Walk-in Access to Electronic Resources

A wide variety of fascinating online information resources have been made available to anyone visiting the Hugh Owen Library, not just to staff and students.  There are 27 different resources which can all be accessed through a simple interface on a dedicated Walk-in Access computer on the ground floor. We are delighted to provide selective access to these academic resources, many of which carry an expensive subscription, thanks to the terms and conditions within the publishers’ license agreements. You can explore a huge range of current and historical information, for study, hobbies or just for fun.

If you have an interest in History, Times Digital Archive, provides access to complete editions of The Times newspaper from 1785 (the year of the 1st balloon flight across English Channel) through until 1985 (the year of the Live Aid concert which raised over £100 million for African famine relief). A simple search can reveal a varied assortment of articles on the news and views of the last 200 years, or be limited to a search of the news on a particular day. You can browse through the headlines and (often amusing) adverts of yesterday.



Try another historical resource: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This is an easy to use record of the individuals who have shaped British history and culture, everyone from Julius Caesar to John Lennon. It can be used to search for the life history of a historical figure or used to search themes, such as The Gunpowder Plot or the Climbers of Mount Everest. The articles are all written by experts on the subject, but are easily accessible by all ages, providing an easily accessible resource of who was who, throughout British history.

The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers contains parliamentary papers dating from the 18th Century, through to 2004. This allows you to browse an enormous collection of materials. You can view easily readable transcripts of the debates involving famous politicians such Winston Churchill. As well as allowing you to explore by a wide scope of topics, from discussions on capital punishment all the way through to the formation of school curriculum. Further details on the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers resource can be found in in our blog

A variety of other resources are available via the Walk-in Access computer, these include the Oxford English Dictionary through to more scholarly resources such as Cambridge Journals Online and Oxford Journals Online.