Did you know that Oxford Reference Online has been improved? It’s changed from a more traditional Oxford blue to a more modern looking green design. Had you visited it before? If not you must give it a go whether it is to answer questions for others or yourself, writing an essay or for personal interest. Did you know that if you didn’t have a London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea or City of Westminster library card you would have to pay more than £100 per year? If you do have one of those cards you can use it in the library and from home for free! Just follow the link from one of the Online Reference pages (listed below).
- Revamped – looks more snazzy now
- Held by all 3 boroughs
- Made up of a wide variety of reference books published by Oxford
- Covers a number of subjects
- Say what you can find out on it and why it is so good
So that’s over 200 reference books you could have at home – almost like having your own personal reference library!
“But” I can hear you say: “surely I can get that for free online anyway can’t I?” Well not quite as there is a very important difference. All this material is written by academics and published by the world renowned Oxford University Press! In an essay it could be the difference between getting an A and a U, in life it could be the difference between what you read in that book in the library and what someone said down the pub!
So which questions could it answer? Well it could…
- Translate a word (with its bilingual dictionaries)
- Help you remember who wrote East of Eden (and tell you a bit about them)
- Tell you what all those strange abbreviations mean
- Give you a great number of the wonderful quotations made by famous people such as Mahatma Gandhi e.g.“Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.”
Or Nelson Mandela e.g.
“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
But why not just see what’s so great about it? Have a look today by following the link from one of these pages:
And using your Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster or Hammersmith and Fulham library card to log in.
Owen Grey, Reference Librarian
Kensington Central Reference Library and Marylebone Information Service
rbkc libraries blog 