Blue books

The original meaning of this term indicated a report with blue paper covers, particularly those of Royal Commissions and Departmental Committees describing the social conditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries or recording the nation's foreign affairs.

The Library's collection with the shelfmark `Blue Books' is not compatible with the above definition of this term. Our collection was set up in the 1920's when the Library assigned government departments a number between 1 and 99 in alphabetical order, e.g. Admiralty 1, Ministry of Works 87. Since then the changes of name and function of government departments has made this arrangement obsolete.There is a guide to their arrangement at the beginning of the collection.

Shelfmark: Blue Books (Level 1 Compact Shelving)
Loan Period: Gen Short