Open Day at the House of Commons Library
Here we have a guest blog from Rosalind Pye, a Neighbourhood Delivery Assistant working and studying part- time with Manchester Central Library. Here she recounts her fascinating study visit to Westminster:
An open day was held at the House of Commons Library on February 18th, 2026, and I was lucky enough to attend. I had the opportunity while studying for a Library Information and Archives NVQ. Applications are open for all library and information professionals.
Situated in the heart of the Palace of Westminster, a short corridor away from the debating chamber, the library is the research and information service for the House of Commons, putting “Information and analysis at the heart of our parliamentary democracy”. The service provides impartial analysis, statistical research and information resources, supporting MPs in the scrutiny of legislation, policy development and in turn supporting constituents.
The day started and ended in Portcullis House, over the road from the Palace, the building to the right of Westminster Palace. It also included a comprehensive tour of the palace, including the library.
‘Sunset over Houses of Parliament’, (Source: Flickr, 2026) ©House of Commons
The introduction was packed with interesting facts and figures. The first House of Commons librarian was appointed in 1818 and the Members Library opened in 1852. It holds a collection of around 500,000 items occupying approximately 3km of shelving within the Palace and an extra 5km in Deepstore in Cheshire. There are 180 staff in the Library Service including researchers, librarians and information professionals. The Members Library suite is a valued private workspace situated a short walk along a corridor from the debating chamber.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and the US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson process before Speaker Johnson addresses Parliament. (Source: Flckr, 2026) ©House of Commons
The library was originally made up of three rooms, A, B, and C and expanded to include the Reference Room, Oriel Room and D Room. The interior, like the rest of the Palace complex, is all original work by Augustus Pugin and very grand. Unsurprisingly the book collection consists mainly of politics and social policy publications. There are about 2,000 loans per year and there are lot of inter library loans, mainly from the British Library. Other notable collections are Hansard, the collection of signed first editions of publications by Members and ex-Members and the sizeable amount of shelf space dedicated to HS2 publications. For a more detailed description of the library, please visit:
Record keeping began in parliament in 1497 and the archives have now been transferred to The National Archives at Kew where they are stored and managed. The archive contains 13km of physical collections and 30tb of digital archives and took 162 trips from Westminster to transfer.
There were many presentations throughout, and ‘Dealing with Misinformation in Parliament’ was one of the most memorable. It was pointed out that modern government is a very intense information environment with a system that can reward speed to the detriment of accuracy. There is also the consideration of the proliferation of AI to consider, and it was described as ‘a double-edged sword’. “Misinformation is a mistake, but disinformation is deliberate” is a maxim which will stay with me.
It was a great day, made even more memorable by the Big Ben Duck which returned to Manchester after I was won first place in the fun quiz!
