior, student and adult.  Just click on the images below and type havering in lower case followed by your ticket number Eg havering4005678934. 

For ages 5-11 use  Encyclopedia Britannica Junior Library Edition .  

For ages 12-18 use Encyclopedia Britannica Student Library Edition .

For adults 18+ we recommend the Encyclopedia Britannica. Try the Guided tourfor navigation tips.    

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/index.html (DNB) features thousands of detailed biographies of people either born in Britain or who made significant contributions to British history. It presents the complete text and illustrations of the 2004 printed edition, and will also be enhanced by regular online supplements.  No-one living is included, but its coverage extends up until 2002 for year of death. Click on the image above and in the box underneath Library Card Login type havering in lower case followed by your new library card number Eg havering4005678934. 

Infotrac Custom Newspapers

This resource provides Internet access to a wide range of full-text articles from national newspapers, from today's papers back to several years ago. It allows you to search a single newspaper from the available titles or a combination - useful for seeing how different papers have tackled the same issue.  You are also able to focus your search by limiting it to a particular range of dates.  To access Infotracjust click on the icon above and in the login box type havering in lower case followed by your new library card number Eg havering4005678934.

Mint UK

Mint UK is a business database which is available via the People's Network computers in any of the branch libraries in the borough. It contains information on over 3.5 million companies throughout the UK from many different specialist sources presented in 4 modules: companies, directors, news and market research

Mint UK is versatile and easy to use. A simple name search on a particular business provides a wide range of information. For more complex enquires there are ways to refine searches to get more detailed information. Please ask the staff to gain access to this database.