The role of parliamentary libraries in increasing citizens access to knowledge and its barriers in the developing countries

Noroozi Chakoli         Abdolreza | Samadi         Lale | Chehrenegar         Leila | Rostamzadeh         Mehrdad

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URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=2964
Date :  2010/08/10
Publish in :    Proceedings of World Library and Information Congress: 76TH IFLA General Conference and Assembly, 10- 15 Aughust 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden, (Meeting: 1


Keywords :libraries, increasing, access

Abstract :

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Abstract: The added value and benefits that parliamentary lib raries bring to society is much more than the costs of providing & maintaining them. These libraries can help with a constant education and development of the citizens in their awarene ss of society. In addition, these libraries can provide needed information to citizens and m anagers to make their vocational or economical decisions. Parliamentary libraries make governmental services more accessible to citizens, provide social justice and democracy and let people communicate with their deputies more freely; even let them influence their deputies functions and approvals. In spite of these advantages, Parliamentary libra ries often dont have su itable quality services in some developing countries and the citizens cant get their n eeded information from these libraries. Some of the most important barrie rs that cause difficulties for society to get information from the li braries are because of: • the appointment of nonprofessional managers, • the lack of specialist staff, • the lack of financial support, • managers not having enough vision about the ef fective role of the parliamentary libraries in the permanent le arning process of citizens, 2 • not having a continuous program for incr easing citizens information literacy and information seeking skills, • unsuitable organization of information resources, • difficult websites for users, • not having enough suitable technical and communication infrastructures, • legal restrictions of comm on use of those libraries, • not being clear about the place of parliame ntary libraries in national information system • As a result these barriers can cause serious problems for democracy in these countries. Taking the above mentioned points, this paper attemp ts to clarify the real role of parliamentary libraries in making knowledge accessible for citizens and to discu ss the most important barriers in providing suitable services in these libraries in developing countries. Keywords: Parliamentary libraries- developing countri es- barriers- information accessibility