Photo by Jerry Sowden - Oil City Library Director Bruce George signs on to the Pennsylvania Online World of Electronic Resources Library. The library has expanded its collection of online reference resources that are available to patrons.

Oil City Library has expanded its collection of online reference resources that are available to patrons.

Bruce George, the library director, said the POWER (Pennsylvania Online World of Electronic Resources) Library, a collection of electronic databases available to library card holders, has a new title addition and a new timeline addition.

Both tie in to the Oxford Reference Online which offers online reference resources published by the Oxford University Press.

The new title deals with the physical universe while the timeline focuses on the Victorian Age.

George said the new title, "Oxford Companion to Cosmology," provides 350 entries on subjects ranging from Abell Clusters (galaxies that cluster together) to Fritz Zwicky (1898-1974, maverick Swiss astronomer). The entries are heavily crossed referenced to understand terminology and relationships, contain illustrations and bibliographies, provide information on how to site entries and provide recommended links to Web sites offering more information.

The second new feature is called "Victorian Britain Timeline" and provides a chronology of Queen Victoria's 64-year rule.

Both the Oxford service and the Victorian timeline can be accessed via the Oil City Library's Web site: www.oilcitylibrary.org.

The POWER Library is offered as a service to Pennsylvania's public libraries, school libraries and the state library. It allows patrons to access thousands of full-text periodical articles, newspapers, a major encyclopedia, plus photographs, pictures, charts, maps, reference materials for all age groups.

Additional information about the POWER library or how to obtain a library card is available by visiting the Oil City Library at 2 Central Ave. or calling 678-3072.