Coronavirus (COVID-19)
England is now subject to National lockdown: Stay at Home restrictions. You must stay at home.
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England is now subject to National lockdown: Stay at Home restrictions. You must stay at home.
Portsmouth City Council libraries provide free access to an extensive range of information sources, both printed and online. Trained, knowledgeable staff will help answer your questions or point you in the right direction.
You can use reference materials free of charge in the library, but there are charges for photocopying or downloading from an online database.
Follow the link for reference information for businesses.
For more information, email reference.library@portsmouthcc.gov.uk, phone 023 9268 8044.
Portsmouth City Council Library Service is now signed up to the Access To Research scheme.
Access to Research is a new pilot scheme to give free, walk-in access to a wide range of academic articles and research in public libraries across the UK. Subjects include art, architecture, business, engineering, history, languages, politics, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences.
All content provided is digital and can only be accessed using computers in public libraries. For more information about this exciting resource, including terms of use, and to search for documents by subjects and keywords, visit the Access To Research scheme site.
We no longer hold physical directories in stock so you may find these online directories useful:
A variety of maps, timetables and guidebooks can help you plan your journey:
Central library has a large collection of reports and papers issued by government, including:
Legislation gives you access to UK public general acts, local acts and command papers.
Parliament has information on the House of Commons, the House of Lords and national parliamentary services, including access to Hansard transcripts and texts of bills
British History Online contains some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust.
All library branches have a selection of books for reference and loan available on a wide range of legal topics, including local legal advice contact details. You can access online legal information leaflets on a range of topics.
In addition, Portsmouth central library holds a law information collection including bound volumes of statutes, law reports and statutory instruments.
Portsmouth central library holds some historical statistics, and national censuses from 1961 to 1991 are available to view. The County Reports for Hampshire from 1971 to 1991 and the full censuses for Portsmouth from 1841 to 1901 are kept in the local history section at Central Library. For more information, phone the local history centre on 023 9268 8046.
For more statistical information, follow these links:
Library staff will be happy to help you find the information you need.