| House Of Commons Library |
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HISTORY The Library was established in 1818 and a purpose-designed library was built for it by Sir John Soane and completed in 1828 . This building was destroyed by fire in 1834 . In the rebuilding of the Palace Of Westminster by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin , the Library was given four large rooms on the river front of the principal floor of the new palace, each 40 feet by 25 feet and some 20ft high. This suite was opened in 1852 , and two additional rooms added in the mid/late 1850s . The Library was stocked with some 30,000 books majoring in history, topography, biography and politics, as well as the official papers of the House. Almost alone among contemporary parliamentary libraries, the staff were given free rein to determine the scope of the collection from about 1850 onwards. In 1945-46, it was reorganised on modern lines, and a Research Division created, to provide briefings to Members, and to answer their individual detailed enquiries on a confidential and non-partisan basis. A modern reference library was created in the former Map Room, which had been equipped with pull-down maps of all parts of the world. Staff of the Library are not employed by the Civil Service , and provide completely impartial advice and analysis to Members of Parliament. THE LIBRARY TODAY By 2006, the Library had 192 staff, and occupied premises outside the Palace of Westminster as well as within it. Many of the staff had specialist qualifications in, for instance, law, statistics, and various aspects of public affairs. The total holdings are about 250,000 print items, plus journals and official papers, together with extensive on-line and electronic sources. The Library is not a copyright deposit library, unlike the British Library and the Library Of Congress . Some of the older book stock was loaned in 2004 to the British Museum , to populate the King's Library there. The Research Papers complied by House of Commons Library research staff are available on the Internet. REFERENCES
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