Parliamentary Libraries: An Uncertain Future?

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ABSTRACT

Parliamentary libraries serve parliamentary institutions on a national or local level. Usually they are founded at the same time as the parliament itself and organized according to the parliamentary model of the country in which they are located. The parliamentary library's mission is to support and facilitate parliamentary activities and make available all useful sources of information to the parliament as a whole. Thus, the parliamentary library is a specialized library from the point of view of the collections' coverage and of patrons as well. Today, parliamentary libraries are at a turning point in their history. All over the world they are radically changing their …