The value of dedicated Parliamentary Library and Research services

1
The value of dedicated Parliamentary Library and
Research services

• Jan Keukens
• Deputy Head Information Services
• House of Representatives of
• the States General
• The Hague - The Netherlands

2
Old and new reading room
3
Potential benefits and outcomes

• Basic principles and values
• Parliamentary services are dedicated to
  parliament, its needs and tempo
• Working for parliament not for the government
• Impartial
• Synthesis from different sources
• Covering the full range of public policy
• Confidential to parliamentarians where necessary
• Collective memory

4
Services that can be provided

• Traditional library services
• Information services
• Research services
• Parliamentary Information Systems infrastructure
• Internet and Intranet services
• Services for the public, schools, press
• Other services ?

5
Strategic priorities challenges and risks

• Among many things I have selected
• 4 issues

6

Globalization and complexity of legislation in a
speedy society, long term policy and many
incidents (1)

• Support to handle complexity of legislation. Need
  for balanced and in depth research and expert
  policy advise, knowledge of comparative studies
  and legislation
• Increase of emergency debates and incidents
• Quality is very important but also speed is
  highly appreciated
• Chall Flexibility to offer both types of
  services
• Risk Doing both things not sufficiently

compl
7

More players, strong interest groups and more
diverse sources of information (2)

• Increased role of
• - interest groups
• - internet sources (including blogs, polls
  etc)
• Chall Selection and indexing of new information
  /
• spidering / being up to date /
  networking
• Risk Dependency on partial interest groups /
  Missing
• of unstructured information or discovering
  information too late

8
Information overload (3)

• More traditional sources and new sources on the
  internet. Leads to more pressure on
  Parliament and on MPs to respond to news items
  
• Chall Guidance by providing adequate selections/
• integrated mix (Mash Up) / info
  available on
• desktops, PDAs, smart phones /
  providing tools
• for self service / training of
  clientele
• Risk unauthorized information / creating new
• information (over)load

9
MPs have a stronger individual profile (4)

• Leads to more individual requests and needs for
• more pro active and tailored information
• Chall Providing of pro active services / tailor
  made
• services
• Risk Pressure and emphasis on individual
  requests, less time for in depth
  research

10
Required changes in culture and competencies to
provide better value for clients

• A sheep with five 5 legs with communication
  skills, an extravert and flexible attitude and
  cooperative approach. This sheep is also a
  networker with knowledge of ICT and new
  technology
• Awareness that the library will be more and more
  facilitator of the information process and not
  the one and only focus point of information
• Library must be the Centre for the Parliamentary
  information infrastructure metadata, search
  engine, user friendly interfaces, training of
  (non) professional users and the supply of
  paid-for databases