35th IFLAPARL Pre-Conference, Athens, 2019

This year’s pre-conference of the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments (IFLAPARL) was hosted by the Hellenic Parliament in Athens on the 22^nd & 23^rd of August, with the theme ‘Parliamentary Libraries & Research Services: Supporting Dialogue for Change’.  It was very well attended, with 120 participants from over 50 countries and legislatures.

The first day offered delegates the opportunity to learn more about the work of colleagues in the Hellenic Parliament as well as a chance to tour the Library and Parliament Building.  We were honored to be welcomed by the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Konstantinos Tassoulas – details of his speech and photographs from the event can be found on the Hellenic Parliament website here).

Presentations included:

• The Hellenic Parliament Library: an overview in openness and dialogue / Eleni Droulia, Head of the Library
• Inter-parliamentary dialogue. Examples from the practice of the Hellenic Parliament / Eleni Kanellopoulou
• Exhibitions at the Service of Parliaments – The case of “Glossopolis” / Maria Kamilaki
• The Press Collection and its Impact for Research / Elena Antonarakou
• Parliamentary Archives: Our Political Legacy / Iouliani Theodossi (Presentation: Part 1, Part 2)
• A glance at the Samarakis Collection, on the occasion of the “2020 Samarakis Year” / Maria Vlassopoulou (Presentation: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
• On Preservation and Conservation / Maria Sakellariou (Presentation: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

In the afternoon participants learned of developments elsewhere in the IFLAPARL community through a series of Lightning Talks:

• Brazilian Chamber of Deputies: Information modelling project / André Freire da Silva, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
• The African Parliamentary Institute of Yaounde / Alim Garga, National Assembly of Cameroon
• Egyptian Parliament Library Training / Rabab Shaker, Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Towards an open digital library for the European Parliament Library / Fearghas O’Beara, European Parliamentary Research Service
• EPRS latest developments / Anthony Teasdale, European Parliamentary Research Service
• Infoscope / Krisztina Kardos, Hungarian National Assembly
• Communication with Members and the Public / Jeon, Jin Young, National Assembly Research Service, Republic of Korea 
• Large thematic areas – Spanish Senate website / Josefa Fuentes, Spanish Senate (link)
• Initiative integrated database of Thai Parliament / Naritsara Phetpanaporn, National Assembly Library of Thailand

The second day started with a series of updates from regional groups, associations and institutions including:- APLAP, APLESA, ECPRD and the Parliamentary Library of Iran, while the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) presented the new PARLINE database.  This was followed by a session launching the Parliamentary Research & Library Service Ethics Checklists, led by Iain Watt (chair of the working group for this project and incoming IFLAPARL Chair) – the presentation can be found here.  The rest of the day was spent in a series of workshops covering topics suggested by IFLAPARL members:

• Guidelines for Parliamentary Libraries – led by Lillian Gassie, Congressional Research Service, USA
• Impact of Digital Society of Parliaments – led by Sonia Bebbington, Library of Parliament, Canada
• Change Management – led by Iain Watt, UK
• Science and Innovation in Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services – led by Dr Fotis Fitsilis, Scientific Service, Hellenic Parliament

The full pre-conference programme can be found here.