IFLAPARL Pre-Conference, Paris [2014]

Links to photographs:

• By Karel Sosna, Parliamentary Library, Czech Republic
• By Ross Becker:  Pre-Conference | Management Workshop

The IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments held its 30th pre-conference in Paris, 13-14 August, 2014, in cooperation with the French National Assembly.  About 150 participants registered for the pre-conference. The event was preceded by an invitation-only capacity building day on 12 August, and followed by an additional morning workshop on 15 August. The programme of the pre-conference is listed below, with links to papers and presentations where available.  Presentation files/papers are available only for the second day of the conference and for one session of the workshop on 15 August.

For the Section’s papers and presentations at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Lyon, please click here.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

• Opening session by Michel Moreau, General Director of the Legislative Departments, representative of Corinne Luquiens, Secretary General of the French National Assembly.
• Introduction to the Conference by Raissa Teodori, Chair of the IFLA section on Library and Research Services for Parliament.
• General Presentation of the French Legislative Procedure (Michel Moreau, General Director of the Legislative Departments).
• The Monitoring and Assessment of the Government’s activity, Studies and Research in the Standing Committees (Philippe Jabaud, Director of the Economic and Scientific Assessment Department of the National Assembly)
• Presentation of the Library and Archives Department of the National Assembly and of its collections (Patrick Montambault, Director of the Library and Archives Department of the National Assembly).
• Presentation of the Library and Archives Department of the Senate (Claire-Emmanuelle Longuet, Director of the Library and Archives Department of the Senate).
• The valorization of the rare books collections of the Library of the National Assembly (Karina Perez Arroyo, Head of the Library Unit of the National Assembly).
• The Libraries of the National Assembly and of the Senate and their partners: an opening to the outside (Claire-Emmanuelle Longuet, Director of the Library and Archives Department of the Senate; Patrick Montambault, Director of the Library and Archives Department of the National Assembly)
• Presentation of the Archives Unit of the National Assembly and of the Senate (Florence Roussel, Head of the Archives Unit of the Senate; Bertrand Marcincal, Head of the Archives Unit of the National Assembly). Presentation | Paper
• Closure of the first day by Donna Scheeder,  IFLA President-elect

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Session 1: Serving MPs in evolving institutional and organizational contexts

• Anthony Teasdale (Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Service of the European Parliament): Creating the new European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). Paper
• Bonnie Mathooko (Parliamentary Research Services, Kenya): Adapting Research and Library Services in Parliament to the changed constitutional framework in Kenya. Presentation | Paper
• Ida Kelemen (Information Service for MPs, National Assembly, Hungary): Changes in organization, continuity in cooperation: Library and Research Service at Hungarian National Assembly. Presentation | Paper
• Alim Garga (Library of the National Assembly, Cameroon): Innovation in the parliamentary Information system in Cameroon. Presentation

Session 2: Collaborating with external partners to improve information and research products

• Junko Hirose (National Diet Library, Japan): Enhancing our role as the “Brains of the Legislature”: Comprehensive and interdisciplinary research at the National Diet Library, Japan: Presentation | Paper.

Session 3: Guidelines for the development of parliamentary research services

• Sonia L’Heureux (Library of Parliament, Canada and IFLA Section in Library and Research Services for Parliaments): Overview of project sponsored by the IFLA Section on Libraries and Research Services for Parliaments. Presentation

Session 4: Service evaluation, strategic planning and synergies to face new challenges

• Dianne Heriot (Parliamentary Library, Australia): Integrated Library and research services in the Australian Parliament. Paper
• Alfonso Perez (library of the National Congress, Chile): Winds of Change (presented by Eduardo Goldstein, library of the National Congress, Chile).  Presentation
• Maria Fitzsimons (presenting on behalf of Madelaine Dennison, Head of Library and Research Services, House of Oireachtas, Ireland): Achieving and learning against a backdrop of ecnonomic boom to bust: the Oireachtas Library & Research Service 2005 – 2014. Presentation | Paper
• Sungjin Park (National Assembly Library, Republic of Korea): A comparison between Parliamentary Information Service (PIS) and Research Analysis Service (RAS) of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. Presentation | Paper
• Woomin Shim (National Assembly research service, Republic of Korea): The Relationship between Legislative Research Service and Library Service : The Case of the Republic of Korea:  Presentation | Paper

Session 5 – PARL Talks

PARL Talk is an open session for pre-conference participants to share information and ideas related to parliamentary libraries and research services. Ten participants from the following countries/organisation signed up for a 5-minute talk about their parliamentary library or service, a new programme or to pose a question to the audience: Burkina Faso, Cambodia, India, Kenya, Mali, Myanmar, Switzerland, Togo, Yemen, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This session provided an opportunity for participants to learn about parliamentary libraries and research services in other countries.

The day closed with news from the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments, by Raissa Teodori (Chair), Lillian Gassie (Secretary). Albert Ntunja also gave a preview of the planning for the 2015 pre-conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Workshop on Managing and Evaluating Services, 9.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.

The workshop posed two topics for discussion, each led by a topic leader. Over 60 participants then formed small groups to discuss sub-topics; participants were encouraged to switch groups frequently so that different viewpoints can be heard. There was lively discussion and exchange of information among the small groups.

Topic 1, led by Dianne Heriot, discussed “understanding client requirements and managing client expectations”. Discussions centered on the following questions:

• How do we find out what our clients want and need from us?
• What are the services that our clients value most?
•  How do we engage with clients and manage their expectations?
•  How do we set priorities when there are insufficient resources to provide all the services clients want?

Topic 2, led by Jane Dysart, discussed “evaluating library and research services”.  Discussions centered on the following questions:

• How do we evaluate our services (the processes or strategies used)?
• What criteria do we use as measures of success?
• What information should we be collecting to measure performance and how do we capture it?
• How do we demonstrate our value or a return on investment to our clients?