Library and Reference Service

The West Bengal Legislative Assembly Secretariat has a well-equipped Library for use of Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. It is situated at the Golden Jubilee Building and it has a well-furnished air-conditioned reading corner for the Members at the 2nd floor of the building.

There is a Research and Documentation Wing in Library which locates, collects, classifies and makes index of relevant and useful articles, measured in anticipation from the experience, published in newspapers, periodicals, reports, etc. and arranges the collections in alphabetical order of subjects and thereafter makes available printed documentation list to all members before each Session of the Assembly and also seeks data in connection with business of the Assembly, correlates data and facts and organizes, prepares databases on each business of the House & preserves the same for effectively catering to the critical multidimensional information needs of the Members.

At present the Legislature Library has nearly two lakh books covering a wide range of subjects including Law and Parliamentary Affairs, History, Economics, Political Science, Education, Sociology, Philosophy and Literature. Besides, the holding of Library includes Reports of different Committees and Commissions, Central and State Acts, Rules and Regulations, Gazettes of different State Governments, Debates of Foreign Parliament (United Kingdom), Indian Parliament and State Legislatures etc. The selection of books is made by the Secretary on approval of the Library Committee. In the matter of selection, books of Parliamentary and Constitutional interest are given preference.

The Library maintains an up-to-date card catalogue with bibliographical description of the library resources according to Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Edition (AACR-II). Apart from that, creation of a database of library resources has been undertaken with softwares WINISIS and ISIS MARC DBMS as a part of automation of library activities.

Regarding classification of books the Library has adopted the decimal classification system of Dewey.

The Library remains open during office hours on all working days. During Sessions of the Assembly its working hours are changed according to the exigencies of the requirements.

Only the Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and the Gazetted Officers of Government Departments are provided with the facility of borrowing books from the Library. No subscription is charged in this regard.

Bona fide Research Scholars are, with the special permission in writing from the Secretary, allowed to use the Library for the purpose of study only during the period when the Assembly is not in Session. In exceptional circumstances the Speaker may permit a Research Scholar to use the Library during the period of Session.

Following Services are made available to the Members in the Library:

(i)      Lending Service

A member may borrow from the Library during inter-session period any book (other than a book of reference) for any period not exceeding 30 days from the date of issue but during session the book taken on loan cannot be retained for more than 7 days, Provided that no member shall at any time have more than 3 books in his possession.

(ii)    Documentation Service

This service is carried out by locating, collecting, classifying, indexing and scanning of relevant latest news-items, editorial comments and useful articles on legislative, constitutional, political, economic, education, health, socio-cultural and other matters published in newspapers, periodicals, reports, etc. which are subscribed and preserved in the library and arranging the collections in alphabetical order of subjects and thereafter making available printed documentation list containing to all Members before commencement of each session of the Assembly.

(iii)  Reference Service

Required information connected to the business of the House or on any topical subject which the Members desire to have are  made available to them from the ready reference books such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, yearbooks, who's who, handbooks, directories etc. or other books, reports, newspapers, debates, gazettes etc. available in the Library as also from Internet. Telephonic enquiries or members come in person in the reading corner at the 2nd floor of the Library for obtaining requisite information is attended by the Library staff.

It is worth mentioning that various documents have been properly preserved in digital format for providing quick reference service to the Members.

(iv)   Reprographic Service (Xerox facility)

One Xerox machine has been provided at the 2nd floor of the Library adjacent to the Member’s Reading Corner for giving reprographic facility to the Members free of cost.

(v)     Internet surfing facility

Two Computers systems with internet connection have been provided in the Member’s Reading Corner for use of Members.