Parliamentary Library of Australia
library service provided to the Australian Parliament
The Parliamentary Library of Australia (or Commonwealth Parliamentary Library) is the library of the Parliament of Australia, administered by its Department of Parliamentary Services. It provides library services to elected officials, namely members of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as their staff, parliamentary committees, the Governor-General of Australia, and the staff of parliamentary departments.
History
The library was established in 1901, the year of the federation of the Commonwealth of Australia. Control of the new library was controversial as the fledgling parliament was located in Melbourne where the Victorian premier and the library committee of the State Library of Victoria sought to influence the control and management of the library.
From 1923 the library used two names describing the two roles and two collections Commonwealth Parliament Library which designated the parliamentary collection and Commonwealth National Library to designate the national collection. The collections were relocated from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927.
Sir Harold White served as Parliamentary Librarian from 1947 to 1967. In 1960 the National Library of Australia was created by act of parliament. The collections were separated when the National Library of Australia building was completed.
Organisation and services
The Parliamentary Library lies within the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS), one of four departments supporting the functioning of Parliament.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Parliamentary Library of Australia” as library service provided to the Australian Parliament. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as library service provided to the Australian Parliament. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24997659. VIAF identifies the subject as 131981695. The Library of Congress control number is n80077872. 2 of 10 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1923, 1927 and 1947.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Parliamentary Library of Australia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Parliamentary Library of Australia primary sources, Parliamentary Library of Australia archive and Parliamentary research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Parliamentary Library of Australia”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Parliamentary Library of Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.