Parliamentary Library of Australia

The Parliamentary Library of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library of Australia is part of the Department of Parliamentary Services and provides library services to elected officials including senators and members of the House of Representatives together with their staff, parliamentary committees, the Governor-General of Australia and the staff of parliamentary departments.

History

The library was established in 1901, the year of the federation of the Commonwealth of Australia. Control of the new library was controversial as the fledgling parliament was located in Melbourne where the Victorian premier and the library committee of the State Library of Victoria sought to influence the control and management of the library.^[1][2]

From 1923 the library used two names describing the two roles and two collections Commmonwealth Parliament Library which designated the parliamentary collection and Commonwealth National Library to designate the national collection.^[3] The collections were relocated from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927.^[4]

Sir Harold White served as Parliamentary Librarian from 1947 to 1967.^[5] In 1960 the National Library of Australia was created by act of parliament.^{[6] [7][3]} The collections were separated when the National Library of Australia building was completed.^[8]

Services

The staff of the Library is led by the Parliamentary Librarian, a statutory officer responsible for the control and management of the Library, reporting to the Presiding Officers and the Library Committee. The staff provide a media monitoring service, research and analysis as well as managing the library collection.^[9]

See also

• National Library of Australia
• John Brudenall (librarian)
• Harold Leslie White

References

1. "PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.". The Age (14,478). Victoria, Australia. 1 August 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 30 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
2. "THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.". The Age (14,473). Victoria, Australia. 26 July 1901. p. 5. Retrieved 30 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "Commonwealth Parliament Library (Australia) - Libraries Australia Search". nla.gov.au. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
4. "The National Library of Australia Storehouse of knowledge". The Canberra Times. 42, (12,080). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 15 August 1968. p. 27. Retrieved 23 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Sir Harold still watching over his library". The Canberra Times. 58, (17,590). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 26 November 1983. p. 10. Retrieved 23 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Commonwealth Parliament Library (Australia). - People and organisations". Trove. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
7. "About the Parliamentary Library". www.aph.gov.au. Australian Parliament House. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
8. "THE FIRST 100,000". The Canberra Times. 41, (11,633). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 10 March 1967. p. 32. Retrieved 23 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "Part 4 The Parliamentary Library". www.aph.gov.au. Australian Parliament House. Retrieved 23 May 2016.

Further reading

• Australia. Department of the Parliamentary Library (1900), Annual report, AGPS, retrieved 1 March 2016
• Cochrane, Peter, 1950-; National Library of Australia (2001), Remarkable occurrences : the National Library of Australia's first 100 years 1901-2001, National Library of Australia, ISBN 978-0-642-10730-5
• Commonwealth Parliament Library (Australia) (1972), Department of the Parliamentary Library : a descriptive account ([Rev. ed.] ed.), Parliament of Australia, retrieved 1 March 2016
• Osborn, Andrew D. (Andrew Delbridge); Osborn, Margaret; National Library of Australia; Australia. Department of the Parliamentary Library; Osborn, Andrew D. (Andrew Delbridge), 1902-1997; Osborn, Margaret (1989), The Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, 1901-27 and the origins of the National Library of Australia, Dept. of the Parliamentary Library in association with the National Library of Australia, ISBN 978-0-642-14697-7
• White, H. L. (1965). Commonwealth Parliamentary Library. The Australian Library Journal, 14(2), 70.