With National Libraries Day and the General Election fast approaching, we were reminded of the useful and interesting things that we have learned recently courtesy of the staff at the House of Commons library.

Based at the Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons Library provides an independent and impartial service to Members of Parliament and offers a bespoke enquiry service to MPs and their staff in support of their parliamentary duties and they also publish briefings for members and the general public.

We got permission to hack their headlines, and here is our interpretation of twelve articles posted on Second Reading, the House of Commons Library blog, over the last year:

1. Our world-leading universities fire innovation, but development and benefits go overseas
2. The educational performance of UK 15 year olds has remained steady between 2006 and 2012 
3. There is an unsurprising urban bias in a heatmap of UK economic activity
4. Electoral registration in 2015: individual and online 
5. Taxpayers lost out to big money in the privatisation of Royal Mail
6. England’s locally-led planning system: perfect for conserving local areas but not for building more homes
7. The picture post-uni fees: we are all the poorer for it
8. More jobs is not the same as lower employment
9. Netherlands would win a digital inclusion World Cup
10. You can now film council meetings... with some caveats
11. Workers in Brighton love to walk, even more than workers in Cambridge love to cycle
12. Self-employment among those aged 65+ in the UK has almost doubled over the last five years

About the House of Commons Library

The House of Commons Library provides an independent and impartial service to Members of Parliament. We publish briefings on legislation and subjects of topical interest on the internet and provide a bespoke enquiry service to Members and their staff.

The aim of the Second Reading blog is to allow Library staff to produce brief, timely, web-friendly analysis which would not fit with our other forms of briefing.

To receive regular blog briefings from the House of Commons Library, follow the blog at http://commonslibraryblog.com/ or follow@commonslibrary on twitter.

About National Libraries Day 2015

Love libraries? Show it on Saturday 7 February 2015 & all that week

• Organise a local event & add it to our map
• Visit a library or event – find out what’s on
• Join our thunderclap and share the love on social media #NLD15
• Post your pics to the NLD Flickr pool
• Or share a library #shelfie!

Take part in National Libraries Day, Sat 7 Feb 2015

Image source: House of Commons Library