British official publications

Abstract

I have accepted the task of presenting a paper on British official publications because the House of Commons Library, in which I have had the advantage of working during the last 28 years, provides a good base from which to survey the whole field. We are strong in the older publications. During the last century, the main initiative came from Parliament, and in particular from the House of Commons. A hundred years ago the Civil Service was relatively small. Nearly all official documents were published by the authority of Parliament. Parliament was concerned with the pre‐legislative stage, identifying problems, examining witnesses, and bringing dark areas into the full glare of publicity. Much has changed. Our Civil Service is now large and powerful. It is for that reason that, like many other legislators, British Members seek to arm themselves against the Executive. Their Library plays a small part in the struggle. Because we are all librarians, it may be of interest to let one of my predecessors, Thomas Vardon, speak for himself:

Citation

Holland, D. (1974), "British official publications", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 274-281. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb050461