Introduction
The Australian Parliamentary
Library's services are established under the statutory office of
the Parliamentary Librarian with the following functions:
- to provide high quality information, analysis
and advice to Senators and Members of the House of Representatives
in support of their parliamentary and representational roles;
and
- to undertake such other responsibilities
within the joint Department, consistent with the function set out
in paragraph (a), as are conferred in writing on the Parliamentary
Librarian by the Secretary of the joint Department with the
approval of the Presiding Officers.
The Library's primary clients
include Senators and Members and their staff, committee staff and
the GovernorGeneral. These clients are entitled to use the full
range of the Library's services. Service entitlements for all
clients are outlined in the Parliamentary Library Statement of
Client Services.
The Parliamentary Library is
composed of the Parliamentary Librarian and the employees of the
Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) assisting the
Parliamentary Librarian.
The Parliamentary Library Executive
comprises Ms Roxanne Missingham, Parliamentary Librarian, Dr Jane
Romeyn, Assistant Secretary, Research Branch (RB) and Ms Nola
Adcock, Assistant Secretary, Information Access Branch (IAB).
Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library
An important governance arrangement
for the Parliamentary Library is the Joint Standing Committee on
the Parliamentary Library (the Library Committee).
The Library Committee membership at
30 June 2009 was:
- The Hon Dick Adams MP (Joint Chair)
- Senator Russell Trood (Joint Chair)
- Senator Guy Barnett
- Senator Catryna Bilyk
- Senator Doug Cameron
- Senator Steve Fielding
- Senator Steve Hutchins
- Mr Russell Broadbent, MP
- The Hon Mark Butler, MP
- Ms Sharryn Jackson, MP
- The Hon David Hawker, MP
- Mrs Sophie Mirabella, MP
- Mr Graham Perrett, MP
The terms of reference of the
committee are to:
- consider and report to the President of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on any
matters relating to the Parliamentary Library referred to it by the
President or the Speaker;
- provide advice to the President and the
Speaker on matters relating to the Parliamentary Library;
- provide advice to the President and the
Speaker on an annual resource agreement between the Parliamentary
Librarian and the Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary
Services; and
- receive advice and reports, including an
annual report, directly from the Parliamentary Librarian on matters
relating to the Parliamentary Library.
The Library Committee met on 18
September and 27 November 2008 and 19 March and 25 June 2009. The
Committee discussed:
- funding for the Parliamentary Library
including making submissions to the Joint Committee on Public
Accounts and Audit inquiry into the effects of the ongoing
efficiency dividend on smaller public sector agencies;
- relationship with the National Library of
Australia;
- international trends identified from the
International Federation of Library Associations conference and
pre-conference of the Library and Research Services for Parliaments
Section;
- Australian Parliamentary Fellowship;
- Bills Digests;
- Library planning: a 21st century
Parliamentary Library for the Australian Parliament; and
- the Parliamentary Library Digital Collection
policy (new policy), Collection Development Policy (revised policy)
and Parliamentary Library Media Transcription Service (new policy),
and approved these policies.
Resource Agreement
The Parliamentary Librarian and the
Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS)
developed the Resource Agreement between the Secretary of the
Department of Parliamentary Services and the Parliamentary
Librarian for the financial year 2009-2010 (the Agreement) as
required under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.
The Agreement identifies the
resources provided to the Parliamentary Librarian by DPS to enable
the provision of library services to clients. It also details the
services provided by DPS to the Library. In addition, it notes the
resources in terms of services provided by the Library to the rest
of DPS.
The Agreement has been developed in
light of the DPS budget, the relationship between the Library and
the rest of DPS in delivering services to clients and the
Department of Parliamentary Services Union Collective Agreement
2008-2011 (the DPS CA).
Planning framework
The Library adopted a new framework
in 2009 to plan and deliver services (see Figure 2).
Figure
2—Parliamentary Library Planning Framework
Information analysis and advice
The Library assesses client needs
through a survey and direct interviews with clients, once each
Parliament. The next evaluation is scheduled for late in 2009.
Throughout the life of each Parliament, the Library seeks ongoing
input from the Library Committee, monitors and responds to feedback
from clients, and invites Senators and Members to talk to Library
staff about their information and research needs. During 2008-09,
the Library began a series of presentations from individual
Senators and Members. Mr Petro Georgiou MP talked to Library staff
in June 2009. He noted
Parliamentarians now have the tools
to do what the Library used to do 30 to 35 years ago & what
we/I look to the Library for is focused work on a problem that I
can't solve myself.
Information, analysis and advice was
provided to Senators and Members of the 42nd Parliament to assist
them in understanding many complex issues. Some of these issues
developed in ways that had not been anticipated in the
Parliamentary Library's Briefing Book: Key Issues for the 42nd
Parliament released in December 2007, leading to the production of
new publications and advice. Many enquiries to the Library this
year focused on the economy, understanding the emerging trends and
assessing policy directions to address the global financial crisis.
The Library's analysis of the Commonwealth budget for 2009-10 noted
that it was framed amid a sharply deteriorating world economy and
the first serious downturn in Australian economic activity since
the early 1990s.
In an environment of intense debate
about the effectiveness of the Government's fiscal stimulus
measures and policy options, Parliamentary Library research staff
have provided considerable information and advice to assist
Senators and Members to understand how countries around the world
were responding to the changing situation, and what evidence based
practice could be used to shape policy recommendations for
Australia.
Six Bills to implement the
Government's Nation Building and Jobs package were introduced on 4
February 2009. The rapid progress of the legislation through
Parliament meant many questions for the Library, and prompted the
release of a draft (rather than the usual final) Bills Digest to
meet the urgent needs of Senators and Members.
Many other Government services were
also under review during 2008-09, including health, education, and
the environment. The legislative program reflected a Government in
its second year seeking to make major changes to the framework
which the previous longstanding Government had introduced.
Industrial legislation was also an
area of significant policy change which resulted in many requests
for advice. The Fair Work Bill 2008 was long, complex, and the
subject of considerable negotiation and debate. The Bills Digest
for this Bill comprised input from a number of Library staff and
was the most heavily used Library digest online this year, with
over 50,000 page views.
The need to respond to new issues
raised in the Parliament, together with reassessments of the
economic impact of international changes, required considerable
flexibility. The rapidly changing policy environment was taken into
account when recruiting new staff to vacant positions. In addition,
it was necessary for existing staff to broaden and deepen their
expertise and for new resources to be added to the Library
Collection. The continued commitment to learning and development
can be seen in the 302 days of training undertaken by Library staff
during the year.
Climate change was also an area of
significant parliamentary and community debate and discussion. The
Library released an online publication on climate change in
November 2008 to provide information on the science, economics,
international relations and other policy issues that arise from
consideration of climate change. The web site includes useful
information sources and explains core concepts and developments
necessary to understand and respond to the climate change debate.
In addition to the overarching, regularly updated web site, Bills
Digests were produced for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme,
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting and Water amendment
bills.
Climate change: the case for action,
Research paper 28 2008-09, notes that climate change is an issue
that scientists first raised and seriously considered decades ago,
and it has been hotly debated ever since. There has been a
significant increase in requests on climate change issues across
many research sections as there are scientific, environmental,
economic, social, legal and international relations aspects to
climate change. In order to provide balanced information, the
Library has published web pages on Contrasting viewpoints and
Scientific uncertainties outlining the arguments against climate
change.
There was a significant increase in
use of the Library's publications online (20.9%, 1.03 million
additional uses) and online collections (47.5%) compared to the
preceding year. During the year, the new ParlInfo Search system,
which provides access to parliamentary information resources,
including Parliamentary Library publications, was launched. New
functionality was provided, including user generated alerts,
increased data collections, relevance ranking for results and
hyperlinking to full text resources and consequently there was a
change in statistic collection. In addition there was a significant
increase (19.2%) in the total number of individual client
requests.
There were 280 publications
produced. Of these, 182 were Bills Digests, an increase of 20% on
the digests produced during 2007-08. The demands placed on the
Library by the new Rudd Government's legislative program were
similar to those experienced during the first full financial year
after the election of the Howard Government. In that year
(1997-98), 235 Bills Digests were published, the highest number
since the commencement of the service in 1976.
The Parliamentary Handbook 31st
edition (Handbook) for the 42nd Parliament was published in October
2008. The Handbook was originally developed following a request by
the Library Committee in a report to the Parliament in 1915 for a
Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook, giving a short political
biography of all Members of both Houses since the initiation of
Federation, with portraits in most cases, particulars of every
election in the same period, with other information likely to be
useful . New Handbooks are normally published soon after the
inauguration of each new Parliament.
The Handbook is also available
electronically on the parliamentary web site. The content is
updated regularly and online access enables the Australian
community to obtain information on their local Senators and Members
and the work of the Parliament.
It reflects the diverse nature of
the Parliament in 2008. The content has been shaped by feedback
through the Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library
and the majority of the material covered in the volume is the same
as that for the 41st Parliament. It includes the changes to the
Shadow Cabinet announced in September 2008.
Thanks are due to the diligent and
extremely timely work of Martin Lumb, Parliamentary Handbook
editor, Politics and Public Administration section, who is
responsible for the biographical information and for most of the
remaining content of the Handbook.
The new version of Women
Parliamentarians in Australia, 1921-2009: a register of women
members of Commonwealth, State and Territory Parliaments in
Australia originally compiled by Professor David Black was launched
in March. The resource is of great interest to clients and
researchers. It was launched in Women's History Month 2009 by the
Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Housing and Minister for the
Status of Women. It represents a major collaborative step as
further updates will be provided by members of the Association of
Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia. Janet Wilson was the
tireless coordinator of the updated publication.
Overall, the nature of the issues
before the 42nd Parliament required a greater collaboration across
sections in the Library than ever before. The rapid development of
issues associated with the Global Financial Crisis, the complexity
of emerging issues and time pressure of progress of legislation
through the Parliament posed significant challenges to Library
services.
In this context, some activities
were reviewed to ensure that available resources are focused on the
Library's core business. For example, changes were made to the
structure and delivery of the Study of Parliament Course. This
course is presented to staff of parliamentary departments to
improve their understanding of Australia's system of Government,
and how Parliament and its committees operate. Previously the
course was delivered over seven half-day sessions. During 2008-09,
this was reduced to three half-day sessions. A shorter course
focused on key aspects of the system has been beneficial to course
organisers, presenters and participants.
Connecting clients with information
Mr Petro Georgiou MP noted in his
presentation to Library staff in June 2009:
The issue of access to databases is
one that is important because they are a fantastic tool for
information on the full range of issues relevant to the Parliament.
I do not see why first year university students have access to a
larger range of databases than the Parliamentarian.
Increasing the resources directly
available to Senators and Members is a high priority for the
Library. Over half the Library's collection budget is spent on news
and current issues online resources including streaming news,
newspaper clippings and news services.
New resources acquired this year
that are directly available online to Senators and Members
included:
- JSTOR: Full text searchable archive of older
issues of scholarly journals in the Arts and Sciences;
- Electronic book titles:
- American Law Yearbooks 2005-2008
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
- U.S. Supreme Court
- National Survey of State Laws
- Major Acts of Congress
- Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change;
- Climate change: financing global forests: the Eliasch Review.
London: Stationery Office, 2008;
- Review of environmental economics and policy. Cary, N.C.:
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (U.S.), 2008-
;
- Jane's missiles and rockets. Alexandra, Va.: Jane's Information
Group, 2008-;
- International trade and climate change: economic, legal and
institutional perspectives. Washington D.C.: World Bank,
2008-;
- EcoOnline news;
- Global gender gap report (World Economic Forum); and
- Global climate change law guide.
Printed resources acquired
included:
- Aroney, Nicholas, The constitution of a
federal commonwealth: the making and meaning of the Australian
constitution. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press,
c2009.
- Beecher, Eric (editor), The best Australian
political writing, 2009. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press,
2009.
- Bannon, John, Supreme federalist: the
political life of Sir John Downer. Kent Town, S. Aust.: Wakefield
Press, 2009.
- Bastian, Peter Edward, Andrew Fisher: an
underestimated man. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2009.
- Beazley, Kim E., In the long run,
manuscript.
- Hartcher, Peter, To the bitter end: the
dramatic story of the fall of John Howard and the rise of Kevin
Rudd. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2009.
- Pearson, Noel, Up from the mission: selected
writings. Melbourne: Black Inc., 2009.
- Perrett, Graham, The twelfth fish. Carlton
North, Vic.: Vulgar Press, 2008.
- Scott, Andrew, Politics, parties and issues
in Australia: an introduction. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson
Education, c2009.
- Singleton, Gwynneth [et. al.], Australian
political institutions. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education,
2009.
A major feature of Library
operations was continued collaboration with other libraries. The
Library is a member of Electronic Resources Australia, a national
consortia approach of libraries in all sectors, which has achieved
cost effective purchasing for a range of products. The Library also
participates in a purchasing consortium with government
libraries.
The Library's print collection
includes historical material. His Excellency the GovernorGeneral
the Rt Hon Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson, P.C., G.C.M.G
presented a Bible to the Federal Parliament of Australia on 12
September 1919. The Bible was presented on behalf of the British
and Foreign Bible Society Victoria, as a memento of the signing of
the peace on the termination of the World Wide War of 1914-1919 .
The Bible contains the signatures of all Presidents and Speakers of
the Parliament of Australia. The current President signed the Bible
in February 2009.
Figure
3—President of the Senate, Senator the Hon John Hogg with the
signed Bible
Supporting the Parliament's engagement with the community
The new ParlInfo—the system
used to deliver access to parliamentary and Library
information—was put into production in September 2008. The
Australian community has free access to ParlInfo via the Parliament
House web site and directly at http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au. It
provides improvements in searching, alerts to enable clients to
receive updates about new content, and improved reliability. Over
2.3 million searches were undertaken on ParlInfo Search this
year.
In 2008-09 activity included the
following:
- online training and support resources were
revised and increased, with the new help sheets published in
January and March 2009. The Library also produced a new tip sheet
on finding newspaper clippings;
- all users continued to be asked for feedback
with the Client Support 2020 help desk and the Library providing
assistance, depending upon the questions or issue; and
- analysis of feedback was undertaken with
changes being made to training, help and other information as
required.
Because the new system offers
different ways of searching, the Library developed a program to
assist users. The aim of activity promoting best use of ParlInfo
Search was to improve knowledge of the system and to identify areas
where further system enhancements or training support were
required.
Enhancements made during the year to
the system included:
- PDFs for Hansard: each Hansard fragment can
be downloaded as a PDF document with a cover sheet.
- Electronic Media Monitoring Service (EMMS):
EMMS can now be searched through the Radio and TV Programs
sub-collection, as well as through the separate EMMS
interface.
- Alerts: all Alerts in the old ParlInfo system
were translated into ParlInfo Search.
- Parliamentary Handbook: the Parliamentary
Handbook for the 42nd Parliament was made available including
biographies which are continuously updated.
- Help: a new Help page was created to allow
users to access an online training video as well as the search
tips.
ParlInfo Search was heavily used by
those on the Parliamentary Computing Network and members of the
public. Analysis of use indicates that those on the Parliamentary
Computing Network (internal users) have increasingly used the media
and bills and legislation collections.
Figure
4—ParlInfo Search—Parliament House
Use—2008-09[3]
Members of the public use ParlInfo
Search to access a wide range of parliamentary information and
documents. A very significant increase in use of committee material
in June 2009 was due to high use of Hansard transcripts of the May
Estimates sitting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and
Public Administration.
Figure
5—ParlInfo Search—Use by the public—2008-09
[4]
Australian Parliamentary Fellowship
The Library has, on behalf of the
Parliament, managed the Australian Parliamentary Fellowship since
1970. The Fellowship provides support for 12 months to undertake a
research project, prepare a monograph on the project, and undertake
client work in the Library.
Dr Joel Bateman, the 2008 Fellow,
undertook a project on the Shadow Cabinet. His monograph, In the
Shadows: Shadow Cabinet in Australia: its roles, processes and
purpose, was published in May 2009 and is available online at
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/monographs/Bateman/Bateman_monograph.pdf
and in print. He found that the Australian Shadow Cabinet evolved
from an informal process in the British Parliament. In the latter
half of the nineteenth century, the Shadow Cabinet became a
recognised entity within British politics.
Dr Bateman explored the role of the
Shadow Cabinet, in particular developing policy and approving or
amending submissions brought from the shadow ministers. The
interaction of shadow ministers with the Shadow Cabinet and party
policy committees, including the Policy Review Committee of the
Labor opposition of the 41st Parliament, demonstrates the
complexity of the role filled by the Shadow Cabinet.
Three central roles for the Shadow
Cabinet were analysed:
- organising the opposition;
- providing an alternative government; and
- training and testing potential future
ministers.
The 2009 Fellow, Dr Scott Brenton,
is investigating contemporary bicameralism in Australia, focusing
on the differences between Senators and Members of the House of
Representatives. Dr Brenton is comparing the work of Senators with
the work of Members of the House of Representatives, and examines
the similarities and differences in the ways Senators and Members
undertake their representational duties.
The project takes advantage of the
fellow's position working within parliament. Dr Brenton has been
able to interview several politicians from both chambers, including
those who have served in both, and has also been able to undertake
a survey of current and former members of parliament about their
representative duties and their work in their electorates and their
respective chambers.
Early findings indicate that,
contrary to common perceptions, there are more similarities than
differences, with both Senators and Members engaging in significant
amounts of constituent work.
Dr Brenton has presented an early
seminar, chaired by the Hon Dick Adams MP, outlining the direction
of the project. He will also be presenting a paper based on his
preliminary findings at the Australian Political Science
Association conference in September 2009.
The Parliamentary Library is
committed to constantly improving its service delivery. Feedback
from clients, including compliments, complaints, suggestions and
information requests about services, are vital to enable the
Library to:
- improve our services and products;
- prevent problems from occurring in the
future;
- ensure consistent service delivery; and
- communicate with clients about Library
services.
Four complaints were received by the
Library in 2008-09.
- The first was about the lack of timeliness in
handling a client enquiry. The enquiry had a short turnaround time
and the response exceeded the deadline by less than half an hour.
The Library normally meets its deadlines however urgent.
- The second was about a Library Background
Note on climate change negotiations. Some amendments are being made
to the publication to expand those sections which may have
contributed to ambiguity or misinterpretation.
- The third was about the need for the Library
to publish a paper to balance the paper Climate change: the case
for action. The information has now been published in two web
publications— Contrasting viewpoints and Scientific
uncertainties.
- The fourth resulted in a small correction to
a Library publication on the Australian Democrats.
The Parliamentary Library is
committed to supporting parliamentary libraries in the region,
particularly in Pacific countries and in emerging democracies. The
Library provided support for visits organised by the Parliamentary
Relations Office throughout 2008-09, including:
- Mr Isaac Solomona, IT and Hansard Manager,
the Cook Islands Parliament under the auspices of the CPA Education
Trust Fund;
- a study group from the Jordanian Parliament
including members of the recently formed Jordanian Legislative
Resource and Training Centre (LRTC) and a representative of the
State University of New York/Jordan's Legislative Strengthening
Program (LSP) focusing on library and research services including
Mr. Amer Al Tal, Head of the Libraries Section (Parliament), Mrs.
Sawsan Hijazin (LSP/LRTC), Mr. Sufian El Hassan, Director of the
Research and Information (Parliament), Ms. Fathia Zoubi, Head of
the Studies Section (Parliament), Mr. Mohammad Bani Hani, Head of
the Research Section (Parliament), Mr. Samer Bani Melhem,
Researcher at the Studies Section (Parliament), Dr. Mohammad
Momani, LSP and Ms Patricia Tancred, Program Manager;
- a study group from the Cambodian Parliament
including HE Mr OunM Sarith, Secretary-General of the Senate, HE Mr
Bun Vouthea, Director of Legislative Procedure, HE Mr Voeuk Santo,
Director of the Library and HE Mr Cchim Sothkun, Director of
Protocol and International Relations;
- a study group from the Institute of
Legislative Studies of the National Assembly of Vietnam including
Mr. Dinh Xuan Thao, PhD., Member of National Assembly, General
Director of the Institute for Legislative Studies; Mr. Tran Ngoc
Duong, Prof., PhD., Senior expert of the National Assembly; Mr.
Nguyen Dinh Huong, Prof., PhD., Senior expert of the National
Assembly; Mr. Hoang Van Tu, PhD., Deputy Director, Institute for
Legislative Studies; Mr. Le Thanh Van, PhD., Deputy Director,
Department for Deputies Affairs, Office of the National Assembly;
Ms. Bui Thi Mai, Deputy Director, Institute for Legislative
Studies; Ms. Tran Tuyet Mai, Deputy Director, Department for
Organisation and Personnel, Office of the National Assembly; Mr. Do
Khac Tai, Deputy Director of Center for Information, Library and
Researches, Office of the National Assembly; Mr. Vu Dai Phuong,
Officer, Project Management Unit, Center for Information, Library
and Researches, Office of the National Assembly; Mr. Bui Hai Thiem,
Officer, Institute for Legislative Studies; and
- a group from the Mongolian Parliament
including Head of the Research, Analysis and Public Relations
Centre Mrs Ts Norovdondog, Head of the Research, Analysis and
Public Relations Centre, Mrs Ts Bolormaa, Officer of the Research,
Analysis and Public Relations Centre and Mr Buyan-Munkh, Assistant
to the Speaker of the Great Hura.
During 2008-09 the Library also
provided direct support to Parliaments in the Pacific
including:
- Margaret Cazabon, Parliamentary Web Manager,
provided significant assistance to two Pacific Parliaments. Ms
Cazabon established the web site for the Parliament of Tonga and
provided training to local staff to maintain it. She also developed
the Solomon Islands new parliamentary web site and assisted local
staff to develop their skills.
- approximately $2,500 worth of subscriptions
were provided to the Library of the Papua New Guinea
Parliament.
- approximately 35-40 titles of reference
material from the collection were donated to Pacific libraries with
the assistance of the Parliamentary Relations Office. These were
mainly yearbooks, directories, International Who's Who and
handbooks.
Other ways in which the Library
fulfilled its commitment to parliamentary libraries in the region
through the year included:
- support for reference/research services by
assisting libraries with relevant questions (during the year the
Library answered a range of enquiries from libraries in the
region);
- support for the Inter Parliamentary Study
Program 2009 (Senior Parliamentary Staff Study Program) hosted by
the Parliamentary Relations Office, 15-26 February 2009, through
presentations to participants; and
- support for all parliamentary libraries and
research services by providing free access to material on the
Library's web site and Parliamentary Library publications such as
the Parliamentary Handbook.
The Senior Management Group of the
Library, which comprises all Directors, Assistant Secretaries and
the Parliamentary Librarian, met regularly to review and plan the
Library's activities during the year.
Workforce planning continued to be a
priority. Workforce analysis conducted in 2007 identified that the
Library was vulnerable to a significant loss of expertise over the
coming years because of its ageing workforce profile. Mature age
workers, those 45 years and older, accounted for 71% of the
Library's workforce. To manage the risk of actual and expected
retirements, the Library has focused on recruiting quality staff,
developing and retaining existing staff, knowledge transfer and
knowledge management.
During 2008-09 the Library developed
and implemented a mentoring program for staff below Parliamentary
Service Level 6, using present and former experienced staff as
mentors.
The number of ongoing staff leaving
the Library declined. Ten ongoing staff left in 2008-09, a
separation rate of 7.2%. This compares well with the separation
rate of ongoing Library staff for the previous two
years—11.6% of ongoing staff left the Library in 2007-08 and
17.6% in 2006-07. Greater use of part-time work in some areas, such
as the Law and Bills Digest section, has helped to reduce
turnover.
The main reasons for separation from
the Library during 2008-09 were resignation (four staff, 40% of
separations), retirement (three staff, 30% of separations) and
voluntary redundancies (two staff, 20% of separations). One staff
member's employment was terminated.
The organisational structure of the
Parliamentary Library is detailed in Figure 13 on page 52.
Office of the Parliamentary Librarian
The Office of the Parliamentary
Librarian comprises the Parliamentary Librarian, an Executive
Assistant and the Director, Client Relations. The Office provides
administrative to the Parliamentary Librarian and support for the
operations of the Library Committee.
The Director, Client Relations,
provides orientation and training services for Senators, Members,
their staff and other parliamentary staff. The Director, Client
Relations also manages the Vital Issues Seminar series, a program
for visitors and oversees the Library's editorial and promotional
processes.
Research Branch
The Research Branch (RB) provides
information, research and analytical services to Senators and
Members and their staff, parliamentary committees and the
parliamentary departments to support parliamentary or
representational duties (services are not provided to constituents
or for commercial purposes).
The range of services provided
includes individually commissioned information, research and
advisory services for clients and research publications.
Commissioned information and
research services involve responses to individual requests for
information, research and/or critical analysis on subjects, issues
and policies of interest to parliamentarians.
Information Access Branch
The Information Access Branch (IAB)
develops and manages access to print and electronic resources.
These resources include books, serials, information databases,
electronic publications developed both within the department and
acquired externally, off-air recordings, transcripts and related
materials. Access to services is also provided through the
Parliamentary Library's Central Enquiry Point.
IAB staff select, acquire and
provide access to monographs, serials, electronic publications and
external databases through the Library's Catalogue. Access to radio
and television news and current affairs programs is provided
through the Electronic Media Monitoring Service (EMMS). Material
for the Library's information databases, available through ParlInfo
Search, are selected and indexed.
IAB is responsible for publishing
DPS material both in print and electronically on the parliamentary
web site (http://www.aph.gov.au/) and on the
parliamentary and DPS intranets. This includes Hansard and Library
publications.
Introduction—Output 1 Library Services
Output 1 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-outputs:
- sub-output 1.1—Research services. These
services include responding to requests from individual
parliamentary clients for information and research, and the
production of general distribution briefs and publications;
and
- sub-output 1.2—Information access
services. 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, and by publishing print
and electronic works.
Performance is assessed using
indicators that cover quality, quantity and price. Indicators,
performance results and relevant comments are shown against each of
the sub outputs.
Sub-output 1.1—Research services
Sub-output 1.1—Research
services to meet clients' needs. The services contributing to this
sub-output are as follows:
- Commissioned information, research and
advisory services—these are tailored responses prepared
following requests from individual Senators and Members and their
staff, and other parliamentary clients; and
- Research publications
(Publications)—these are prepared where strong client demand
is anticipated for briefing on specific policy issues. Publications
include Bills Digests, Research Papers, Background Notes and
internet Resource Guides. Publications are generally available to
clients and to the public, through the internet.
During the year, Library induction
and orientation sessions were held for clients. These continued to
be successful in providing, through individual and small group
sessions, a timely and detailed introduction to Library
services.
Figure
6—Sub-output 1.1—Research services—quality
indicators
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Client satisfaction with requests and
general briefs and publications (GBPs)
|
High level of customer satisfaction
(target: 90%)
|
89%[5]
|
93%[6]
|
|
Client service delivered to timeliness
service standard (target: 90%)
|
97%
|
97%
|
|
Number of complaints from clients
|
1
|
4
|
Indicator—Client satisfaction with requests and general
briefs and publications (GBPs)
Three key quality indicators measure
satisfaction with requests for client services:
- an overall measure of client satisfaction
with requests, publications and media services derived from the
client survey;
- a timeliness measure introduced in 2006-07,
which measures the responses to individual client requests
completed to the originally agreed or renegotiated deadline;
and
- the number of complaints made by
clients.
Client satisfaction with the
Library's service rose by 4%, based on the preliminary results from
the DPS 2009 Customer Satisfaction Survey.
The timeliness target of 90% was
exceeded. This is a very good result, given that 2008-09 was a year
of high demand with very short timeframes. It reflects the
importance Library staff place on meeting client needs, including
in relation to deadlines.
There were four complaints from
clients and all were investigated and followed through with the
complainant. The feedback was very valuable as it enabled us to
review and improve some publications. More detail is available at
page 39.
In addition, feedback from
individuals and organisations that were not clients was received by
email and telephone. All the feedback was about Library
publications, which are available to the public through the
internet. In one case a minor modification was made to a
publication to address the issue raised.
Figure
7—Sub-output 1.1—Research services—quantity
indicators
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Individual client
requests
|
Percentage of primary clients
(Senators' and Members' offices, including Ministers' offices)
using the service (target: 98%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
|
Number of individual client
requests (target: 19,000)
|
14,907
|
17,772
|
|
Self-service
requests
|
Number of online uses of the
Parliamentary Library's publications, including the Parliamentary
Handbook and General Briefs and Publications, through ParlInfo and
the internet (target: 4,500,000)
|
4,956,922
|
5,990,657
|
|
General briefs and
publications
|
Number of general briefs and
publications produced (target: 220)
|
231
|
280
|
|
Client training
and seminars
|
Attendance at training courses
and events (eg Vital Issues seminars) (target: 400 attendees).
|
723
|
594
|
Indicator—Client requests
During 2008-09, consistent with the
previous two years, all of the Library's primary clients (Senators'
and Members' offices, including Ministers' offices) used the client
request service at least once—exceeding the target of
98%.
For the year, as noted above, there
was a very significant increase in online usage of the
Parliamentary Library's publications (approximately one million
extra uses). There was also an increase in the total number of
individual client requests, although the target for this measure
(19,000) was not met. Part of the increase in online uses may be
due to a change in the measuring system with the introduction of
ParlInfo Search.
While in other areas there is a
direct comparison with the results in the second year of a change
of government, the automation of many Library services and the
availability of an increasing range of online resources made a
comparison of user requests difficult. In 1996-97, for example,
there were 43,940 requests. However, many would have been for
information resources such as newspaper clippings that are now
available online.
Indicator—General briefs and publications
The number of publications produced
was 21% higher than the previous year, with a commensurate increase
in hours spent on publications (by around 6,000 hours). The
increase in the number of publications is due, in part, to the
increased number of Bills Digests published—from 152 in
2007-08 to 182 in 2008-09—reflecting the busy legislative
program. However, publications other than digests also increased
significantly, from 79 in 2007-08 to 98 in 2008-09 (an increase of
24%). The increase in responses to requests, Digests and other
publications is a commendable result given that staff resources
increased only marginally from 2007-08 to 2008-09.
The most heavily used Library
publications through the internet are the Bills Digest RSS feed
(2.5 million views, approximately 6% of total visits to the
parliamentary web site), the publications RSS feed (approximately
0.32 million views), Parliamentary Library What's New page (0.25
million views) and the combined RSS feeds for Monthly statistical
bulletin and Monthly statistical bulletin e-Data (0.18 million
views).
Keeping up-to-date with Library
publications is important for all Library clients. Announcements of
new publications this year focused on online access through This
sitting week and, for the first time, user managed alerts in
ParlInfo Search. Differences were identified in the definition of a
Library publication on the web site and in ParlInfo Search. Work
has commenced to ensure a consistent approach is taken in the
future.
Bills Digests
During 2008-09, 182 Bills Digests
were published. Digests were produced on a number of significant
and complex Bills that were before Parliament in this year,
including the 11 Bills that made up the legislative package for the
proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
In common with 2006-07 and 2007-08,
a large number of Bills were first debated relatively soon after
introduction into Parliament—sometimes within 24 hours of
introduction. This created substantial challenges for staff
involved in the production of Digests. Bills in this category
included the February 2009 package of six Bills partly funding the
$42 billion National Building and Jobs Plan. In this case, an
interim Digest covering all six Bills was published within 48 hours
of the Bills' introduction. Separate, more comprehensive Digests
were published very shortly thereafter and were available to
clients while the Bills were still being debated in Parliament.
Digests were not produced for five
of the Government Bills introduced in 2008-09 (compared to eight in
2007-08). A further 18 digests (compared to nine in 2007-08) were
not completed in time for the start of parliamentary debate on the
relevant Bill in the second Chamber. Where it was not possible to
complete Digests in time for parliamentary debates, clients were
generally provided with draft Digests or other briefing material on
request.
During the year, a Bills Digest
workshop was held for staff. A number of staffers from Senators'
and Members' offices attended to give their views on Digests. The
workshop was part of a process of continuous improvement of Digests
and of training new staff who are potential Digest authors and
editors.
Figure
8—Distribution of client service hours by service type
The time spent on publications shows
a significant increase (63%) over the three-year period. The
Parliamentary Handbook, the climate change web site, the
Commonwealth Budget analysis and Bills Digests were the major areas
of work. The Library Committee provided advice on publications
planned for the year and will be encouraged to provide ongoing
advice about priority topics for publication. Significant effort
has gone into ensuring that publications are produced on issues
where strong client demand is anticipated. Such publications not
only assist clients directly, but provide Library staff with
resources that enable client requests to be answered more
quickly.
Indicator—Client training and seminars
Attendance at Parliamentary Library
lectures, Vital Issues seminars and orientation training decreased
this year (21.7%). The high level of attendance last year reflected
the fact that there were a significant number of new Senators and
Members and a consequent high attendance at orientation and
information sessions. The following lectures and seminars were
held:
- Epidemics in a changing world
Speakers: Professor Stephen Prowse, Chief Executive Officer,
Australian Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Disease and
Professor Anne Kelso, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for
Reference and Research on Influenza. Chair: The Hon Nicola Roxon
MP;
- National Broadband Network
Speakers: Henry Ergas, Chairman, Concept Economics, and Paul
Fletcher, Principal, Fletchergroup Advisors. Chair: Senator Mary Jo
Fisher;
- Representation in the Australian Parliament: two houses of
representatives?
Speaker: Scott Brenton, 2009 Australian Parliamentary Fellow.
Chair: The Hon Dick Adams MP;
- Housing affordability
Speaker: Honorary Associate Professor Judith Yates, University of
Sydney. Chair: Senator Scott Ludlam;
- Carbon tax and emissions trading
Speakers: Danny Price, Frontier Economics, Richard Denniss,
Australian Institute and Dr Regina Betz, University of New South
Wales. Chair: The Hon David Hawker MP;
- Indonesia's elections 2009: how the system works and what the
parties stand for
Speakers: Dr Stephen Sherlock, Australian National University and
Dr Greg Fealy, Australian National University. Chair: Senator the
Hon Alan Ferguson;
- Economic futures: two views
Speakers: Associate Professor Stephen Keen, University of Western
Sydney and Rory Robertson, Economist, Macquarie Bank. Chair:
Sharryn Jackson MP;
- US Presidential election: what does it mean?
Speaker: Associate Professor James Lengle, Associate Professor in
the Department of Government at Georgetown University, is the
2008-09 Fulbright Australian National University Distinguished
Chair in American Political Science. Chair: Roxanne
Missingham;
- Shadow Cabinet in Australia
Speaker: Joel Bateman, 2008 Australian Parliamentary Fellow. Chair:
Roxanne Missingham; and
- a panel of distinguished visiting specialists addressed the
topic Asia-Pacific Regional cooperation.
Figure
9—Sub-output 1.1—Research services—price
indicator
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of research services
|
Average cost per individual client
request
|
$446
|
$462
|
|
Average cost per self-service client
request
|
$0.60
|
$0.53
|
|
Total cost of suboutput 1.1
|
$11.272m
|
$11.600m
|
Sub-output 1.2—Information access services
The services contributing to this
sub-output are as follows:
- 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—news
clippings, journal articles, political party documents, press
releases and Library publications available through ParlInfo
Search;
- 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 intranet 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 and Members
and their staff.
To help clients use these services
effectively, the Library provides orientation and training courses
as well as online assistance.
Indicator—Client satisfaction with information access
services
Figure
10—Sub-output 1.2—Information access
services—quality indicator
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Client satisfaction with information
access services
|
High level of client satisfaction (target:
90%)
|
89%[7]
|
93%[8]
|
|
New titles (books and serials) added to
the Library's catalogue within timeliness service standard (target:
90%).
|
90%[9]
|
82%
|
|
New items added to the Library's
Electronic Media Monitoring Service and the ParlInfo newspaper
clippings database within timeliness service standard (target:
95%)
|
90%
|
94%
|
|
Number of complaints from clients
|
0
|
0
|
The timeliness service standard for
new resources measures the percentage of titles added to the
Library's collection within defined turnaround times. There are
four priority targets:
- critically urgent—catalogued within one
hour;
- urgent—catalogued within one day;
- reference books—catalogued within two
days; and
- requested by clients—catalogued within
one week.
The result of 82% was less than the
target and 2007-08 performance. It was a result of considerable
staff absences which were unanticipated. All critically urgent,
urgent and requested by clients titles were turned around within
the service level standard.
Increasing the number of electronic
resources available to clients continued to be a priority. 18,480
electronic monographs and 19,490 electronic serials are now
available to clients.
Figure
11—Sub-output 1.2—Information access
services—quantity indicator
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Material added to Library databases
|
Number of items added to the Library's
Electronic Media Monitoring Service and to ParlInfo databases
(target: 170,000)
|
167,537
|
159,129
|
|
Material added to Library collection
|
Number of new titles (books and serials)
added to the Library's catalogue (target: 4,600).
|
4,630
|
4,827
|
|
Percentage of titles (books and serials)
in Library's collection available to clients online in full text
(target: 25%).[10]
|
22.2%
|
23.8%
|
|
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: 2,500,000 searches)
|
2,544,500
|
3,754,064
|
Indicator—Material added to Library databases
Clients of the Library require
access to accurate and up-to-date information. Because electronic
material can be made accessible to clients 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, greater emphasis is being placed on collecting
material in an electronic format and making it accessible through
easy-to-use interfaces such as the Senators' and Members' Services
Portal.
The number of newspaper clippings
added to the database was slightly less than in the previous year.
One factor that contributed to this was that the previous year was
an election year which generally results in greater press coverage
relevant to the Parliament.
Indicator—Material added to
Library collection
The Library's physical collection of
monographs and journals is constantly updated in accordance with
the Library's Collection Development Policy. The Library aims to
keep the collection at around 115,000 monograph titles. It has
around 8,000 individual print and electronic journal titles, not
including the large aggregated subscription services. New material
is acquired, and outdated, damaged or redundant material is
discarded regularly. Materials on Australian politics, legislation
and constitutional matters are retained permanently.
Indicator—Use of the Library's collection and
databases
Increased use of Library databases
Clients can access the Library's
databases through ParlInfo Search. Many external databases are
available through the Library's intranet and the Senators' and
Members' Services Portal.
The continuing increased use of
Library databases in ParlInfo by Senators and Members and their
staff indicates that the services are valuable and relevant to
their needs. Usage reflects the growing success of the Library's
efforts to introduce and promote self-help services at the
desktop.
The significant increase in the use
of these resources in 2008-09 of approximately 1.2 million, (or
47.5%), is a major development in what has been a long-term pattern
of significant increasing use. Use of the electronic collections is
highest when Parliament is sitting. This has been a consistent
trend for the last three years.
Electronic Media Monitoring Service (EMMS)
With reviews generated with the
introduction of the new ParlInfo, workflows have been changed with
the aim of removing duplication of records. In particular,
transcripts which were duplicated in EMMS and the Library's
database on ParlInfo—two separate systems with two sets of
workflows—were rationalised.
Figure
12—Sub-output 1.2—Information access
services—price indicators
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of information access services
|
Average cost per item added to the
Library's collection
|
$376
|
$273
|
|
Average cost per item added to the
Library's databases
|
$20.39
|
$17.62
|
|
Average cost per use of the Library's
databases and collection
|
$1.91
|
$1.82
|
|
Total cost of suboutput 1.2
|
$10.246m
|
$10.480m
|
|
2007-08
|
2008-09
|
|
$
|
$
|
|
Income
|
|
|
|
Appropriations
|
15,280,079
|
15,075,541
|
|
Depreciation
|
1,183,378
|
1,259,446
|
|
Expenditure
|
|
|
|
Total Salaries
|
12,323,494
|
12,530,196
|
|
Research Branch
|
7,709,011
|
8,042,101
|
|
Information Access Branch
|
4,217,910
|
4,160,823
|
|
Office of the Parliamentary Librarian
|
396,573
|
327,272
|
|
Other employee expenses
|
161,878
|
141,674
|
|
Staff training, travel and related
expenses
|
239,737
|
261,066
|
|
Collection (information resources)
|
1,486,154
|
1,642,827
|
|
Collection (purchase of monographs and
reference collection using depreciation funds)[11]
|
580,649
|
675,259
|
|
Other expenses
|
347,864
|
296,952
|
|
Asset maintenance (software
licences/maintenance)
|
239,094
|
226,657
|
|
Total expenditure (including expenditure from
depreciation funds)
|
15,378,871
|
15,774,632
|
|
Total expenditure (excluding expenditure from
depreciation funds)
|
14,798,222
|
15,099,372
|
|
Staffing
|
|
|
|
Research Branch
|
78.1
|
79.5
|
|
Information Access Branch
|
57.9
|
57.5
|
|
Office of the Parliamentary Librarian
|
3.1
|
2.3
|
|
Total
|
139.35
|
140.65
|
Figure
13—Parliamentary Library Organisation Chart
