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Under terms of the Copyright act of 1911 and the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, the Library would expect to have almost complete coverage for all printed format Official publications that have been published since 1911. Every effort is made to ensure that every item published is acquired.

Where a title is published in Welsh or is of Welsh interest, a second copy may be purchased to add to the Library's Welsh collection. Two copies of all Welsh Government publications are deposited with the library. Where publications were available in both individual item and bound volume formats the Library attempts to collect both formats. The library also collects the websites of the National Assembly for Wales, the Welsh Government and other related bodies.

Official publications relating to Wales published by the UK Government are treated as part of the Welsh official publications collection. This includes reports and publications of the Wales Office (formerly Welsh Office), the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and those covering all reserved matters (matters outwith the remit of the devolved institutions) but specific, or with particular reference to Wales. When publications of specific Welsh interest are published as part of runs of UK collections (e.g. Command Papers), the legal deposit copy remains within the run of publications but the second copy is catalogued in the OPAC and available as either a monograph or annual. Welsh legislation enacted by the UK Parliament is also retained as part of the run of UK legislation, but a second copy is catalogued as monograph and available through the OPAC. Measures and Acts of the National Assembly are catalogued as monographs and are available through the OPAC.

The Library's interpretation of what constitutes a Non-Parliamentary publication is very broad and inclusive. In addition to Government departments and executive agencies, it includes Public Bodies, Non-Departmental Pubic Bodies, Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies and organisations that are publicly funded.

Searching the collection

All Welsh official publications since 1985 are listed in the OPAC. Publications before 1985 are listed on microfiche. Certain UK Parliament publications in the Welsh collection are treated as serials and are not searchable by title or ISBN. The TSO annual catalogues or online catalogue should be used to identify the number of individual papers. However, most publications in Welsh or of Welsh interest where additional copies have been purchased they are treated as monograph publications and are listed in the OPAC.

Documents laid before the Assembly are treated as monographs and catalogued individually in the OPAC.

The Welsh Government does not publish via TSO, and so its publications are not listed in TSO catalogues. Due to a centralised contract for legislation, Welsh Measures, Acts and Welsh Statutory instruments as well as UK Acts and Statutory Instruments are published by TSO, and included in their catalogue.

The National Assembly for Wales was established as a corporate body in 1999, but in 2007 the legislature and executive functions of the devolved government were formally separated, although a de-facto separation had been in operation for some time. Many publications initially published by the National Assembly for Wales, are now published by the Welsh Government (known as the Welsh Assembly Government until 2011).

Items may be ordered in advance and may be reserved unless another reader requests the same item.

UK Government

  • Complete set of parliamentary papers relating to Wales since 1911
  • Annual reports of the Wales Office (formerly Welsh Office) and related bodies (including the Welsh Development Agency)
  • Reports of police and other non-devolved services related to Wales
  • Welsh language or bilingual versions of publications of the UK government.

National Assembly for Wales

  • Complete set of printed publications from 1999 including those of Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies (ASPBs).
  • Printed version of the Official Record and committees fro the period 1999-2000
  • Archive copies of the National Assembly for Wales website (2006-). Many documents including the Record of Proceedings are published in on-line format only and are available via the UK Web Archive.

Welsh Government (Welsh Assembly Government until 2011)

  • Complete set of publications from 2007
  • Complete set of Welsh Government sponsored bodies’ publications from 2007
  • Archive copies of the Welsh Government website from 2006 via the UK Web Archive

Legislation

  • National Assembly for Wales Statutory Instruments: Complete Set 1999-2007 (bound and unbound).
  • Welsh Statutory Instruments: Complete set from 2007
  • Measures of the National Assembly for Wales: Complete set 2007-2011 (Including a complete set of official prints)
  • Acts of the National Assembly for Wales: Complete set 2011-
  • Acts of Parliament relating to Wales

Online

  • Chadwyck Healey House of Commons parliamentary papers (selected Parliamentary Papers from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries). This resource can be accessed the External Electronic Resources page
  • UKOP. This resource can be accessed via the External Electronic Resources page but is available within the library only.
  • Archived versions of Welsh official websites can be accessed at the UK Web Archive

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