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Nova Scotia Legislative Library
The Nova Scotia Legislative Library is located in Province House, a designated National Historic Site. The construction of Province House began in 1811 and was completed in 1819, making it the oldest seat of government in Canada.
The main reading room of the Library was originally the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. In it many notable trials were held, including one of the most famous, on March 2, 1835, the trial of Joseph Howe, on a charge of criminal libel. His six and a quarter hour speech in his own defense won his acquittal and established the concept of freedom of the press in Canada.
In the Spring of 1862 the Supreme Court was moved to another building and the chamber converted into the Legislative Library by bringing together the collections of books previously scattered throughout the building and by adding alcoves, shelving and a mezzanine balcony. Nova Scotia’s first Legislative Librarian, John Venables was appointed in 1862.
The Legislative Library is responsible for providing the information services required by all Members of the Legislature, their caucus and constituency staff and the staff of the Legislature. Members of the Provincial Civil Service are permitted to use the Library’s resources and to borrow materials; the Library is also open to all citizens who may borrow through interlibrary loan.
Information services are provided via the Library’s creation and maintenance of specialized in-house and publicly accessible databases. The full catalogue of the Library’s holdings is accessible online. The Library provides services directly to the desktops of the Members including current awareness products, newspaper articles and information obtained from the vast array of databases to which the Library subscribes.
The Library’s collection reflects the concerns of the Legislature and the needs of the Members. Staff collect extensively in the areas of political science, public administration, history, economics, and is a full deposit library for Statistics Canada publications. The Library maintains a comprehensive collection of all Nova Scotia government publications in any format on behalf of the Province and produces a monthly and annual checklist of these publications. The Library is also proud to maintain a large collection of rare Novascotiana and Canadiana.
The Legislative Library has a permanent staff of six and has offices and collections in two other buildings.
The Library’s contact information is:
Nova Scotia Legislative Library
P.O. Box 396
1726 Hollis Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 2P8
PH: (902) 424-5932
FAX: (902) 424-0220
Email: leglib@gov.ns.ca
Website: http://nslegislature.ca/index.php/library/
Legislative Assembly website: http://nslegislature.ca/
