Search for Legislative Material on the Net

For researchers, and the casual information-seeker, work just got a whole lot easier.

Publications at the Legislative Library in Province House, including newspapers and magazines, are now listed on the Internet. Researchers and others wondering if the library has a certain book or report have only to bring up the legislature's homepage and click on the Legislative Library catalogue. This saves having to stop by the library or making the request by phone or mail.

There are also links to full reports such as Nova Scotia Counts and A Call for Action: Report of Task Force Year 2000.

Once someone finds a needed publication, all he or she has to do is contact a local library and request an inter-library loan. Most requests to the Legislative Library are from Nova Scotia libraries, but the Legislative Library also sends publications to other provinces and around the world.

The library, which has been serving members of the legislature and the public since 1862, has a comprehensive collection of documents. These include statutes, government reports and books, many of them unique.

"The library has a collection rich in Nova Scotia history and politics," said legislative librarian Margaret Murphy. "And there are special collections on Evangeline and Thomas Chandler Haliburton."

The library's homepage is at http://www.gov.ns.ca/legi/library . It can also be reached via the government website at http://www.gov.ns.ca; click on Nova Scotia Legislature and then the link to the library's catalogue. To access the catalogue, users must have a Java enabled browser.