New Brunswick
The Joint Committee of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly established the New Brunswick Legislative Library in 1841. This action formalized the library’s creation, which had taken place in 1784 when the province was first formed. New Brunswick’s first parliamentary librarian, Mark Needham, was appointed in 1842. During most of the 19th century, the library was located in Province Hall, the original legislative building. It is now located in the present Legislative Assembly Building which was erected between 1880-1882. A separate Government Documents building is located on King Street, behind the Legislative Assembly Building.
The Legislative Library provides information and reference services to meet the needs of its principal clientele, the Members of the Legislative Assembly , staff of the legislative assembly, and government departments. In addition to serving its principal clientele the library is also open to the public.
The Library’s collection is strong in the social sciences and humanities with emphasis on administration, economics, Canadian history, law, political science and social interests. The New Brunswick Collection is the largest collection known of its kind. It is comprised of materials written by New Brunswickers and/or about New Brunswick. The size of the entire library collection including the government documents collection is approximately 220,000 volumes.