The Parliamentary Library aims to provide an effective knowledge centre for the Parliament through the provision of information, analysis and advice. These services are provided through two sub programs:

• Research Services: These services include responding to requests from individual parliamentary clients for information and research, and the production of print and electronic publications.
• Library Collections and Databases: Information services are provided to the Library’s clients by acquiring and providing access to information resources, through the selection, processing and indexing of material for library and media databases in ParlInfo Search.

Staff from the Office of the Parliamentary Librarian contribute to the work of both programs.

Performance is assessed using indicators that cover quality, quantity and price. Indicators, performance results and relevant comments are shown against each of the Library programs.

The Library uses the RefTracker Information Request Management System to manage client requests and other client-related work. This records, among other things, the number of requests/publications and the time spent on them. The time attributed reflects only the direct time spent on each. However, the ability to provide effective and timely delivery of publications or commissioned services is underpinned by the time Library staff spend in building and maintaining their professional expertise across a range of frequently changing subject domains. In addition, comparisons of the number of jobs and hours across financial years should be made with regard to associated changes in staffing levels from year to year.

Progress in key projects identified in the Library’s 2016–17 Business Plan was the subject of discussion in the previous section, Achievements 2016–17. The Performance Report focuses on analysis of the Library’s achievement against service standards set out in that same document.

Research services

The services contributing to this program are as follows:

• commissioned information, research and advisory services—these are tailored and confidential responses prepared following requests from individual senators, members and their staff, and other parliamentary clients, and
• general distribution publications (Publications)—these are prepared where strong client demand is anticipated for briefing on specific policy issues. Publications include the Parliamentary Handbook, Briefing Book, Budget Review, Bills Digests, research papers, quick guides and Flagpost blog posts. Publications are available to clients and the public, through the Internet.

Table 25: Research services

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Individual client requests	Percentage of primary clients using the service Target: 100%	97.41%	100%	100%	100%
	Number of individual client requests completed Target: 13,000	12,507	12,656	13,113	11,681
Self-service requests	Number of online uses of the Parliamentary Library’s publications, including the Parliamentary Handbook, through ParlInfo and the Internet Target: 5.4m	8.04m43	9.14m	6.74m	6.4m
Publications	Number of publications produced Target: 260	350	328	267	280
Client training and seminars	Attendance at training courses and events (e.g. Vital Issues Seminars) Target: 500	641	418	729	1,101

The following table illustrates the costs associated with providing research services.

Table 26: Research services—price indicators

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Cost of research services	Average cost per individual client request	$408.74	$500.87	$527.22	$556.39
	Average direct cost per self-service client request (staff time only)	$0.14	$0.11	$0.11	$0.16

Client requests

During 2016–17, 100 per cent of the Library’s primary clients (senators’ and members’ offices, including ministers’ offices) used the client request service at least once.

The Library answered 11,681 individual client requests in 2016–17, below its target of 13,000.

However, analysis of this and associated data present a more complex picture.

The number of client requests is a demand driven indicator, representing a best estimate of how many requests the Library expects to complete annually. However, the number of requests received typically decreases in election years, noting that the 45th Parliament met for the first time on 30 August 2017. Another element in assessing performance relates to hours spent on client requests. In 2016–17, hours spent responding to senators’ and members’ enquiries increased by nearly 13 per cent compared to 2015–16 (42,178 compared to 37,343), the highest level over a four year period. In contrast, hours spent on client services to parliamentary committees, parliamentary departments and reciprocal arrangements decreased by 14 per cent.

Also significant is the trend, noted in the preceding section of the report, to fewer but increasingly complex client requests. As illustrated in the graph below, Library data show an overall decline in the number of completed client requests of 44 per cent per FTE between the financial years 2000–01 and 2016–17. However, while year-to-year outcomes vary, over the same period there has been an overall increase in the average amount of time spent on individual requests. The average amount of time per FTE spent on requests in 2016–17 was 3.8 hours, almost two and half times the 2000–01 figure.

Figure 11: Client requests—relative indicators

Further, complex, multi-part requests are generally recorded as a single client job although they may require significant and discrete input from researchers in different sections. For example, one client inquiry question relating to drug and prison reform had 10 components and required substantive contributions from six researchers to complete. If such ‘sub-components’ are included in the count of jobs, the number of completed jobs rises to 13,597. This issue will be examined in an upcoming review and benchmarking of the Library’s KPIs ahead of the 2018–19 Resource Agreement.

The Library will continue to monitor usage closely and consult with clients to ensure services are appropriately targeted.

Publications

In meeting the need to provide high quality information, analysis and advice to senators and members, the Library produces information and advice for individual clients on an ‘in confidence’ basis. It also produces publications for broader distribution in areas where there is strong client interest and demand, or where such demand is anticipated.

In 2016–17, the Library issued 280 new or revised research publications. This included 64 Flagpost blog posts and 65 research papers. Hours spent on publications increased by some 34 per cent to 19,583 hours.

Of all Library publications, the most heavily used by clients, and most keenly awaited, remain Bills Digests. These provide an independent perspective on, and analysis of, legislation before the Parliament. Every effort is made to produce a digest for every Bill where it is considered a digest would add value by providing:

• independent analysis, background information and additional perspectives not provided in the explanatory material associated with the Bill, and
• information that is important for parliamentarians to be able to contribute effectively to debate.

Bills Digests are primarily written for Government Bills but may also be written for private senators’ and members’ Bills where there is a reasonable prospect of the Bill being debated.

A digest may not be produced where the Bill is non-controversial or not complex and where the explanatory memorandum and second reading speech give a comprehensive explanation of the Bill and any underlying policy issues.

Where there is a suite of Bills introduced into the Parliament, generally only one Bills Digest will be produced for the main Bill (where appropriate this Bills Digest will address relevant provisions of the companion Bills).

A limiting factor of the production of digests can be internal resource constraints.

At times, a Bills Digest cannot be produced in time for debate in the second chamber. This may be due to the amount of time allowed between introduction and debate, a change in the legislative program, or resources available to address the number and complexity of Bills in the legislative program. Where it is not possible to produce digests in time for debates, every effort is made to support clients by providing draft digests or other briefing material.

The Library published 121 Bills Digests in 2016–17 as compared to 117 in 2015–16. No digests were produced on private senators’ or members’ Bills.

2016–17 saw a significant reduction in the number of Bills Digests which were not produced in time for debate in the first chamber (30 compared to 43 in 2015–16). However, digests were not produced for 26 Government Bills, up from 12 in the previous financial year. Of these:

• one of these was a ‘formal’ or ‘privilege Bill’ introduced by the Prime Minister at the opening of the 45th session of Parliament
• seven passed both Houses in one week or less, and another within nine days
• eight were the subject of Flagposts, and
• one was discharged from the Notice Paper (the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill 2016).

In the context of prioritising research work, Bills Digests and client requests receive the highest priority, with other publications worked on as time permits.

Figure 12: Distribution of client service hours by service type

Client training and seminars

The Parliamentary Librarian participated in induction sessions organised by the chamber departments for all new senators and members following the 2016 election. Library staff also served as contact officers for all new senators and members, including those appointed to casual vacancies and those appointed following a recount of ballots in Western Australia and South Australia.

During the year, Library induction and orientation services were held for 307 clients (up from 94 in 2015–16). These continued to be successful in providing, through individual and small group sessions, a timely and detailed introduction to Library services.

We also offered drop-in and other training sessions throughout the year to provide information on specific services such as news services and our mapping and statistics products—122 clients took advantage of these sessions.

The Client Relations Director also began visits to selected capital cities to offer orientations/training particularly to electorate staff who may not have the opportunity to travel to Canberra. Library staff who were attending meetings or conferences interstate also took the opportunity to visit offices in the area. In 2016–17, visits were made to electorate offices in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, with 37 visits undertaken by 30 June.

Since 1986, the Library has been running a program of lectures and seminars that bring notable speakers to the Parliament to give senators and members and their staff the opportunity to hear, first hand, expert opinion on a range of currently relevant topics.

In addition to the Budget seminars, the Library hosted the following lectures and seminars for clients:

• Disconnects between opinion polling of national votes and the results–implications for polling, Emeritus Professor Murray Goot (Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University), Professor Simon Jackman (CEO, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney) and Mr Martin O’Shannessy (Partner, OmniPoll and formerly of Newspoll)
• 2017 Parliamentary Library National Reconciliation Week Lecture: Obstacles to a truly reconciled Australia, Louise Taylor; Counting contributions, not just bums on seats: Can Indigenous public sector employment be a respectful relationship?, Dr Elizabeth Ganter
• World Energy Outlook 2016—Renewables, Ian Cronshaw (International Energy Agency)
• Russia’s activities and strategies in the Asia-Pacific, and the implications for Australia, Stephen Fortescue (School of Social Sciences and International Studies UNSW and Visiting Fellow, ANU Centre for European Studies)
• Unconventional gas—costs and benefits, Ian Cronshaw (International Energy Agency)
• Alfred Deakin and his ‘Times that try men’s souls’, Dr David Headon (Parliamentary Library Associate)
• Changing attitudes to mental illness in the Australian Defence Force: A long way to go, Dr Edward Scarr (2015 Australian Parliamentary Library Fellow)
• What is happening in the US election, why, and how it matters for Australia, Professor Simon Jackman (CEO, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney)
• Private sector whistleblowing: options & issues for law reform in Australia, Professor A J Brown (Centre for Governance & Public Policy, Griffith University)

Most lectures are available for download from the APH website.

Parliamentary Library Lectures attracted 582 attendees in 2016–17 (a slight increase from the 553 recorded in 2015–16).

Client satisfaction with requests and publications

Table 27: Research services—key performance indicators

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Client satisfaction with requests and publications	High level of customer satisfaction Target: 95%	93%44	93%45	93%46	93%47
	Client service delivered to timeliness service standard Target: 90%	90%	89.76%	90.4%	97.9%
	Number of complaints from clients remains low	0	2	2	1

The 2015 client service evaluation found the general response to the Library was very positive. Satisfaction among senators, members, and their staff is high at 93 per cent (though slightly below the target of 95 per cent), with 97 per cent of senators and members indicating they would recommend the Library’s services to a colleague (both figures are consistent with results in the 2012 survey). Most respondents considered Library staff to be hard working, professional and friendly, and services to be of a high quality.

The Parliamentary Library is committed to the ongoing improvement of its service delivery. While the formal client evaluation of Library services is conducted only once each Parliament, the Library regularly receives direct and unsolicited feedback from clients by phone or email about aspects of its service.

The Library also proactively seeks to meet with as many clients as possible each year, including staff in electorate offices, to help broaden client awareness of the range of service offerings, and also to elicit forthright feedback. (Where appropriate, these meetings are followed up with targeted training or other client support initiatives.) All such feedback from clients is highly valued, be it compliments, brickbats or complaints, suggestions or information requests about services. All are vital to enable the Library to:

• improve our services and products
• help prevent problems from occurring in the future
• ensure more consistent service delivery, and
• communicate more effectively with clients about Library services.

In 2016–17, the Library also continued its program of consultation and outreach to parliamentary committees. However, the number of client jobs in 2016–17 fell to 182 from 255 in the previous financial year, reflecting the impact of the double dissolution.

Research Branch received one complaint in 2016–17 relating to a client’s dissatisfaction with the handling of a research request. The Librarian also wrote to a client to apologise for an error in a 2015 advice which only came to light in June 2017.

The client evaluation of Library Services for the 45th Parliament will commence in July 2017.

Library collections and databases

The services contributing to this program include:

• the Library collection—development of the collection to meet users’ needs and provision of access through the catalogue and ParlInfo Search
• online full-text content such as news clippings
• media services—desktop access to television and radio news and current affairs programs broadcast in Canberra, provided to senators and members for their parliamentary duties
• commercial databases—including online full-text journal and newspaper services available through the Library Client Services’ portal and the Senators’ and Members’ Services Portal, and
• client services including the Central Enquiry Point and self-help services.

As far as possible, usage rates of all of these services are monitored to ensure that they remain relevant and are of practical assistance to senators, members, and their staff.

To help clients use these services effectively, the Library provides orientation and training courses as well as online assistance.

Table 28: Information access services—deliverables

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Material added to Library databases	Number of items added to the Library’s Electronic Media Monitoring Service and to ParlInfo databases Target: 150,000	158,556	172,766	177,644	168,788
Material added to Library collection	Number of new titles (books and serials) added to the Library’s catalogue Target: 5,000	3,915	6,530	7318	6,575
	Percentage of titles (books and serials) in Library’s collection available to clients online in full-text Target: 42%	36%	38.2%	41.2%	42.2%
Use of the Library collection and databases	Use of the collections and databases, including loans from the collection, radio and television programs from the Electronic Media Monitoring Service, and from ParlInfo databases Target: 4 million searches	4.66m	4.55m	4.44m	3.81m

Table 29: Information access services—price indicators

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Cost of information services	Average cost per item added to the Library’s collection	$264.30	$162.85	$155.81	$152.91
	Average cost per item added to the Library’s databases	$18.81	$14.79	$17.47	$17.85
	Average cost per use of the Library’s databases and collection	$1.37	$1.42	$1.57	$1.85

Material added to library databases

The target for the number of items added to the Library’s Electronic Media Monitoring Service and to Library databases in ParlInfo Search decreased to 150,000 in 2013–14 from 190,000 the previous financial year due to tightening of the selection guidelines. This target was exceeded with 168,788 items added.

Figure 13: Newspaper clips added to ParlInfo by type 2016–17

In 2016–17, the Library selected and indexed around 14,074 newspaper clippings a month. This accounted for 95 per cent of the content that was indexed by the Library’s indexing team.

Since the introduction of the automated Library Authoring System and Thesaurus (LAST) in 2010, the Library has been able to publish the latest newspaper clippings in Parlinfo Search, as well as produce the senators’ and members’ news clips of the day by 7:30 am. Data show that the introduction of LAST significantly improved the Library’s productivity in the selection and indexing of newspaper clippings. Compared to 2009–10, in 2016–17 the Library reduced the amount of time spent on selection of newspaper clippings by 42 per cent and indexing by 21 per cent, down from the 2015–16 outcomes of 44 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. We have also seen an increase in the selection and indexing rates, with the former increasing by 48 per cent since 2009–10 (compared to 63 per cent in 2015–16), the latter rate by 9 per cent (28 per cent in 2015–16), and the overall rate by 22 per cent (40 per cent in 2015–16). The relative decrease in productivity since 2015–16 has three main causes:

• staff changes and the time taken for new indexers to become proficient in the indexing and selection quality assurance processes
• a large increase in the incidence of selection and indexing of articles from online news sites (behind paywall) following new agreements being struck to enable the Library to archive this material. Unlike daily newspaper clippings, this process is not automated and is time intensive, and
• technical issues with the LAST selection and subject classifiers. The Library is working with the vendor, Leidos, to address these.

Material added to the library collection

The number of new titles (books and serials) added to the Library’s catalogue again significantly exceeded the 5,000 target at 6,575.

The percentage of titles available online (full-text) increased from 41.2 per cent to 42.2 per cent, slightly exceeding the annual target of 40 per cent.

Use of the Library’s collection and databases

The target figure of four million uses of the Library’s collection and databases was not met, with 3.81 million uses being reported, lower than the 2015–16 figure of 4.44 million uses. As Table 30 (below) shows, figures have been trending down since a highpoint in 2013–14, and the resultant increase in the KPI from 3.8 to 4 million in 2014–15 (in response to the increase in the number of searches between 2012–13 and 2013–14).

Table 30: Searches of Library databases by year

Year	Number of searches (millions)	Target (millions)
2005–06	2.17	2.1
2006–07	2.28	2.1
2007–08	2.55	2.1
2008–09	3.75	2.5
2009–10	4.44	3.8
2010–11	3.17	3.8
2011–12	3.48	3.8
2012–13	3.39	3.8
2013–14	4.66	3.8
2014–15	4.55	4
2015–16	4.44	4
2016–17	3.81	4

The newspaper clippings database remains one of the most frequently selected databases. In 2016–17, it was selected 519,394 times (up from 241,810 in 2015–16). However, closer analysis of the data reveals a significant spike in the number of external hits to the website in the reporting period (328,256 compared to previous years’ figures (ranging from 37,000 to 67,000)), suggesting the impact of a web crawler of some sort. Internal use (that is, via the PCN) of the database fell slightly from 204,358 (2015–16) to 191,138, as the table below shows.

Table 31: Hits to the newspaper clippings database

	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Internal	295,511	236,304	256,698	219,763	204,358	191,138
External	51,328	44,861	57,950	67,007	37,452	328,256
Total	346,839	281,165	314,648	286,770	241,810	519,394

The year-to-year variation in use of the Library’s databases may reflect in part the impact of the electoral cycle and sitting patterns. However, the trend downwards from 2013–14 is likely also to reflect the Library’s investment in improving access to its news services and clients’ increasing use of the iSentia Mediaportal. As noted previously, as at 30 June 2017, 96 per cent of clients’ offices have a logon to this service and have set up alerts to push news stories directly to their inbox. Previously, Library clients needed to rely primarily on ParlInfo Search to access the daily clips. This change has a flow on effect to the recorded KPI for use of Library collections.

Fewer clients are accessing news clips via ParlInfo Search because the Mediaportal provides more mobile and convenient access. While use of the Library’s database has reduced, access to the service has improved.

The Library will monitor usage closely over the coming year, including in the context of the collections review and the review of Library KPIs.

Figure 14: Use of the print collection

Use of the print collection remained high with a total of 10,623 loans during 2016–17 (compared to 10,654 in 2015–16), maintaining the increase seen in recent years. The 2015 client evaluation of Library services found that use of the Library’s print collection had increased significantly. Both point to the strengthening of the collection development policy and the expertise of the Library Acquisitions team in selecting items to add to the collection.

Though still quite low when compared to usage of the print collection, ebook usage increased during 2016–17, with 478 loans being processed (compared to 212 the previous financial year). This increase may be attributable to the Library’s updating of all the ebook holdings accessible via the A-Z platform, resulting in a simplified discovery system for these titles. To further improve access, the Library recently piloted the EZproxy system which will provide a more seamless (single sign-on) access to our subscribed ebook collections. EZProxy is scheduled to be introduced to Library clients early 2017–18.

Table 32: As measured in Leapfrog Research Evaluation of Parliamentary Library Services, 2012

Deliverable	Measure	Performance
		2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17
Client satisfaction with collections and database services	High level of customer satisfaction Target: 95%	93%48	93%49	93%50	93%51
	Number of urgent new titles (books and serials) added to the Library’s catalogue within timeliness service standard Target: 100%	96%	100%	100%	100%
	Senators’ and members’ offices using the iSentia Mediaportal (new KPI 2014–15) Target: 80%	-	79.6%	89%	96%
	Senators’ and members’ offices using social media monitoring service (new KPI 2016–17) Target: 20%	-	-	-	56%
	New items added to the Library’s Electronic Media Monitoring Service and the ParlInfo newspaper clippings database within timeliness service standard Target: 95%	94%	96%	94.7%	94.4%
	Number of complaints from clients remains low	4	1	0	1

Client satisfaction with Library Collection and Databases

See the discussion on client satisfaction indicators.

Cataloguing

The key performance indicator for ‘urgent new titles (books and serials) added to the Library’s catalogue within timeliness service standard’ measures timeliness in relation to cataloguing direct client requests (with a turnaround deadline of 24 hours). These items are classed as urgent and are catalogued as a priority by Collection Management staff. This change was made in recognition of the impact of budget driven reductions in staff numbers in the cataloguing team at the end of 2012–13 and the emphasis of treating client driven requests as a priority.

The cataloguing team met both its timeliness target for direct client requests and, as noted above, significantly exceeded the target (5,000) for the number of new titles (books and serials) added to the Library’s catalogue by processing 6,575 titles. Despite the greatly increased number of titles processed, the team also significantly exceeded its target of 85 per cent for adding routine items (those selected by Acquisitions staff) to the catalogue within the two week service standard, with 100 per cent of material being added within this time-frame.

News services

The Library’s suite of news services now includes:

• senators’ news clips of the day, and the equivalent members’ news clips of the day
• Electronic Media Monitoring Service (EMMS)
• newspaper clippings in ParlInfo Search
• newspaper clippings from national, metropolitan and regional newspapers through the iSentia Mediaportal
• regional radio and television news broadcasting through the iSentia Mediaportal
• breaking news service
• social media monitoring service, and
• digital access to The Age, The Australian, Australian Financial Review, Business Spectator, Canberra IQ, Crikey, The Sydney Morning Herald and The New York Times.

The Library also subscribes to news service databases providing current and archival full text searchable articles from Australian and international sources, including:

• ProQuest Australia and New Zealand Newsstream, and
• Library Press Display (Press Reader).

The Library has had a strong focus on broadening the scope of news services for the Parliament and making them more convenient to access.

The costs for online news services for the Parliament are funded as business as usual through the Parliamentary Library operating expenses, Information Resources budget. In 2016–17, the Library spent $0.626 million on all its news services. This includes online news services, news databases and hardcopy newspapers located in the Newspaper Reading Room.

EMMS

The Parliamentary Library has been monitoring radio and television news and current affairs programs for over 25 years through EMMS. Until 2014, EMMS was only able to record stations that broadcast into Canberra (including syndicated programs). For other metropolitan and regional broadcasts, the Library relied on reciprocal arrangements with state parliamentary libraries.

Over the past few years, the Library has been able to improve significantly EMMS’ coverage through the use of new technology and enhanced service offerings from external vendors. Through the VAST (Viewer Access Satellite Television) service, EMMS now also covers the main ABC FM radio stations in state and territory capital cities. For coverage of radio broadcasts outside the capital cities, in 2015 the Library negotiated an agreement with the Fairfax Radio Monitoring service (now Macquarie Media Syndication), and can monitor and archive radio programs across 56 commercial radio stations in the mainland capital cities and regional centres in New South Wales and Victoria. These in-house services are complemented by the iSentia Mediaportal which, inter alia, provides access to regional radio and television news broadcasts. Access to such regional media was particularly important and addressed a long-standing gap in the Library’s services.

In February 2017 the Library added Foxtel Multiview to its programming. This allows EMMS to capture all doorstop interviews and other significant events, such as Press Club addresses, which are recorded by Sky APAC. In the same month, the Library also adjusted its policy so that programs that were previously retained for four weeks are now retained for three months.

iSentia Mediaportal

Senators and members are able to access a wide variety of metropolitan and regional press and broadcast news media through the iSentia Mediaportal, including news from over 300 regional radio and television stations. Clients are able to set up alerts to push news stories directly to their inbox and to have easy access to the news services even when they are not on the PCN.

Use of this service has grown significantly since it was introduced in 2013–14. As of 30 June 2017, 96 per cent of clients have a logon to this service, well above the target of 80 per cent. These users have created over 13,991 alerts.

A new social media monitoring service

Buzznumbers was rolled out on 6 July 2016. The service provides access to social media commentary from assorted blogs, Twitter and Facebook, and can be accessed via the iSentia Mediaportal or by requesting a direct login. Users can set up campaigns in the product to monitor particular areas of interest and receive alerts.

During the year 56 per cent of senators and members offices registered to use the service. A social media monitoring stream from Buzznumbers was also developed with the assistance of the DPS Mobile and Web Applications team and made available via the Library Portal and via the web@work app.

Performance

The news services’ KPI in Table 32 above combines the performance outcomes of the daily press clips service and Electronic Media Monitoring Service against their individual performance benchmarks or standards. The Library achieved an outcome of 94.4 per cent against this KPI, with a target of 95 per cent.

The service standard for the delivery of news clips is that clippings are available in ParlInfo Search (and therefore also published as senators’ and members’ news clips of the day) by 7.30am every day. The EMMS performance benchmark is that content is added to its database within six minutes of the live broadcast.

Complaints

The Library Collections and Databases Branch received one complaint in 2016–17 relating to a perceived bias in its provision of news services. The Library has since changed the relevant page on its client services portal to make it easier to access the full range of its media monitoring services.