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Library and Archives

About Us

Library

The Library of the Commonwealth Secretariat is situated in its headquarters at Marlborough House in London. The Library contains a rich collection of documentation covering an broad subject range, including: Politics; International Relations; Economics; Education; Health; Gender; Science, Environment; Management and Youth.

Books, periodicals and grey literature are from an array of sources including governments, international organisations, publishers and donations all within Commonwealth countries. More than 18,000 separate items are held in the library, mostly from materials published within the past ten years. The library is also the official repository for the Secretariat's own publications.

Collections

Journals & books

The library holds about 15,000 books and pamphlets and approximately 450 periodical titles on subjects relevant to the Commonwealth and individual Commonwealth countries

Grey Literature

This material covers books, serials, pamphlets and leaflets and includes government publications, conference reports, discussion papers, working papers and a wide range of other of material

Commonwealth news and newspapers

  • Seven of the quality British newspapers arrive daily in the library.
  • In addition the library staff provide an extensive current awareness service alerting staff at the Secretariat of important regional press articles called In Brief. 
  • In Brief is a daily round –up of news and views from Commonwealth Countries throughout the world from national and regional newspapers.

Reading Room

The quiet and comfortable reading room is located in Marlborough House. It is staffed daily from 10.00 to 17.00