We’ve started our round of visits to other libraries with an absolute cracker, the House of Commons Library. Here follows my write up!
Our tour started in Portcullis House, over the road from the Houses of Parliament, where we were met by Dora Clark, Head of Reference Services for the House of Commons Library. Portcullis House is a lot nicer than it looks from the outside, with a glass roof, trees and water features, and a very nice looking café that visitors can’t use. Shame. Clearly I will have to try to work there someday, I saw some very nice looking cake. (I may make career decisions based on the availability of cake. It’s as valid a criteria as any!)
Dora pointed out the Member Centre, which her department runs in conjunction with IT services. It’s a quick reference stop for Members and their staff, and as it’s right next to the main part of Portcullis House it gets used quite a lot as Members go between briefings and meetings in the rooms further up the building. She also explained that only a small part of the staff are based in the library proper – some work in the Member’s Centre, and others work in Derby Gate, opposite the Treasury. They employ over 100 people altogether, including the team of huge team of subject specialists and researchers.
To get from Portcullis House to the library, we went down an escalator, through the private underpass, complete with lion and unicorn statues – it went a bit Hogwarts, to be honest – and then we were in the grounds. The library is tucked away, next to the Speaker’s House, and quite close to the Commons Chamber, so when Parliament is in session they often get Members nipping in and out between debates. It’s nice that they are so in the thick of things, it’s something I’d hope for in a place to work.
The library is set out over 6 rooms, along one side of the building. The main entrance leads into the Oriel Room, where the staff take face to face enquiries and answer emails. In another room, with a mix of staff desks and seats for Members, they answer phone enquiries. There are a few more staff desks in another room – it was a bit strange to see staff working right next to places that Members will sit, but it seems to work for them! Like my library, they have one room that doesn’t allow laptops. They answer as many enquiries as they can, but often pass queries that need specialist knowledge to the researchers. Their role seemed similar to the work I do on the Enquiries Desk, although probably more in-depth, and I did like that they can say no if an enquiry is too technical or the timeframe isn’t realistic. I would be hesitant to say no myself, but then I am only at the start of my career, and with the weight of the institution backing me up it wouldn’t be so bad.
On a slightly shallow note, the library itself is stunning, both in its design and in the smaller details – they still have the original Pugin designed silver stationary stands, complete with pen rests and ink wells. I can imagine it’s a lovely place to work. There is a real sense of the library’s history, with a few nods like a small exhibition of rare or important old works, but they don’t wallow in it the way they possibly could – the presence of spare laptop chargers alone dissuades anyone from that!
Dora talked us through the role of the library, which basically to ensure that Members are well informed. As well as answering enquiries, they also produce constantly updated briefing papers on current issues, or issues that come up over and over. They also make debate packs, which provide background information for upcoming debates – a practice started a few years ago, when a Member demanded a full background to an 11:30 debate at 10am. There are all sorts of other briefing packs and research papers that they produce as well, they try to anticipate need whenever they can – it makes life easier for them!
Working at the library seems to mean a varied job that changes to fit whatever the Members need. We visited the day after Margaret Thatcher died, and they were gearing up to expect more Members, as the day after our visit Parliament was being recalled – they were due back on the following Monday after the Easter break. As the library’s opening hours are a lot shorter during recess, this meant calling staff back from leave, and trying to make sure that they could man the desks as long as Parliament was in session. It also meant making sure the staff had as much information about her to hand as possible – they all had A3 sheets with what looked like bibliographic info – and they had assembled relevant biographies so that they were close should requests come in for them.
I liked that they seemed to be busy, even on a day when Parliament was in recess and no one was using the library. Dora said there’s been an upswing in enquiries and library use in the last few years, which is heartening to hear as a constituent! It’s also an interesting position to be in in terms of intake of new library users – obviously academic libraries get an influx around the start of the academic year, my own library picks up around Christmas/New Year, but here they only get new users after an election. Which seems obvious when it’s pointed out!
I did take the opportunity to ask what they look for in a potential employee – a tad cheeky, I know, but it looks like an amazing place to work. Apparently they want the usual things in terms of library experience, as you can imagine at this sort of institution, but they also want an interest in current affairs. It’s definitely a place I’ll be keeping an eye on, as they recruit at a number of levels, so maybe one day!
If you want to see the library for yourself, there is an online virtual tour , which gives you all sorts of interesting bits of information about the library.
date stamps and papercuts 