Homework Help

Did you know that we provide free access to a wide range of online reference books and encyclopædias to our readers? All of the online references we subscribe to are available on the Library Online terminals in our libraries.

Some of them are available to you in the convenience of your own home. Your library barcode can provide free access to online resources like:

• The Encyclopedia Britannica
• Grove Art Online
• Grove Music Online
• The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• The Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford Reference Online.

Links to the services that are available, newsletters, quizzes and users' guides are available on the Web Catalogue.

We also have a wealth of books and other materials to support children's learning and homework. The "Homework Help" section of the Kids' Portal provides subject-based booklists and suggestions for useful websites.

Our Library Catalogue

Rochdale Library Service uses its web catalogue to act as a portal: as well as providing access to records on the Library Catalogue it also links to resources on the web that might be useful to our customers. Very generally speaking we do this three ways:

• Library Catalogue searches -- you choose the type of search you want, enter the search term(s) and get a result. The Library Catalogue includes books; cassettes; CDs; videos; pamphlets; local studies ephemera; newspaper index records; and web documents.


• Pre-set searches -- search routines performed as hyperlinks -- a selection of the more popular searches done on our in-library OPACs plus a few examples of the more unusual items we have in stock to give you an idea of the wide range of materials we have in our libraries.


• Links to resources elsewhere on the web -- reading resources; authors' web sites; and other useful services.

We are also using the web catalogue to provide interactive services for our customers:

• You can build and print out reading lists.
• If you are registered as a borrower in our libraries you can reserve titles online.
• You can renew your loans online.
• You can let us know if your borrower details are wrong.

All of these services are available online day or night at http://libraries.rochdale.gov.uk.

We have published four "editions" of the Library Catalogue:

The "general" Library Catalogue, including everything except newspaper index records.

"Kids' Portal" -- a version of the Library Catalogue aimed at children, with some searches confined to stock in our Children's Library collections.

The Local Studies Catalogue -- a version of the Library Catalogue aimed at people interested in local studies and geneaology with some search results confined to Local Studies collections.

The Newspaper Index -- a searchable catalogue of newspaper articles held in our Local Studies collections.

The Library Catalogue is a work in progress; at the moment we are literally adding new functions and features every other day. Please feel free to have a look around.