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British Columbia Legislative Library
British Columbia’s Legislative Library was founded in 1863 to serve the Colonial Legislature of Vancouver Island and subsequently, the Province of British Columbia, when those two jurisdictions were united in 1871. The first permanent librarian was appointed in 1893. In 1894, the Legislative Library Act formally established the institution which exists today and in 1915, the Library moved into its present quarters just off the Speaker’s Corridor.
At that time, material intended for archival and provincial public library collections was included. Eventually the BC Archives and the Public Library Services Branch, as they are now known, developed into separate institutions. In 1985 the Library reverted to its original status of a dedicated service of the Legislative Assembly administered directly by the Speaker.
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The Library
provides traditional reference services, using print, the Internet, and
subscription databases. It also produces electronic products for use by
the Legislature and staff such as:
- the Library newsletter
- Bills before the House
- New Books list
- Background papers on aspects of public policy
- an MLA database with information back to the first parliament in 1871
- newspaper articles and links to articles about BC
- BC government news release database, dating back to 2001
Publicly available on the Internet are the BC Newspaper Index and a selective Index of articles in BC magazines.
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The Library
coordinates two programs on behalf of the provincial government:
- the Cataloguing-in-Publication Program (CIP) which provides prepublication cataloguing data for BC government publications
- the British Columbia Government Publications Monthly Checklist, a listing of current publications that is available over the Internet.
There are approximately 200,000 volumes in the collection, 5.5 linear miles. Areas of strength are political science, public administration, economics, statute law, and BC and Canadian history. The Library maintains the largest collection of BC government publications, and makes available over the Internet all catalogued items that are in electronic form.
British Columbia’s Legislative Library staff is composed of professional librarians, clerical staff and a systems technician.
The Library serves the Lieutenant-Governor, Members of the Legislative Assembly, their staffs, the Officers of the House, Legislative Assembly staff, the Press Gallery and researchers from the public service. Non-government researchers have access when the Legislature is not is session, but may not borrow materials.The Library’s contact information is as follows:
British Columbia Legislative Library
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
(250) 387-6510
Website: www.llbc.leg.bc.ca
Email: LLBC.Ref@leg.bc.ca
Legislative Assembly website: http://www.leg.bc.ca/
