diff --git a/Doc/lib/libxmllib.tex b/Doc/lib/libxmllib.tex
index 62fb26b..10d76ec 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libxmllib.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libxmllib.tex
@@ -92,6 +92,11 @@
 return the translated string.
 \end{methoddesc}
 
+\begin{methoddesc}{getnamespace}{}
+Return a mapping of namespace abbreviations to namespace URIs that are
+currently in effect.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
 \begin{methoddesc}{handle_xml}{encoding, standalone}
 This method is called when the \samp{<?xml ...?>} tag is processed.
 The arguments are the values of the encoding and standalone attributes 
diff --git a/Lib/xmllib.py b/Lib/xmllib.py
index 06b599f..b8422cb 100644
--- a/Lib/xmllib.py
+++ b/Lib/xmllib.py
@@ -222,6 +222,13 @@
             else:
                 i = s + len(str)
 
+    # Interface - return a dictionary of all namespaces currently valid
+    def getnamespace(self):
+        nsdict = {}
+        for t, d, nst in self.stack:
+            nsdict.update(d)
+        return nsdict
+
     # Internal -- handle data as far as reasonable.  May leave state
     # and data to be processed by a subsequent call.  If 'end' is
     # true, force handling all data as if followed by EOF marker.