   
Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments
Annual Report
September 1997 - August 1998
Scope Statement
The Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments promotes the central role of relevant, factual and accurate information in the effective functioning of a democratic legislature. In some constituent parliaments, the parliamentary library includes a research service; in others there is a separate department providing research and analysis for the legislature. These services are provided to national legislatures in unitary states, and to both national and regional legislatures in countries with a federal system of government. The activities undertaken by those who provide library and research services for parliaments range from the identification, location, interpretation, synthesis, and timely delivery of information to in-depth analysis and development of choices for the legislature.
As well as traditional library skills of acquisition, indexing, and reference work exploiting information technology, many legislatures have a need for subject and disciplinary expertise, significant presentational skills and an understanding of legislative procedures and official publications. Whatever the range offered, the concept of service to members of the legislature, the primary clientele, is fundamental to parliamentary libraries and research services.
Membership
The membership of the Section in July 1998 was 102 compared with 104 in July 1997. The 104 members comprised 73 parliamentary libraries, 3 associations of parliamentary libraries (APLA, APLIC, and NCSL - US National Conference of State Legislatures), 3 national libraries (that are not also parliamentary libraries), 12 library associations, 2 international organisations (IPU and UN), 7 individuals, 2 university libraries and one other organisation
Officers:
Chair: Jennifer Tanfield,
Librarian,
House of Commons,
London SW1A 0AA, UK
Email: TANFIELDJB@parliament.uk
Phone: 44-171-219 3635
Fax: 44-171-219 4285
Secretary: Jan Keukens,
Head of Library,
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
PO BOX 30804,
2500 GV The Hague The Netherlands
Email: jc.keukens@tk.parlement.nl
Phone: 31-70-3182306
Fax: 31-70-3182307
Information Coordinator: Nick Bannenberg,
Parliamentary Librarian,
Queensland Parliamentary
Library, Australia
Email: Nick.Bannenberg@parliament.qld.gov.au
Phone: 61-7-3406 7280
Fax: 61-7-3210 0172
Meetings
The Section conducted the following meetings during the Amsterdam Conference:
Standing Committee I (65 attendees, 38 countries) and II, (63 people, 42 countries);
Special Meeting on Research (64 attendees, 37 countries)
Open Meeting (85 attendees from 47 countries);
Informal Meeting, (84 attendees, 45 countries);
Full Day Workshop in The Hague (83 attendees from 46 countries)
It was encouraging that attendances in all but one meeting were considerably higher than the previous year, including in particular the Informal Meeting.
Projects
Four projects were in the Section agenda for 1997-98
- Parliamentary Libraries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Iberia
Project Leader: William H. Robinson.
This publication was based on papers presented at the 1994 Pre-Conference meeting in Costa Rica and subsequently updated and extended. . In the light of the age of the manuscript (in both English and Spanish) and the fact that some of the material has already been published in Spanish, it is not clear that publication is warranted. A review and decision on this will be completed by 1 September.
- Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Project Leader: William H. Robinson.
The text of this publication has been completed, and it was published by Saur at the end of 1998.
- Translations of Guidelines for Legislative Libraries
Project Leader: Jennifer Tanfield
This publication has been completed in English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic. The Russian translation has been completed by the Russian Duma and is awaiting publication.
- Parliamentary Libraries of Asia and the Pacific.
This publication edited by Rob Brian, (N.S.W., Australia) from the papers prepared for the Beijing Pre-Conference, was published by Saur in 1997. Consideration will be given in Bangkok to a revised and updated version.
- Parliamentary Libraries of Western Europe.
Project Leader: Jennifer Tanfield
Most of the parliamentary libraries to be covered by this publication have submitted drafts. The editing work will be carried out early in 2000 and a book is expected to be published in three languages in conjunction with ECPRD by the Italian Camera dei Deputati. The European Parliament has provided funds for translation
A further ongoing project adopted by the Section has been transfer of data in The World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries to an on-line database. This information, previously published in four separate volumes for National and Non-National Federated States, is now
accessible on the Web page of the German Bundestag. Nearly 100 entries have been updated but most of the information is still that collected for the 1995 print edition.
The Section has arranged for SC members to act as regional coordinators in overseeing the updating of these entries, especially for libraries without Internet access. At the Bangkok meeting a decision will be made about whether out-dated entries will be deleted. The URL for the Directory is
http://www.bundestag.de/btengerver/library/wd.htm
Publications
Towards the end of 1998 a new publication of the Section was issued in the IFLA Publications series from Saur: "Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services in Central and Eastern Europe" edited by the former chairman of the Section, William H. Robinson and Raymond Gastelum. Fifteen countries are covered in this publication and three appendices are added: Key questions or issues in developing information and research services for a parliament, by William H. Robinson; Parliamentary libraries and research services of Central and Eastern Europe, by William H. Robinson; and in the last appendix, the Draft chapter outline and questionnaire.
Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services in Central and Eastern Europe: building more effective Legislatures ed. by William H. Robinson and Raymond Gastelum.- München : Sauer, 1998 (IFLA publications; 87 ISBN 3-598-212813-3)
The Section Publishes a Circular Newsletter twice a year in May/June and November/December, edited by the Secretary. Newsletters from 1996 are available on the Section's Home Page:
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s3/sparll.htm
New Section colour brochures in four languages were updated and forwarded to IFLA HQ to provide current information about the section for the benefit of Members and IFLA attendees.
Conference Programmes
Open Meeting
As was the case last year, the papers for the Open Meeting were all published in IFLA Booklet No I and were available in English, French, German and Spanish on the Section Home Page
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s3/sparll.htm before the Conference.
- The role of committees of Members in provision of library and information
services
by Katalin Haraszti of the Library of the Hungarian Parliament.
As the author was unfortunately not able to be at the meeting, it was presented by Nick
Bannenberg, Parliamentary Librarian of the Queensland Parliament, Australia.
He provided a Powerpoint demonstration to illustrate and expand on some aspects
of the paper, an abstract of which follows.
Abstract
Almost every type of library, national, university and school, public, private or special has some form of Advisory Board or supervisory committee. This paper follows up interest at recent IFLA meetings in the role of Library Committees in relation to legislative libraries. The results of some survey work on the prevalence of Library Committees are summarised and the subject is then considered in more detail in
the context of a case study of the Library Committees of the Hungarian Parliament from 1867 until 1950
and the Advisory Board established in 1996.
- Library of Congress of Chile: A Hands-On Modernization Experience
by Marialyse Délano Serrano, Head of Department, Information Resources Production
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile.
Abstract
The Chilean Library of Congress has recently finished the first stage of a major modernization project,
Re-designing services and information products, incorporating technologies on a massive scale, upgrading collections, training people, changing the organizational structure, management techniques and physical space. As a result of this major turmoil the Library today is a successful one-stop information shop, but at the same time has to deal with resistance to change. The paper describes the Library's experience, major successes and problems encountered. It will be of particular interest to those institutions rethinking their services and business planning to adapt to changes in technology, management, human resources and user demand, as well as reflecting globalization and information as a strategic resource for development.
- Research and analytical services for National legislatures: A preliminary analysis
by William H. Robinson Senior Policy Advisor, Congressional Research Service, US
Library of Congress.
Abstract
Currently available data on legislative research and analytical services are skimpy and contradictory, largely because of incomplete definitions about what constitutes "research" in a parliamentary setting and also because of the many actors that may be engaged in the enterprise.
This paper represents a preliminary step in ascertaining more accurately the extent and location of research services operating in legislatures. It is drawn from a new survey designed to obtain broader coverage of research units that may be based outside the parliamentary library, and offers brief vignettes describing several research services to illustrate the variety of such activities and settings.
Workshop in the second chamber of the Dutch Parliament, 19th August 1998
The number of attendees recorded was 83 persons from 46 countries. Topics covered included:
- The services of the Library and the Documentation Department of the Second Chamber of the States-General, by Jan Keukens, Librarian.
- The Information Services in Practice: experiences of a party staff member.
- Press clippings; the Yellow table: Esther Meents, Chief of Press and Periodical Documentation.
- The collection and information services of the Institute of East-European Law and Russian Studies in Leiden: Dr Anne Pries.
- Presentation on the new information future in relation to the Parliament: Bert Mulder, Information Adviser and Project Co-ordinator of the Second Chamber.
- On-line demonstration of the Concord Information Management System: Nick Bannenberg, Queensland Parliamentary Library.
- Presentation on the development of Electronic Briefing Books by the Congressional Research Service: Donna Scheeder.
- Demonstration of the Section Home Page and the Bundestag World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries database: Nick Bannenberg/Marga Coing.
Informal Meeting
This has become a regular and increasingly valuable part of the Section's programme at IFLA. This year it was held on Monday 17th August, and attracted 84 people from 45 countries. Among the topics listed by participants for discussion were:
Should a parliamentary library have its own IT-staff; relations between Library and IT
The role of the Internet on collection development
Co-operation of established and evolving new parliamentary libraries by twinning
Role of Intranet in Parliaments
What service should be given to the staff of a MP in his constituency
Quality control of electronic information
The information role of the parliament to the citizens. What information is on the Intranet, what information is on the Internet.
How to deal with the administration of the Parliament. How do you convince your administration that a library is not the same as the other services of the Parliament.
How to cope with audio visual materials
Inter-Parliamentary Research Services. Creation of an inter-library network.
Languages of the web sites of Parliaments
Only a few of these could be dealt with in the limited time available, but the third topic sparked such interest that it was decided to set up an investigative committee to establish means whereby developed libraries might assist agreed partners from less developed regions of the world.
Research Meeting
With the wider role of the Section following it's decision to be more inclusive towards information professionals working for parliaments, there is now a pattern established for a two hour forum in which matters particularly affecting Research Services are discussed. These are usually attended also by librarians, helping to promote better communication and understanding among the wider group. In Amsterdam 64 participants from 37 countries attended this additional meeting on Sunday 16th August. The topics addressed were:
- "Advantages and Disadvantages of Small Parliamentary Information and Research Services: the Estonian Experience" by Aare Kasemets;
- Research and Reference Services within National Parliaments by Dick Toornstra of the European Parliament (presented by Sven Bachlund, Head of the Parliamentary Documentation Centre).
- The Beneficial Interaction of Research and Reference Activities - a discussion led by Bill Robinson and Donna Scheeder of the US Congressional Research Service.
Other events
14th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARIANS, BRUSSELS, 12-13 August 1997
The Conference, attended by 90 persons from 41 countries, was hosted by the European Parliament and the Belgian Parliament. A full day session on 12th August and a half-day session on the morning of 13th was held in the European Parliament.
The Conference in the European Parliament was opened by Dick Toornstra, Director of the Directorate General for Research. Papers and Presentations over the two days included:
- Opening address By Dick Toornstra on the European Parliament.
- A general overview of the history and organisation of the EU, by Dietmar Nickel, Director of the Directorate General for Committees and Delegations.
- An overview of the work of the interpretation unit by Lambert Mischa, Advisor in the Directorate of Interpretation.
- The complexities of translating to and from the 11 official languages , by Johan Loogman, Deputy Head of the Dutch Translation Division.
- Role and functioning of Parliamentary Committees and Inter-parliamentary Delegations of the EP, by Freddy Drexler, Directorate General for Committees and Delegations.
- European Union Documentation in the Spanish Parliament, by Rosa Maria Grau Guadix, Documentation Department of the Congress of Deputies Spain.
- The Parliamentary Documentation Centre of the European Parliament and the coming into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, by Dick Toornstra, Director of DG4.
- EUROPARL, by Jacques Raybaut, Directorate General for Translation and General Services.
- The House of Commons Enquiries Database by Richard Ware, Director of Research Services of the House of Commons Library UK.
- The European Parliament Press Service by Ton Huijssoon, Directorate General for Information and Public Relations.
- Panel Discussion on copyright and electronic databases by: Jane Wainwright, UK (Chair); Emanuella Giavarra; Rob Brian, NSW Australia; Mary Dickerson, Ottawa, Canada; Nan van Zutphen, Flemish Parliament, Belgium.
On the afternoon of 13th August, the Conference re-convened to the Belgian Federal Parliament, where they were welcomed by the Librarian, Bernard Vansteelandt.
The Session began with a presentation by M. Vansteelandt on the functions of the Federal Parliament. Other presentations provided covered:
- An on-line demonstration of the Belgian Library press cuttings service.
- A preview of the Web site of the Senate and the Chamber, as well as the planned Intranet.
This was followed by a tour of the Building and a reception hosted by the Belgian Parliament.
Author: Jennifer Tanfield,, Section Chair.
Date: 27th July 1999.
|
