Free online reading and reference information

There is a wide variety of free online reading available if you have a Camden library membership.

If you don't have a library membership, you can join today:

Join the library

When you complete the joining form you will receive a temporary membership ID, starting with the prefix CAM. To access our digital library, you need to come in to one of our libraries with photo ID and proof of address (or two forms of proof of address if you don't have photo ID) to confirm your membership and get your library card. 

e-Books, e-Audio, e-Newspapers and e-Magazines

  • BorrowBox - borrow, download and enjoy the latest e-audiobooks with the BorrowBox library app
  • Libby - e-books, e-audiobooks, magazines and comics
  • PressReader - a huge range of UK and international newspapers and magazines 

Mobile apps are available. Registration may be required. 

Online reference databases

Camden Library Services subscribes to a number of online reference resources not otherwise available on the free web. You can access these with your Camden libraries membership number.

Access our: Online reference resources

These include BFI Replay, Ancestry, Oxford dictionaries and reference, Who's Who, newspaper archives and more.

  • COBRA the Complete Business Reference Adviser.
  • New, improved and expanded Newsbank - search current and archived UK newspapers, with full-colour page reproductions (recent editions), full-text articles and content only published online. Also available remotely 24/7 on any device.
  • New The London Times Collection (via Newsbank) - full text of The Times, The Sunday Times and content only published online from 1985 onwards. Full-colour page reproductions from 2020 onwards. 
  • BFI Replay (access only available from a public computer in Camden Libraries)
    From the British Film Institute, BFI Replay is a 'living digital archive', designed to give you access to thousands of newly-digitised television programmes and films; spanning 50 years of life captured from videotapes across the 20th century, from the 1960s to the 2010s, and almost lost forever. Offering a glimpse into Britain’s past, its people and places; recording and revealing an era of rapid social, industrial, political and technological change.