The World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries is an electronic directory containing basic data on the parliamentary libraries of sovereign states. Alongside information on contacting the libraries, it includes figures about collections, budget, services, special collections, etc. These figures allow users to find the most important information about parliaments’ libraries or research services and, by clicking on the links, to access the web pages of the libraries concerned in order to gain further details.

From 1985 to 1992, the World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries – which at the time still fell within the responsibility of the IFLA’s Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section  – was compiled as a print version by the library of the German Bundestag and updated every two years. Since 1992, the Directory has existed online in the form of a database; it is still maintained by the Bundestag Library and can be found on the website of the German Bundestag.

Over the course of 2010, the database has been revised; the questionnaire on which it is based is now more contemporary, simpler and quicker to fill in, and the number of points to be entered has been reduced. The intention behind these changes is to facilitate regular and consistent updating. In addition, it was decided that the parliamentary libraries of “Federated States and Autonomous Territories” should no longer be included, since the level of participation from such institutions appeared to be extremely low.

The existing data has been transferred to this new version of the World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries and, once the new questionnaire has been made available on the Internet at the beginning of 2011, the information can be updated and sent to the Bundestag Library.

The project was briefly outlined at the IFLA Pre-Conference in 2010 in Stockholm.

All parliamentary libraries worldwide are invited to check their data, update it if necessary and help make the World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries into a modern and up-to-date instrument for parliaments to present themselves, and a useful source of information.