LIBRARY members in County Durham can now get Internet access to extensive online reference collections.

Libraries throughout the county have taken out a subscription that gives free access to the online versions of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - which has listings of 55,000 people who shaped history - the Oxford Reference, Oxford English Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Grove Music and Grove Art.

Registered library users can also access the information, which is not freely available on the web, from their computer at home.

"Anyone who has a county council library ticket can access these reference sites," said systems support manager Linda Scarbro.

"All they need to do is log on to the county council's library online site by entering their ticket number and name, select online reference and a whole world of information will open up to them.

"The library service has subscribed to have access to these online services and we're pleased to be able to make them freely available around the clock to registered users.

"Now people don't have to make a trip to a library for staff to access the information on their behalf."