Parliamentary Information and Reference Centre

Hosted within the CPA Secretariat, PIRC processes enquiries on political, parliamentary and constitutional matters from Members of Parliament, parliamentary officials, the media and the public. 

Send your enquiries to the Assistant Director (Reference Services). 

PIRC was established at the CPA Secretariat in 1971, and, through the co-operation of Members and officials in more than 170 Parliaments and Legislatures, now maintains an unparalleled collection of Commonwealth parliamentary and constitutional material.

PIRC's aims to:

• Identify the knowledge resources needed for effective parliamentary research and secure as well provide/facilitate access to them by practical, effective means
• Support the CPA’s aims and areas of work in the collection and dissemination of information concerning the structure and functioning of Parliaments , helping to sustain and improve its status as an international institution committed to responding to parliamentary information needs
• Be fully integrated.  The CPA’s resource centre provides in a timely fashion, comprehensive, reliable information, documentation and research while maintaining extensive and pertinent collections to support the structures and working methods of parliament, parliamentary democracy and representation
• Evaluate the services to ensure they are dynamic, responsive to needs, relevant, of high quality, efficient and cost-effective
• Augment its holdings through collaboration with other libraries and collections becoming a de facto portal pan Commonwealth for relevant, current information on parliamentary matters; and
• Secure and manage funds sufficient for the provision of a high quality paper-electronic information service.