Knesset Library

The Knesset Library

The Knesset Library was established in 1950 and was modeled on other Parliamentary Libraries around the world.

Its Main Tasks Are:

To provide information to Members of Knesset and their assistants, to Knesset Committees and the Knesset Management in order to support the parliamentary, legislative and public activities of the Knesset.
To enable Members of Knesset and their assistants to be extensively informed about activities in Israel and the world on a wide range of issues.
To mediate between the public and the Knesset by means of the Knesset Internet site: www.knesset.gov.il
To provide parliamentary/legislative information to the public in compliance with the "Freedom of Information Law".

Who Uses The Library:

The Library, within the framework of the "Freedom of Information Law" and with the aid of the Knesset Internet site, serves Israel's citizens and provides information about the activities of the Knesset, its Committees, legislative proposals and legislation that has passed into law. It does this by telephone, mail, fax and email.

Likewise the Library provides information about Israel's legislative body to foreign journalists and television reporters, as well as to embassies and other parliaments.

The Services the Library Provides:

Accruing Collections and Providing Access to Information
The Library is rigorous in accruing collections of books, newspapers, periodicals and disks that are anticipated to have wide or immediate use in given situations in the course of the work of the Knesset. The Library is interested mostly in books and databases that relate to history, policy, economics, culture, democracy, government, judiciary and religion in Israel. The Library functions as a Depository Library. This means that it obtains at least one copy of every book published in Israel if it is of significance to the work of the Knesset.
In addition to collections, the Library provides Knesset users access to important databases, relevant to the work of the Knesset.
Cataloguing, Classification and Indexing
The Library catalogues its collections by way of "Aleph" software. Classification is according to the Dewey System. Indexing is according to the indexing system of the Library of Congress.
The Library is part of the University and other libraries network connected to "Aleph". The catalogues and databases of the Library are required to be open to the public, but as of this date it has not been possible to place them on the Internet because of several problems relating to information security.
Newspaper Clippings Collection
This collection is indexed according to subject and persons. The collection has been assembled and maintained in the Library since 1972. It includes newspaper clippings taken from Israel's daily press and filed according to subject and year. This is an internal collection intended for use by visitors to the Knesset. Lately the collection has included Arabic and Russian language newspapers.
The Knesset Internet Site
The Knesset Internet site was built and has been maintained by the Library since December of 1996. The aim of the site is to provide the Israeli public, whether in Israel or overseas, with an up to date medium that enables the public to sustain a connection with the Knesset, Members of Knesset and Israeli Democracy.
The site is composed of five major components:
1. The permanent component, which is updated as needed: this component contains a great deal of information about the Knesset, Members of Knesset and Israeli Democracy. It also contains documents, researches and laws.
2. The dynamic component, which is updated daily and contains subject matter dealing with the daily activities of the Knesset, such as: the Agenda, announcements by the Knesset spokesman, events, debates in the Plenum and in Committees, direct broadcasts from the Knesset and more. The information contained in this component is produced by all the Knesset departments and flows to the Library in order to be disseminated by the site.
3. Secondary sites, devoted to a particular subject connected in one way or another to the Knesset, for example: the "Tu B'Shvat" site, the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial site, the Knesset Jubilee site, the Elections site, the Peace Process site as well as other sites.
4. The interactive component contains professional discussion groups and the virtual activities of the Internet sub-Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. It also contains direct email to Members of Knesset and the editors of the site as well as urgent information and more.
5. Portal to other sites or pages of interest to the work of Knesset, such as: other parliaments, the European Union, Government Offices, the State Budget, the United Nations and others.
Background Papers for the Plenum
A special library team provides background papers to Members of Knesset about subjects that are on the Plenum Agenda. This is done on a weekly basis.
The Unit to Collect Information
This department was created in 1973. Its job definition is to prepare comprehensive surveys and summaries about subjects requested by Members of Knesset and their assistants or by the various Committees and the Bureaus of the Knesset.
In addition to its function as a supplier of requested information the department also initiates publications about public issues of parliamentary interest. These publications consist of short legislative summations of crucial subjects of current public interest. These publications are objective despite the fact that they deal with subjects that are a matter of public dispute.
The Information and Lending Counter
The information counter provides services involving available information. Most of the requests relate to laws and legislation and subjects relating to both. There are also requests for statistical data, biographies, histories or historical, religious or literary quotes as well as for newspaper pieces on various subjects from the newspaper clipping collection. A duty librarian is responsible for providing short answers to requests about various subjects of interest. The counter also responds to telephone requests for information by citizens and by various organizations. It also provides a lending service to Members of Knesset, parliamentary journalists and senior officials.
The Reading Room
The reading room contains a wide choice of publications and information sources such as: daily newspapers, foreign newspapers, and protocols of Plenum sittings, law books, official publications as well as government publications on various subjects. It also contains general reference books, dictionaries and encyclopedias. The reading room has computer areas that enable access to the Internet and to the internal databases of the Knesset dealing with social and judicial issues. They also enable access to a computerized catalogue of the Israeli Library system. It also has a photocopier, scanner and fax. Every visitor to the Knesset may visit and use the services of the reading room, as well as citizens whose requests have been authorized to use Knesset databases.
Instruction and External Relations
The Library maintains ongoing instruction about how to use the databases. It also sustains wide-ranging relations with most of the libraries and data centers in Israel. The Library is also a member in the parliamentary library section of the World Library Association of UNESCO - the IFLA.
The Library organizes instruction for schools and groups and enables the graduates of Information and Librarian schools to fulfill their practicum requirements.
The Freedom of Information Law
This law obligates every public authority to provide the public with information, at its request, about the activities of that authority. The Director of the Knesset Library has been appointed by the Secretary of the Knesset to be responsible to implement that law on behalf of the Knesset. This has imposed a very heavy public obligation on the Library and in order to perform this obligation the Library is aided by many Knesset departments, but especially by the Internet site which serves as an efficient tool for providing the relevant information about the Knesset to the Israeli public.