Lancashire Library service has unveiled its new free information service to be called the Online Reference Library.

The service guides people to useful websites over a range of subjects and the premium sources provide a wealth of information.

Most of this is freely available to library members and is available at www.lancashire.gov.uk/onrl.

For those interested in tracing their ancestors, the online family history service ancestry is also available in all Lancashire libraries.

This provides access to all the census records for England and Wales from 1841-1901 along with records of births, deaths and marriages.

Andrew Walmsley from Lancashire County Library said: "Individual subscriptions to all of these premium resources would cost in the region of £1,000.

"But Lancashire library members can access them free of charge by logging on with their library card barcode number."