Online Resources

Use our free online resources for consumer research, online classes, language learning, newspaper reading and more.

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  • Research

    FamilySearch Affiliate Library

    FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history.

    Ottawa Public Library is now a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, this designation means library clients will now have greater and more convenient access to the wealth of genealogical resources available through FamilySearch at our 33 branches.

    Benefits of an Affiliate Library

    • Due to contractual obligations, some images are only viewable online through FamilySearch centers and Affiliate Libraries
    • Through the affiliate program, OPL customers have access to over 350 million additional records that are otherwise restricted

    This resource is available for in-library use only.

    Please note that each individual client must log into FamilySearch using their own unique username and password. There is no institutional login. 

     

    Beginning April 30, 2026, clients will be required to sign in to access the FamilySearch Catalog. To help prepare for this change, a notification banner has been added to the top of the FamilySearch Catalog landing page for clients who are not signed in.

    This update is being implemented as part of ongoing efforts to improve website security and ensure appropriate access to records.

    Content Language
    English
    Help Guide(s)
    Why do historical records have access limitations?
    What are the image restrictions in Historical Records?
    Affiliate Library Additional Resources
    Frequently asked questions
  • Read

    Ottawa Citizen

    A searchable archive of 30 days which is part of the database Library PressDisplay.  Articles can be translated into German, Greek, Spanish or French. The viewer can also listen to individual articles in any of these languages. To access articles published more than 30 days ago, search the Canadian Newsstand database.

    Content Language
    English
    Privacy and Terms of Use
    Privacy Policy
    Terms of Use
  • Research

    Ottawa Citizen - ProQuest Historical Newspapers (1845 - 2010)

    This digitized full-images archives of the Ottawa Citizen provides genealogists, researchers and general public with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.

    This will allow Ottawans to digitally travel back through the centuries to become eyewitnesses to our local history.

    Coverage is from 1845 to 2010, but you can access more recent full text content from September 1985 until now from Canadian Major Dailies ProQuest (Formerly Canadian Newsstand).

    Content Language
    English
  • Read

    Overdrive Magazines (Formerly RBDigital Unlimited Magazines -Zinio)

    A package of over 3,000 popular titles (including Canadian Living, National Geographic, The New Yorker, and many more) with varieties of languages and up to three years of back issues are now available for unlimited simultaneous access with no circulation caps.

    Our online eMagazine provider OverDrive couldn’t make an agreement with The Economist. As a result, all editions of the Economist, as well as all back issues, are no longer available to clients effective February 1, 2023.

    We apologize for the inconvenience and invite you to check out the print edition of The Economist that is available at some of our OPL branches. Please search for “The Economist” from our online catalog for more information.

    Full-text remote access to The Economist is available from the following two databases:

    • Gale Academic OneFile, and
    • Gale OneFiile: Business
    Content Language
    English
    Help Guide(s)
    Visit Libby Help
    How to use Libby for Magazines
    Winding down the legacy OverDrive app on February 23, 2022 & FAQs
    Privacy and Terms of Use
    Privacy Policy
    Terms & Conditions
  • Research

    Oxford English Dictionary

    600,000 words … 3.5 million quotations … over 1000 years of English

    The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative and comprehensive record of the English language in the world. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.

    As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll not only find present-day meanings in the OED, but also you’ll find the history of individual words, and of the language—traced through 3.5 million quotations, over 100 years of English.

    Every three months the OED Online database is updated.

    Content Language
    English
    Help Guide(s)
    How to use the OED
    Privacy and Terms of Use
    Privacy Policy
    Terms of Use
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