Meet Ed Newton

I joined the House of Commons Library in 2019. Before that I worked as a subtitler, providing television subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. This involved watching a lot of TV, which wasn’t always as much fun as it might sound so I went back to university and completed a course in Information Science.

I have worked as a Library Executive, then Research Librarian, supporting a number of the Library’s research sections, and I am now Senior Liaison Librarian for the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

It’s a really varied role which primarily involves ensuring POST Advisors and Fellows have the resources they need to produce impartial briefings for parliamentarians. One very interesting part of my work is conducting literature reviews on a wide range of topics. This helps to inform POST staff and I inevitably end up learning something on a new subject too!

The biggest challenge I faced when I joined the Library was the sheer amount to learn. Aside from the day-to-day roles, there’s also the matter of how Parliament works. However, the Library offers training and support, and colleagues are always willing to take the time to help. The learning never stops, but being new to both libraries and Parliament has certainly not been a barrier in my librarianship career.