Official names of Chambers:
House of Commons (2)
Member of the ASGP
2. Address
House of Commons
Department of the Library
Houses of Parliament
London SW1A 0AA
Tel.: *(44)(171)207219 4272
Fax: *(44)(171)207219 5839
Telex: 916318
E-mail:
hclibrary@parliament.uk
Homepage:
3. Details
on the Library
Year of foundation: 1818
Person in charge: Ms Priscilla
Baines
Position or official title:
Librarian
Number of library staff: 204
Number of professional librarians:
31
Number of research and subject analyst staff
in the Library: 39
Number of secretarial and support
staff: 77
Number of other staff: 57 (Senior
managers, senior staff not in research andcomputer staff. All
figures relate to posts not individuals. There are staff with
professional library qualifications in posts not so
designated.)
Size of collection: 250,000
Number of annual accessions:
4,000
Annual acquisitions budget: 370,000
Sterling (~ US$ 560,000)
Number of current periodicals:
2,500
Periodicals indexed for relevant
articles: Yes
Number of periodicals which are currently
indexed for articles: 176
Number of periodical articles indexed per
year: 6,400
Number of current newspapers:
90
Press cuttings: Yes
Indexing of Parliamentary Papers:
Yes, by the Library
Library in charge of the archival materials
of the Parliament: No
Library uses a thesaurus or a classification
system for subject indexing: thesaurus
Automation of cataloguing: no
Is the automated library catalogue
accessible as an online catalogue to outside users?:
no
Clientele: Members of Parliament and
their staff. Parliamentary staff.
Number of reading rooms: 8
(146)
Number of loans per year: 4.000
Reference services: yes
Number of reference requests per
year:55,000
Current bibliographies: no
Retrospective subject bibliographies:
no
Analysis and research: yes
External database searches:
1.800
Analysis and research: Yes, by the
Library
Other special services: Video loans
service
Other special collections of the
Library: Parliamentary papers, other U.K. Government
publications, publications of the United Nations and agencies,
European Union publications
Any other information: Part of the
Library Department is the Research Service (80 staff). The Research
Service is organized in seven sections: Economic Policy and
Statistics, Business and Transport, Social Policy, Home Affairs,
Science and Environment, Social and General Statistics and
Parliament and Constitution Centre. It undertakes research for
individual Members of Parliament and prepares Research papers for
use by all Members. The Parliamentary On-Line Information Service
(POLIS) is a computer database created by the Library including
parliamentary papers, parliamentary debates, European Union
legislation, as well as other Library acquisitions. It is available
outside Parliament via a commercial bureau. The Houce of Commons
Information Office, which answers questions about Parliament. The
Parliamentary Education Unit is also part of the Library
Department
IFLA membership: Yes
4. Publications published by the Library
Research Papers
Around 100 research papers related to legislation and other topics
of current parliamentary interest are produced annually. Available
from the Parliament website at
www.parliament.uk
Factsheets
Brief descriptions of various aspects of the House of Commons. -
Available from the Parliament website. - Publication of new
Factsheets is noted in the Weekly information bulletin
Information
lists
Obtainable free from the House of Commons Information Office, House
of Commons Library
House of Commons Library
documents
Published by HMSO
Weekly information
bulletin
Published by HMSO and available from the Parliament website
Sessional information
digest
Published by HMSO at the end of each Session and available from the
Parliament website. - covers Parliament's work
5. Publications concerning the Library
Menhennet, David:
The House of Commons Library: a
History, (2nd ed)the Stationery Office 2000 ISBN 0-10-850641-X
(House of Commons Library Document No 21)
Menhennet, David:
The Library's information, documentation
and research services // In: Rush, Michael (ed.): The House
of Commons : services and facilities, 1972 - 1982
Menhennet, David:
The House of Commons Library at
Westminster // In: Parlament und Bibliothek. - München
: Saur, 1986. - p. 123 - 133
Englefield, Dermot:
Parliament and information : the
Westminster scene. - London, 1981
Englefield, Dermot:
Workings of Westminster. - London :
Gower, 1991
Lock, Geoffrey:
Information for Parliament // In:
Ryle, M.: The Commons under scrutiny. - London : Routledge, 1988. -
p. 34 - 52
Guides to the services of
the House of Commons Library. - 1994. - 24 p.
6. Parliamentary documents
Parliamentary
debates : (Hansard)
Reports speeches and oral questions fully. - Defined as a report
"which though not strictly verbatim, is substantially the verbatim
report with repetitions and redundancies omitted and with obvious
mistakes corrected, but which on the other hand leaves out nothing
that adds to the meaning of the speech or illustrates the
argument". - An issue of Hansard is published for each day's
sitting and will report the debate up until 10.30 pm of that day. -
It is published about 7 am the next morning. - 5 issues form the
Weekly Hansard (text uncorrected) and 10 issues make a bound volume
of Hansard (text corrected). - There are 18 - 20 bound volumes in a
session. - A Forthnighly Index to the uncorrected text is published
as a separate publication. - Bound volumes have indexes to the
corrected text and a cumulated index to the session is published as
(a) separate volumes(s) called the General index to the
parliamentary debates. - An issue of Hansard publishes
Parliamentary Questions and Answers asked in the House of Commons
and Answered by Government Ministers [Oral Questions and Answers]
and answers from Ministers in writing which are published in full
in their own sequence after the day's debate [Written Questions and
Answers]. -Collections of debates go back to the year 1660 and
printings of individual speeches even earlier. - there is also
Cobbett's Parliamentary history 1066 - 1803. - from 1803 - 1909
Cobbett and then the Hansard family and then other publishers
published the debates on a regular basis. - In 1909 the House of
Commons itself took responsibility for the publication of its
debates through Her Majesty's Stationery Office. - Since 1989 the
Debates have been published on microfiche
Standing Committee
debates
Standing Committees debate legislation and also
subjects. - The verbatim report of the debates is published daily.
- (The Minutes of proceedings of Standing Committee, i.e. the
decisions, are published, however, as House of Commons papers). -
At the end of each session the debates are collected together in a
set of volumes. - There is no published index to Standing Committee
debates. - Standing Committee debates has been published since
1919
The journal
Prepared at the end of each session from the Votes and proceedings.
- the permanent official record of the proceedings of the House. -
arranged chronologically by sitting days. - record of what business
took place, not what was said (see Debates) although it includes
the text of the Queen's speeches and on rare occasions a speech by,
for instance, the Speaker. - a detailed index is prepared for each
published volume of the Journal and forms part of it. - it is in
two sequences: the first sequence covers procedural matters and
includes a complete list of papers laid before the House whether
they were ordered to be printed or not. - the second sequence
covers subjects and includes details of committee work. - under
Select Committees are listed all reports by the committees and
under Standing Committees are listed all Bills referred to them. -
a separate volume called General index to the journal is published
every ten years. - the manuscript Journals exist from 1547 although
there are gaps in the late sixteenth century. - the printing of the
Journal from 1547 started in 1742
Sessional
papers
This group of papers is published in three series:
Bills
Bills are introduced either as Government Bills or Private Members'
Bills. - Bills are published separately each with its own number. -
(Amendments to proposed Bills are published in the Vote bundle). -
Bills are reprinted if amended. - At the end of each session they
are bound in volumes arranged alphabetically by title and within
title by number of the printing. - They are indexed in the
Sessional index of parliamentary papers. - Since 1800 they have
been bound up each session
House of Commons papers
Cover a wide range of the work of the House of Commons. - Minutes
and reports of Select Committees, and Written Evidence submitted
to, as well as Oral Evidence taken by, Select Committees are all
published as House of Commons papers. - The Minutes of proceedings
of both Standing and Select Committees are also published as House
of Commons papers. - They have their own number sequence starting
afresh at 1 each session. - They are indexed in the House of
Commons sessional index
Command papers
Command papers are papers with information laid before the House by
the Government, i.e. by 'Command of the Queen'. - They have an
abbreviated prefix, e.g. Cd and are numbered from 1 - 9999
A printed index to all of the above sets of papers is published as
a final volume to the Papers of the session. - These published
indexes have been cumulated since 1800 in the periods 1800 - 1852,
1852 - 1899, 1900 - 1948/49, 1950 - 1958/59, and 1959/60 - 1968/69.
- From 1800 to 1968/69 the Sessional papers were arranged in four
groups: Bills, Reports of Committees, Reports of Commissioners, and
Accounts and papers. - From 1968/69 the arrangement was Public
bills and minutes of proceedings of the Standing Committee
considering the legislation in alphabetical order of Bill title,
and then Reports, accounts and papers arranged alphabetically by
subject. - There are a few collections of pre-1800 printed Papers,
and those of the first half of the nineteenth century are rare, of
the second half, less so. - Reprint of pre-1800 Papers exists and a
selection of nineteenth-century Papers has also been published. -
Currently a collection of Papers for a session numbers 40 - 50
volumes. - Papers since 1800 are available on microfiche
The vote
bundle
Business (working) papers for sittings of the House. - Containing
the previous sitting day's business, the agenda for the current
day's business, and future business they consist of three
series:
Votes and proceedings
Formal record of business transacted the previous sitting day. -
Its Appendix I records papers laid before the House of Commons by
the Government. - Appendix II lists Members appointed to serve on
Standing Committees and Appendix III lists the reports, evidence
and memoranda presented by Select Committees. - An occasional
Supplement to the votes and proceedings publishes the text of
Petitions
Order paper
Votes and proceedings
Formal record of business transacted the previous sitting day. -
Its Appendix I records papers laid before the House of Commons by
the Government. - Appendix II lists Members appointed to serve on
Standing Committees and Appendix III lists the reports, evidence
and memoranda presented by Select Committees. - An occasional
Supplement to the votes and proceedings publishes the text of
Petitions
Remaining Orders of the day and notices of
Motion
Future business. - Includes lists of Bills awaiting consideration
and Statutory Instruments referred to Committees
The vote bundle or parts of it are
published each day the House of Commons sits. - It is broken down
into its various series each with its own pagination, and bound up
in about 15 series at the end of each session. - There is no
published index to the Vote bundle. - However, some parts of the
papers are included and indexed in the House of Commons Journal
when these papers are bound up. - They are arranged in volumes,
normally between 30 and 40 a session, under the following headings:
Votes, Public Petitions, Public Bills, Private Business, Private
Bills, Order Papers, Notices of Motion, Supplement to Votes. - The
Votes and proceedings has been published since 1688. - The Vote
bundle in various forms dates from 1825
House of Commons
parliamentary papers : 1801- 1960/61. - Cambridge:
Chadwyck-Healey
Microfiche edition. - The sessions from 1975/76 onwards are also
available on microfiches
Standing orders of the House
of Commons public business. - London : HMSO, 1991. - 110 p.
- (House of Commons papers; 1st session 1991/92)
Standing orders of the House
of Commons private business. - London: HMSO, 1991. - 213 p.
- (House of Commons papers; 582nd session 1990/91)
(updated in March 2003)
