Meet Katharine

A new Parliament always means new faces! We catch up with the Head of Library Resources, Katharine Marke, and ask her about the enormous challenge she has for this election – producing a biography of all newly elected MPs.

Hi Katharine – tell us about your role in the Commons Library!

I am the Head of the Library Resources section. I’ve got a team of around 20 colleagues who manage the library collection and we ensure that researchers, MPs and MPs’ staff, and others across Parliament get the resources they need for their day-to-day work. That’s online resources, books, pamphlets, official publications, newspapers, as well as a collection of hard-copy and digital parliamentary papers. We then make sure all of this is quickly and easily available with the online systems that we manage, such as Commons Library Search.

We’re also involved in digitisation work, so we’re looking at materials being produced in Parliament and ensuring that we can preserve them for the future while making them accessible to a wider audience.

What brought you to the Commons Library?

I’ve been in this role since 2008, but I joined Parliament in 1997. After my first degree, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I liked the idea of a job in a library so I did a librarianship masters. I then came upon a three-month placement as an indexer for the Commons Library which looked interesting and, once I was here, I never left. I’ve worked in the Library’s Indexing and Data Management section, Library Resources section and with the research librarians. I’ve had a variety of roles, and I’ve seen a lot of Library history and change.

Speaking of history – you’ve seen quite a few general elections in Parliament then?

This is my eighth general election. My first election was in 1997 with Tony Blair coming in. I think it’s always an exciting time. As Parliament’s under the spotlight, people are deeply interested in where you work and it’s quite nice to feel that you’re part of something that’s important. I think an election brings that home.

I have quite a behind the scenes role, and I’m not based in the Palace of Westminster. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the importance of what we are doing when I’m busy with the day to day, but being here during an election, it feels different. It feels like a reminder of why we’re here. I think the Library has a really important role to play, helping new MPs to settle in and supporting them with the resources they need. So being a part of that is very special.

What election project have you been working on?

I’ve been co-leading a team to produce some brief information about each new MP, which includes information about who this MP is, what their background is, and a photo.

This is done very quickly after the election and it’s given to that MP’s ‘buddy’ – a member of parliamentary staff who is there to welcome them to Parliament and help them settle in.

Not only does this help the MP’s buddy get to know a little bit about who they’re meeting, but Doorkeepers find our information helpful too. Doorkeepers are responsible for security in the Chamber, so they have to learn to recognise all 650 MPs very quickly.

We pull a huge amount of data together over a couple of days and make sure the sources we look at are factual and accurate. We’re not trying to make any subjective comments, we’re just looking for helpful background information. There’s a bit of pressure to get it right. I think that’s what makes it exciting as well.