The IPU facilitates parliamentary diplomacy and empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development around the world.
Nearly every country in the world has some form of parliament. Parliamentary systems fall into two categories: bicameral and unicameral. Out of 190 national parliaments in the world, 78 are bicameral (156 chambers) and 112 are unicameral, making a total of 268 chambers of parliament with some 46,000 members of parliament. IPU membership is made up of 181 national parliaments
Throughout the year, the IPU and its Members organize many events for parliamentarians to exchange good practices, acquire the latest information and identify avenues for action.
The IPU has been collecting data on parliaments since its inception in 1889, including information on women’s participation in politics since 1945. In this section, discover the IPU's knowledge bank for and about parliaments.
This is the first in a planned series of webinars to honour the memory of Donna Scheeder, President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) 2015-17 and a past Chair of the IFLA Section of Libraries and Research Services for Parliaments (IFLAPARL).
This interactive session aims to introduce the key themes from the 3rd edition of the Guidelines for Parliamentary Libraries, jointly published by IPU and IFLA in 2022, and how to use them to develop services based on the needs of customers. The webinar will include a presentation from one of the Guidelines’ authors, Edward Wood, and will cover:
The role good information plays in how parliaments work
The information needs of Members for the different roles they play
Taking account of the pressures Members operate under
How Parliamentary Libraries can help with Members’ information needs
Basic steps for starting or building Parliamentary Library Services
This will be followed by a question and answer session with a distinguished panel of senior parliamentary librarians from around the world.
Join us to explore the fundamentals of developing a parliamentary library service focused on customers and to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of leading practitioners.
This webinar is jointly organised by the IPU and IFLAPARL. The two sessions will have the same content but will take place at different times in order to enable participants in different time zones to attend. Participants can indicate in the registration form which session they wish to join.