David Menhennet

David Menhennet CB (4 December 1928 – 5 February 2016) was a British librarian. As librarian at the House of Commons Library from 1976 to 1991,^[1] he oversaw a period of modernisation and other improvements to the library,^[2] transforming it into a modern research facility.^[3]

Menhennet was born in Redruth, Cornwall,^[2] the son of William and Everill Menhennet.^[3] He attended Truro School on a scholarship and excelled in languages,^[3] going on to graduate with a first in French and German from Oriel College, Oxford.^[2][3] He then moved to Queen's College to study for a D.Phil. in 18th-century French literature.^[3]

He became a clerk in the Commons Library in 1954.^[2] When given responsibility for the research area in 1964 he introduced a system of comprehensive daily briefings for MPs,^[2][3] and he was promoted to Deputy Librarian in 1967.^[3] When Speaker George Thomas appointed him 10th Librarian of the Commons Library in 1976,^[1][3] he began a process of modernisation.^[2] He set up the Public Information Office (now the House of Commons Information Office) in 1978,^[3] and electronic publication began the same year, when the Library contributed to the Prestel viewdata system, which at one time had 90,000 subscribers.^[3] Computerisation of the Library's information systems began in 1979 with the creation of the Parliamentary On-Line Information System (POLIS).^[3] He also established a service for schools.^[3] The new systems introduced by Menhennet enabled MPs to find and check information far more easily, and were used particularly often by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair while in opposition.^[2][3]

Menhennet hosted international conferences at Westminster, and also acted as an adviser to other parliaments.^[3] His last reform was to ban smoking in the library.^[2][3]

In 1964 Menhennet was a founder member of the Study of Parliament Group, and also chaired the British Library's Advisory Committee on Bibliographic Services from 1986 to 1992.^[3] He also wrote a number of books about Parliament.^[3] After his retirement in 1991 he was a visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths College.^[3]

Menhennet was a life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a freeman of the City of London and a liveryman of the Stationer's Company.^[3] He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the Queen's 1991 Birthday Honours.^[3]

David Menhennet married Audrey Holmes in 1954. He died on 5 February 2016, survived by Audrey and their two sons.^[3]

• 1967: Parliament in Perspective (with John Palmer)
• 1972: Erskine May’s Private Journal 1857-82
• 1991: The House of Commons Library: A History

• Roger Morgan (librarian), moderniser of the House of Lords Library