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WELCOME TO PARLANET

Dear Friends and Colleagues from Information, documentation, library and Research services for parliaments,

 These are weblog pages designed as working tools to exchange information, ideas, experiences, share concerns and developments in our working areas, as they happen in our environment.

These pages were designed and are technologically supported with the generous contribution of the ECPRD. The relevance of this site depends on us, and our contributions, as these pages belong to all of us.

As all of us know, the permanent update of the information is of utmost importance for web information.

Editorial policy

1.During the first year of operations, Marialyse Délano from the Chilean Library of Congress will act as editor of the pages.

2. The initial procedure is to send Marialyse Délano your postings, and they will be published during the next 72 hours after receiving your input.

3.After three months of test run, everyone will have access to publish directly on the pages.

4.Some of the contents of interest, to share, are:

a)Developments in services, products, technologies, training, research, preservation, processing, electronic resources, staff development, and many others.

b)Professional meetings, participation, coming events.

c)Copyright issues, policies

d)Concerns, future outlook,

e)Any other issue of interest.

5.All submissions must have an illustrative title and must include the name and organization of the author. Some restraint in length is recommended, so as not to exceed two A.4 pages or equivalent.

6.Submissions in Word or compatible word processing software.

7.The submissions must be in English and if possible in another language, as deemed useful.

8.The editor will not make any amendments to the original document. If required, minor adjustments may be suggested to the author before publishing.

The Senate and the House have been actively implementing openness to Committee meetings, publishing information on their webs, promoting transparency and adding public value in the process.

Together with these concerns, the Library is also working on establishing standards for document management, (records and archives), and networking with State organizations and NGOs.  It is a learning experience, as to the “what” and the “how” to implement this mandate.  The spirit behind is to make all information public, with as few restrictions as possible.

I  was invited by the State Department to a round of professional visits in Washington, to see how access to public information was implemented in diverse institutions. Our concerns were: what is the information for public access? What is offered in a proactive way and what is only on demand? Paper, on line? How were the services designed? Who offers? Who owns the information? How does the FOIA (freedom of information act) touch upon the legislative information and the library services?  Records and archives, including retention schedules? The questions grew and built upon each other, including issues such as preservation, the concern about electronic or digital documents, document management, processing, metadata, and life cycle issues.

Some of the visits included: National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped; Library of Congress, Law Library of Congress, CRS, Office of Information of the Department of Justice, National Security Archives, (an NGO), Legislative Archives within the National Archives and Record Administration; General Accountability Office, and the Department of State.

The visit was extremely productive and an important experience to consider possible approaches for our Library and  on  other shared concerns by all, such as preservation issues.