Government Publications
Finding References
When you have found a reference see Government Publications classmarks for more information about locating and requesting items.
There are a number of sources to help identify the existence and full bibliographic details of government publications. These sources have differing coverage. Consequently it is sometimes necessary to search all/several of the sources in order to establish the bibliographic details of an item. To help trace the item within the Library you will need to take careful note of details such as year of session and type of document (eg 1997, Command Paper) and any volume numbers cited.
Key Databases
BOPCRIS
Coverage: 1688-1995 (selective)
This resource is an index of some 39000 key British official publications. BOPCRIS records contain the paper number (in Arabic numerals) and volume number (in Roman numerals). Many of the volume numbers are written on older Parliamentary Papers volumes in our collection, so this information can be useful when requesting publications. There is also access for academic users to some material in full text for the date range 1688-1834 as part of the 18th Century Parliamentary Papers digisation project.
House of Commons Parliametary Papers : 18th, 19th, and 20th Century
Coverage: 1715-2003/04 (plus supplementary material from 1688)
This invaluable resource provides access to the full text online of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. It has searchable full text, and detailed subject indexing which makes it far easier to trace parliamentary material. Like BOPCRIS, HCPP records contain the paper and volume number references.
UKOP
Coverage: 1980-date
UKOP comprehensively catalogues the output of Parliament, devolved administrations
and over 2000 government departments by combining TSO's catalogue with
Chadwyck-Healey's Catalogue of Official Publications Not Published by
The Stationery Office.
Index to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers for 1801 -
1995
Coverage: 1801-1995
CD-Rom available in the Information
Centre. The Index to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers for 1801
- 1995 is the only cumulative index of the period.
Key Print resources
There are two main sets of indexes covering 19th century official publications
on the 6th floor (Rapid Ref):
Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-1990/
compiled by Peter Cockton. - Chadwyck Healey, 1987-88. - 0859641333
General Indexes covering 1801-1899
When item of interest is found, note the Session number, Paper number and Volume number eg 1865 (131) xxxi, and then take this information to the Stack Desk. Page references are not always usable as our bound volumes may be single publications bound together in which case they will not have the right sequence of page numbers.
