Literary Resources on the Internet
You will find a growing number of reference books are now available online. This means there is not as much need to visit libraries and other institutions to undertake research. Many of these premises have restricted access so consulting these online libraries is often the only way to discover new information.
The types of publications available online include trade directories, historical guides, parish records, business documents, newspapers, census materials, and personal memoirs. These resources can provide valuable insight into the lives, occupations, and communities of your ancestors.
Many universities and other organisations have digitised records and books to be viewed, and sometimes searched on and downloaded, online. Even institutions abroad may carry UK-relevant titles. These may be complete digitised books or just their indices.
The UK has a well-connected library service. The British Library has a vast index of titles, most of which you can access at the British Library Reading Rooms.
Upenn Books Page
The resource I enjoy using the most is probably The University of Pennsylvania in the USA, which claims to list over 3 million books online. Their website not only gives you access to these but also lists many other resources.
The HathiTrust
The HathiTrust was founded in 2008 as a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries now preserving 18+ million digitized items in the HathiTrust Digital Library. You don’t need to log in or have an account to search in HathiTrust, and up to 40% of the collection is available for anyone to read online.
Google Books
You may not be surprised to learn that Google Books contains one of the world’s largest searchable collections of full-text books and historical publications. By using a simple Google account, such as a Gmail account, you can create your own digital library of genealogy and family history resources, saving useful books and references for future research.
Google Books is particularly valuable for family historians because it provides access to old directories, local histories, parish publications, biographies, military records, and other historical documents that may otherwise be difficult to obtain. Many of these publications can be searched by surname, place name, or occupation, helping researchers uncover valuable clues about their ancestors and local communities.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 70,000 free eBooks. Although US bias, there are many UK and European titles as well.