The Parliamentary Library of Montenegro: Coming out from the Past

This paper presents a short historical overview of Montenegrin parliamentarism and activities in connection with the Library of the Parliament of Montenegro since its establishment in 1953. An emphasis is placed on the need to bring this library up-to-date and to turn it into a modern parliamentary library. The status of the library within its parent organization, the Parliament of Montenegro, is analyzed, as well as the library collections (acquisition policy and organization), user profile, use and nonuse of sources and services, and staffing. Finally, the inevitability of structural changes in the Library of the Parliament of Montenegro’s activity is discussed along with its goal to step into the twenty-first century. Introduction: Parliamentary Libraries Today In any country, parliamentary libraries are special libraries of high importance. The reason any special library exists is to serve the institution to which it belongs. In the case of the parliamentary library, its clientele is well defined. The main mission of the parliamentary library is to provide current and complete information in response to requests from members of parliament (MPs)—that is, those who decide on issues of national importance—thus saving them the time they would have had to invest in finding answers themselves. Parliamentary libraries also provide services to employees of the parliament, including secretaries of parliamentary committees and administrative staff. Parliamentary library collections have to reflect the needs of this specialized clientele. They consist of publications and documents such as legal statutes, official, decisions, and case law of the state and the parliament, as well as publications from parliaments and institutions in other 503 aligrudić/montenegro countries whose legal practice could help the work of deputies, committees, and the administrators service. Publications whose contents are connected with legislature, law, political sciences, economy, European Union documents, international legal practice, and with social sciences are also part of a parliamentary library collection. Depending on their capabilities, parliamentary libraries are responsible for compiling analyses based on deputies’ and parliamentary committees’ requests. There are parliamentary libraries that do not have very large holdings, but the collections they have are thoroughly selected and well organized. Good selection of materials enables parliamentary librarians to disseminate information faster and to ensure a more efficient usage of holdings. Periodical weeding of unused and obsolete materials is also performed in order to maintain the currency of collections. Special librarianship, particularly parliamentary librarianship, is characterized by the prioritizing of informatics over traditional librarianship. The use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is of crucial importance for the operations of modern parliamentary libraries, because nowadays it is unthinkable that any European parliamentary library’s work is based on the traditional organization of information departments and services. The parliamentary library has to be useful to and to be used by deputies and the administrative staff so that their work can be more efficient and professional. Good infrastructure, modern equipment, educated information experts, well-selected holdings, effective interlibrary cooperation, information organized according to international standards—these are just some of the prerequisites of efficient parliamentary work. Without using the new information and communication technologies and well-organized information services, parliamentary libraries would have remained, effectively, small museums of printed books. It is no longer necessary to emphasize the importance of timeliness and accuracy of information in legislative work. Nowadays parliamentary libraries should not be static, they are expected to be actively engaged in the process of retrieval and dissemination of information, and they should offer information and research services in addition to traditional services (Ilić, 2002). Special libraries, especially parliamentary libraries, should be thriving information institutions, and they should lead the way in the application of the most recent information and communication technologies in the library