If special libraries are disappearing, why are parliamentary libraries surviving? Contradictory currents and changing perceptions

Abstract

The new information and research orientation of parliamentary libraries, accelerated by the advent of information technology, the changing pattern of parliamentary politics, and new social and economic developments, causes us to ask where they should be placed among special libraries. The author speculates about the prospective role of parliamentary libraries in a society increasingly critical of existing political party realities, politicians, and of Australian public institutions. Contradictions facing parliamentary libraries are pointed out, and the article concludes by suggesting a more clearly differentiated ‘special’ role for them as part of a parliamentary ‘information ecology’. By accepting a wider social responsibility for political communication and political education extending beyond the already richly served parliamentary elite, parliamentary libraries can contribute by way of their information expertise to the evolving concept of participatory democracy in Australia. A wider role for them for them as ‘political resource libraries’ is also advocated. An appendix briefly reviews the origins of the undervalued heritage collections held by the state parliamentary libraries and suggests what should be done with them under the new circumstances of a parliamentary information ecology.