About the publisher 

Encyclopaedia Britannica is a leading provider of learning and knowledge products online, in digital media and in books. Britannica Online’s copyright cleared text, images and video can be integrated into coursework, presentations and lectures, used with a variety of learning platforms and as a reference source on mobile devices.

We’re proud to be one of the world’s most trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable and play a central role in teaching new undergraduates the value of cross-checking their facts . Today our outlook is shaped by our 240-year tradition of excellence and an understanding of what knowledge seekers need in the digital age. Our information is Clear, Current and Correct.”

About the Service

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition is a hugely popular reference resource throughout further and higher education. It offers much more than the world-renowned 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica. The articles are updated and revised daily by Britannica’s expert team of editors and contributors to ensure that the content is of the highest quality. Britannica Online is Clear, Current and Correct.

A range of multimedia, illustrative and scholarly material is also included such as videos, flash presentations, photographs and maps as well as 750 journals from EBSCO. All of this content is copyright cleared within subscribing institutions and can be incorporated into student projects, lecture presentations and the interactive Workspace feature.

A dictionary including definitions, thesaurus entries, phonetic pronunciation guides and word histories are also included, which can be accessed by simply double clicking on any piece of text. Teaching staff and students can also use this resource to search a Britannica Internet directory that includes links to 60,000 relevant web sites which are selected, rated, and reviewed by experienced editors as well as an up-to-the minute atlas which combines Google earth functionality with Britannica scholarship.

“Britannica Online Academic Edition is a superb resource as one of the first points of reference for many of our students.”
- Librarian, Uxbridge College

Other key features include:
·         over 108,000 articles
·         over 35,000 graphics, animations, illustrations and 4,000 audio and video clips
·         over 750 journals and magazine titles supplied by EBSCO
·         free initial and bi-monthly online training sessions
·         20 comprehensive spotlights which cover general interest topics including World War II, Shakespeare, and the Olympics with many containing study guides
·         over 60,000 web links selected by the editorial team to to promote further research
·         a workspace feature which allows lecturers and students to save and retrieve content using a personalised username and password
·         double click dictionary and thesaurus with over 550,000 entries including audio pronunciation guides
·         over 4,000 quotes that can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject and author
·         220 full-text works by 140 of the western world’s most influential and best known authors
·         over 24,000 biographies on the most influential figures throughout history
·         an upgraded atlas which combines Google functionality with Britannica scholarship 

Britannica online offer to eIFL countries and how to subscribe

Britannica offers online access to all the Britannica Online material to eIFL countries at greatly discounted rates until the end of 2009.

If you are a librarian from one of the eIFL countries and would either like to know whether your institution has access to Britannica Online or how to gain access to them, please get in touch with your country coordinator.

If you are a country coordinator, the agreement between eIFL and Britannica online as well as the licenses to fill out for access activation can be found at the MEMBERS ONLY area of our website, under "Publishers" section.

Support and promotional resources for librarians

Usage Statistics

Britannica provides institutional subscribers with reports on their use of the Britannica Online service. The information provided adheres to International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) guidelines and is designed to provide aggregated information while ensuring the anonymity of individual users. Reports are provided in a web-accessible format for viewing, a plain-text format for printing, and a tab-delimited format for downloading.

Access to these reports is provided to an authorized representative from each subscribing institution. IDs and passwords are provided at the point of subscription to the database. To retrieve statistics, go to http://statistics.eb.com and enter your ID and password.

Promotional material

To see a PDF flyer click here or to obtain printed copies and a PowerPoint presentation for bibliographic instruction, please contact enqbol@britannica.co.uk

Resources management material

There's a Britannica Help Page for information on linking, searching, help with PDF, configuring your browser, etc. And a user guide here.