Who we are
The European Parliament's Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (DG EPRS) is the in-house research centre and think tank of the EP. It provides research, analysis and information, on an independent basis, to Members of the European Parliament and parliamentary committees on all EU policies, legislation and issues. Usually known as the European Parliamentary Research Service, it comprises four directorates: the Members' Research Service, the Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value, the Directorate for the Library and Knowledge Services, and the Directorate for Resources.
In addition, there are four horizontal units within the Directorate-General's central services: the Strategy and Innovation Unit, the Publications Management and Editorial Unit, the Strategic Foresight and Capabilities Unit and the Linking the Levels Unit. The Directorate-General comprises a total of 24 units and three services and more than 300 staff. 'Empowering through knowledge' is the guiding principle of EPRS, underpinning the mission of the entire DG.
In concrete terms, between 2014 and December 2022, EPRS:
- Answered over 24,000 requests for substantive research and analysis, including from 90 per cent of current Members of the European Parliament;
- Replied to over 3,700 such requests from other parliamentary clients;
- Undertook targeted research work for 20 parliamentary committees;
- Treated about 155,000 reference requests from within the Parliament and over 480,000 citizens' enquiries;
- Produced over 9,800 publications, most recently at a rate of 800-900 physical publications and around 150 digital-only texts annually.
A video about EPRS is available here.
A video specifically on EPRS publications is available here.
We are a team of a dozen library professionals, managing the services of the EP Library open to the public in Luxembourg, Brussels and potentially Strasbourg as well as online. We work closely with other departments of the EP Research Service to assist them with information sources in their work. Our collection focuses on history, law and politics of the European integration process, although we are currently building a new multilingual collection of more general cultural nature to the wider external public (Library for Europe project).
Apart from the books, there is a substantial and ever growing collection of digital and electronic information sources (e-books, online databases, media sources and specialised e-journals). We contribute towards operating a front desk, replying to reference requests, organising group or individual training sessions (physical, online or hybrid), managing general collections and acquisitions of the EP library. We are currently developing a Citizens' Online Library with a view to making some of our resources, including in-house selected online readings, and other quality open source materials accessible to the European citizens. The team of the EP Library in Luxembourg is currently involved in a project of re-valorisation of the historical collections.
Your tasks
Depending on your background and interests, you could participate in a variety of library tasks:
- Development of online reading platform for citizens;
- Management of electronic resources;
- Assistance in the management of the Reading Room or assistance at the front desk;
- Contribution to acquisitions;
- Collections (paper and electronic) development and/or cataloguing;
- Working in the reserve stock (compactus) and analysing the collection.
You are
- You have a strong interest in libraries and you are aware of the information needs of researchers;
- Experience of working in a library and/or an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in librarianship or information/data science is an asset;
- You have a keen interest in ICT with the focus on the end user and have strong communication skills;
- You have good knowledge of English and/or French language;
- You are flexible and motivated to innovate.