The Parliamentary Library of Australia (or Commonwealth Parliamentary Library) is the library of the
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...
, administered by its Department of Parliamentary Services. It provides library services to elected officials, namely members of the
Senate and
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, as well as 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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
. 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.
From 1923 the library used two names describing the two roles and two collections ''Commonwealth Parliament Library'' which designated the parliamentary collection and ''Commonwealth National Library'' to designate the national collection.
The collections were relocated from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927.
Sir Harold White served as Parliamentary Librarian from 1947 to 1967. In 1960 the ''
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
'' was created by act of parliament.
The collections were separated when the ''National Library of Australia'' building was completed.
Organisation and services
The Parliamentary Library lies within the
Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS), one of four departments supporting the functioning of Parliament.
The staff of the Library is led by the Parliamentary Librarian, a statutory officer responsible for the control and management of the Library, who is on the DPS Executive Committee. This committee is the department's primary governance body, comprising the Secretary (chair), Deputy Secretary, Parliamentary Librarian, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Information Officer, First Assistant Secretary for Building and Security Division and Chief Finance Officer.
, the Parliamentary Librarian is Dr Dianne Heriot. First appointed in February 2012, her five-year term was extended on 10 May 2017.
The staff provide a media monitoring service, research and analysis as well as managing the library collection.
The Parliamentary Library publishes the
Australian Parliamentary Handbook, which provides information about Parliament including the parliamentary service and political careers of Senators and Members, parliamentary committees and elections.
See also
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National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
*
John Brudenall
References
Further reading
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* White, H. L. (1965). Commonwealth Parliamentary Library. The Australian Library Journal, 14(2), 70.
External links
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{{Authority control
Legislative libraries
Libraries in Canberra
Parliament of Australia
1901 establishments in Australia
Libraries established in 1901