OSCE Mission to Montenegro supports the Library of Parliament

(l) Siv-Katrine Leirtroe, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, and Aleksandar Klarić, Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegro, on a tour of Parliament's Library, whose digitalization was supported by the Mission, Podgorica, 26 October 2022. (Parliament of Montenegro) Photo details

On 26 October, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro further supported the digitization of the Parliament's library services through provision of technical equipment that included magnetic and plastic card printer, thermal label printer and bar code scanner, as well as books on cultural studies, discussions papers and essays, academic, historical, political theory, economics, and ecological titles.

This builds on previous support from the Mission, which enabled the Library to upload over 90 percent of its holdings into the Co-operative Online Bibliographic System and Services (COBISS), supporting the digitalization of library procedures.

Deputy Head of the Mission, Siv-Katrine Leirtroe, said that it was the right moment to improve the tools for processing library requests, maintaining inventory, and auditing the library fund. "This equipment enables an efficient management of the library fund. Through COBISS, the Parliament's collection is connected to libraries of the Western Balkans and Slovenia further strengthening regional cooperation," said Leirtroe.

Secretary General of Parliament, Aleksandar Klarić expressed satisfaction with the ongoing cooperation and support from with the OSCE Mission in providing and modernizing library services. "The OSCE Mission's long-term support to Parliament is appreciated, especially in improving the institution's transparency and openness. Support to the professional capacities of Parliament's Service is also important, which contributes to more informed and better work of both MPs and the institution as a whole," said Klarić.

As part of its support to the Library of Parliament, the Mission also assisted in drafting the library's rulebook, which details the day-to-day work of the library, and outlines the rights and obligations of users. Currently, the Mission supports the process of digitization of approximately 50,000 Parliament's verbatim records from 1991 to 2012, to be followed by a development of a software.

Marina Živaljević Montenegro