The IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments held its 32nd pre-conference in Washington, D.C, 10-12 August 2016, hosted by the U.S. Library of Congress. 143 participants attended the pre-conference. The event was preceded by an invitation-only capacity building programme, 8-9 August, sponsored by the US House Democracy Partnership and the US Agency for International Development. The programme of the pre-conference is listed below, with links to papers and presentations where available. 

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

  • Welcome Address,  David S. Mao, Acting Librarian of Congress   
  • Welcome Remarks,  Donna Scheeder, President of IFLA   
  • Opening Keynote, Cokie Roberts, journalist and author    
  • The United States Congress in a Separated Powers System, Valerie Heitshusen and Christopher Davis, Legislative and Budget Process Section, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress [Heitshusen_Davies_Presentation]
  • Services to Congress: An Informed National Legislature (panel discussion). Mary Mazanec, Director of CRS; Mark Sweeney, Associate Librarian for Library Services; Roberta Shaffer, Law Librarian of Congress; Maria Strong, Deputy Director of Policy, U.S. Copyright Office; Jane McAuliffe, Director, National and International Outreach, Library of Congress.  Moderator: Robert Newlen, Chief of Staff, Library of Congress.    
  • Congress.gov – Access to U.S. Legislative Information, Cliff Cohen, Associate Director, Congressional Information and Publishing, CRS, Library of Congress [Cohen_Presentation]
  • Tour of the US Capitol
  • The Role of the House and Senate Libraries, Rae Best, House Librarian; Leona Faust, Senate Librarian [Best_Presentation; Faust_Presentation]   
  • Working on Capitol Hill: Why Getting It Right Matters (panel discussion), Khalil Abboud, Deputy Counsel for the Minority, and Bob Sensenbrenner, General Counsel for the Majority, Committee on House Administration; Evelyn Fortier, Counsel for the Majority, Senate Committee on the Judiciary; Ben Marter, Communications Director for Senator Dick Durbin. Moderator: Colleen Shogan, Library of Congress
  • Keynote Address, Dan Lungren, former U.S. Representative for California’s 3rd congressional district and former Chair of the Committee on House Administration

 

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Welcome Remarks, Lillian Gassie, Chair, IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments 

Session 1: Delivering and improving services to clients

  • Who are your users? Using personas to design innovative services.  Lynn Brodie, Library of the Parliament of Canada [Brodie_Presentation]
  • Major initiatives to improve the quality and value of research services: current topics and challenges at the National Diet Library.  Hiroyuki Okuyama, National Diet Library, Japan [Okuyama_Presentation, Okuyama_Paper]
  • Delivering parliamentary library and research services in an interconnected world: the case of EPRS.  Etienne Bassot, European Parliamentary Research Service [Bassot_Presentation]
  • Legislative impact assessment at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.  Kyubeom Cho, National Assembly Research Service, Republic of Korea [Cho_Presentation]
  • From business intelligence to political intelligence: bringing political information together, Jérémie Leuthold, Swiss Federal Assembly [Leuthold_Presentation]    

Session 2: Developing and improving tools and processes. Moderator: Sonia L’Heureux, Parliamentary Librarian, Parliament of Canada,

  • Designing a knowledge management platform for the Council of the EU and its member states.  Roland Genson, Directorate-General Communication and Document Management, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union [Genson_Presentation]
  • The “asean-law.senate.go.th” website.  Sangduen Pongput, Library and Museum Group, Bureau of Parliamentary Studies, The Secretariat of the Senate of Thailand [Pongput_Presentation]
  • The Pupitre system: a desk news system for the parliamentary meeting rooms, Luis Armando González, Library of Congress, Chile [Gonzalez_Presentation, Gonzalez_Paper]
  • Improving transparency, data management and information access in the Spanish Parliament.  Josefa Fuentes and Marina Cueto, Archives and Library of the Secretariat of the Spanish Senate [Fuentes_Presentation; Cueto_Presentation]

News/Updates. Moderator: Mireille Eza, Director, Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie

  • IFLAPARL activities, Lillian Gassie
  • Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) activities, Andy Richardson, IPU
  • Parliamentary Research Handbook project, Penny Young, House of Commons & Dina Melham, Westminster Foundation for Democracy
  • NORIA, Mireille Eza, Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie

Session 3 – How to design products and services that meet clients’ needs. Moderator: Ida Kelemen, Head of Information Services for MPs, Hungarian National Assembly

  • Overview and comparison of two methodologies that can be used to develop new products and services.  Adolfo Furtado, Information and Documentation Center, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil [Furtado_Presentation]
  •  Break out group discussions      

PARL Talk: Updates from Regional Networks. Moderator: Ellie Valentine, United States

  • APLN – Arab Federation for Libraries and Information, Sladjana Bijelic, Arab Institute for Parliamentary Training and Legislative Studies, SUNY
  • APLA – Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia, Barbara McPhee, New Zealand Parliamentary Library
  • APLAP – Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific, Dianne Heriot, Parliament of Australia
  • APLESA – Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Eastern and Southern Africa, Esther Kamau, National Assembly, Parliament of Kenya
  • ECPRD – European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation, Ida Kelemen, Hungarian National Assembly [Kelemen_Presentation]
  • RADAR (Réseau Africain de la Documentatiion et des ARchives) des parlements francophones, Alim Garga, Assemblée Nationale du Cameroun [Garga_Presentation]
  • RIPALC – Exchange Network of Parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean, Adolfo Furtado, Information and Documentation Center, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil    

Closing remarks and evaluation

Links to photos: