On 14 August 2013, in Singapore, 25 participants from 10 countries of the Asia Pacific Region participated on a one-day training for parliamentary libraries and research services on Strategic Management of ICT in Parliamentary Libraries, organized by the IFLA Sections on Library and Research Services for Parliaments and on Information Technology, the Library of the Parliament of Singapore, and the Parliament of Australia, with the cooperation of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. Around 10 librarians and research staff from countries outside the region attended the training as observers.

The training built on previous one-day courses co-organized by the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament in the framework of their intense collaboration that started in 2007. Training sessions were held on the occasion of the 2009, 2011 and 2012 annual Pre-Conferences of the IFLA Section, hosted respectively by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of Italy, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, and the Parliament of Finland.

The training intended to respond to some of the challenges faced by the parliamentary libraries of the Asia Pacific region by focusing on the strategic use of new technologies to provide more effective information services to users, including legislators, parliamentary staff and citizens. It offered as well an opportunity to discuss ways of cooperation for parliamentary libraries of the region, including the development of common tools and the identification of ways of sharing resources. The training made extensive use of two important documents released in 2012, the Handbook Information and Communication Technologies in Parliamentary Libraries and the Social Media Guidelines for Parliament.