Back in July we held the first of our SLLG Presents events, in association with the Advocates’ Library. Committee member Katharine Calder has written a review of the inaugural lecture for our blog.
The session started with brief explanation from SLLG Convener SarahLouise McDonald, telling us how the lecture series came about. David Torrance was then introduced by the Keeper of The Advocates Library, Stephen O’Rourke QC. David is a Constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library, the author of 14 books and has worked in the media before going on to work in the House of Commons Library.
David began by giving a brief history of the library. Although an exact start date can’t be pinpointed, a library has been present in one form or another for as long as parliament has existed. In 1818 the first Librarian was appointed and this is considered the birth of the House of Commons Library as it is recognised today.
David detailed the architecture of the library throughout its history accompanied by detailed illustration and photographs. One constant theme throughout the library’s history is that the stock always seems to outgrow its allotted space – an issue many law library professionals will be familiar with!
In 1945 a Select Committee was put together to look into the purpose of the Library. According to David one quote from this report summed up the work of the library to this day “should be made into a unique institution…far more than a repository for books and parliamentary papers…to support Members with information rapidly on any of the multifarious matters which come before the House”.
David went on to explain how the modern research service provided by the House of Commons Library has developed over time. Today, the library publishes research and analysis on legislation, policy analysis and statistics: 1,928 briefing papers were published in 2020. The library holds roughly 228,000 items in its collection which the staff use to provide answers to information requests. In 2020 there were 18,989 requests made to the library by Members of Parliament.
The library does have a list of things that it won’t do for its members: no speeches that you hear in the House of Commons will have been written by a member of library staff, and the library will not draft newspaper articles or provide research if there is a suspicion that it will be used in an overtly political campaign.
David spoke about the freedom that his job can allow him to write briefings on topics that interest him a long as it fits in with the library’s remit. He went into some detail about his research for his briefing paper on “Parliament & Northern Ireland 1921-2021” which you can view here.
The lecture was rounded off with a Q & A session, where members of the online audience asked David about his favourite topics of research.
If you want to find out more about the work of the House of Commons Library you can visit their website or follow them on Twitter @commonslibrary. For more information and links to resources and a recording of this talk, check out the SLLG events page on our website.
Our thanks go to Stephen O’Rourke and SarahLouise McDonald for organising this event; to David Torrance for the excellent and interesting presentation; to Katharine Calder for the write-up.
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