I got this info from the following site. Check it out and it may help.
http://www.beyondlogic.org/spp/parallel.htm#4
Bi-directional ports use Control Bit 5 connected to the 374's Output Enable so that it's output drivers can be turned off. This way you can read data present on the Parallel Port's Data Pins, without having bus conflicts and excessive current drains.
Bit 5 of the Control Port enables or disables the bi-directional function of the Parallel Port. This is only available on true bi-directional ports. When this bit is set to one, pins 2 to 9 go into high impedance state. Once in this state you can enter data on these lines and retrieve it from the Data Port (base address). Any data which is written to the data port will be stored but will not be available at the data pins. To turn off bi-directional mode, set bit 5 of the Control Port to '0'.
However not all ports behave in the same way. Other ports may require setting bit 6 of the Control Port to enable Bi-directional mode and setting of Bit 5 to dis-enable Bi-directional mode, Different manufacturers implement their bi-directional ports in different ways. If you wish to use your Bi-directional port to input data, test it with a logic probe or multimeter first to make sure it is in bi-directional mode.
Randall Pursley