Too big for his books: Brandis Library is shelved Bibliophile Brandis and his bookshelves Curious, George. First it was a $13,000 tax-payer-funded book collection, now it's a $7,000 tax-payer-funded bookshelf to house them. PT1M58S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2vihs 620 349 October 15, 2013 - 6:19AM One test of a man's importance is if he has a library named after him. On that measure, Attorney-General George Brandis, the self-described "minister for books," can take his place alongside George Washington and other great men. Coined the Brandis Library by Labor staffers, Senator Brandis' $7000 taxpayer-funded bookcase, built to house $13,000 worth of taxpayer-funded books and magazines, is too big to be moved into his new Parliament House office. For the time being at least, the now empty Brandis Library will be in the office of Labor's Senate deputy leader Stephen Conroy. Empty: George Brandis' $7000 bookcase. A Labor staffer said he had never seen anything in a parliamentary office like Senator Brandis' bookcase. The shelves, if laid end-to-end, would be longer than an Olympic-size swimming pool. Senator Brandis ordered the bookcase in May 2010, Senate records show, and asked for it to be moved into his new office soon after the election. "We weren't able to move it [initially]," a Senate Department spokeswoman said, adding that it was not technically impossible; the bookcase would just require some dismantling. Asked about the bookshelves, a spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said the bookcase was now a "permanent asset of the Senate." "We understand that the current custodian of the asset is Senator Stephen Conroy," she said. Senator Brandis' taxpayer-funded spending has come under scrutiny recently. First, he repaid $1700 he had claimed to attend former radio announcer Michael Smith's wedding. Then he had to defend spending almost $13,000 in the past four years on his personal library. The collection included political cartoons, the fictional thriller The Marmalade Files and Christopher Hitchens' memoir Hitch-22. Department of Finance rules say publicly funded books must relate to "parliamentary, electorate or official business." Senator Brandis told The Australian the public expected their political representatives to be well-informed and "plainly some MPs take that responsibility more seriously than others."