The Power of Proactive Information: A Prototype of Mobile Application for Bring the Value of Library Services to the Parliament

Parliamentary libraries are part of parliaments. They provide information products and services related to their main role, that is, to support parliamentary functions regarding the law making process, government oversight and constituency work. Citizens use part of these products and services when they are available. The Library of the National Congress of Chile delivers a great part of its information services to Congress members and their staff, in the form of Web Systems and research documents generated by its professionals in matters of legislative interest. One of the Library's main objectives is to become a Library 4.0, consolidating as a modern and innovative organization based on solid technological pillars arising from Industry 4.0, and by developing modern technological tools for data and information processing and usage, with a deep sense of collaboration with parliamentary work. In this context, the way in which the Library delivers its products and services to the parliamentary community and citizens, also requires modernization as to provide a proactive and permanently updated service. The research's question of this work is: How does the Library better serve the parliamentary community, and indirectly citizens, to achieve effective use of the information products and services provided? In accordance with the notion that consumption online is the most appropriate form to distribute parliamentary outputs and that all online content should be suitable for mobile devices, we answered that research question with the implementation of a mobile application called "MiBCN" which is an application for mobile devices that provides parliamentarians, their staff and citizens in general, a set of tools and information services that the library offers to the community regarding the national parliamentary tasks. The updated Chilean Regulations (laws), Parliamentary advisory documents, district and circumscription statistics, library book catalog, parliamentary press, among others, are offered. This application is outlined according to whether a parliamentarian, parliamentary staff or citizens. This paper presents key guidelines used by the Library's IT team for the design, development and implementation of the said mobile application, under a user focused approach. The implementation of this prototype application, still in trial phase, would allow the Library to identify the main services and products used by parliamentarians and staffers, and to acknowledge their interests, needs and fieldwork, hence promoting a better informed parliamentary community.