bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Publisher pricing policies and the reprographic copyright controversy
Authors: Wall R.A.
Published: February 2008

A survey of scholarly and research journals by Fry and White published in 1976 resulted in a searching study of price changes and publishing economics generally. This paper will note such comments as bear upon differential pricing for institutions and individuals. A shift among US subscribers from individual to institutional subscriptions (as a percentage of total sales) was remarked upon for all except a group of publishers described as ‘Other not‐for‐profit’, the main categories being Commercial, Society, and University Press. These ‘Other not‐for‐profit’ journals ‘cost least of publisher groups’ and ‘may be more affordable by individuals’. The general growth in institutional compared with individual subscribers was to be expected ‘as increased prices forced individuals to drop their own subscriptions and rely on copies available through the library’.
Automating the synthesis of expert knowledge
Authors: Michie Donald
Published: February 2008

Automating the construction of machine‐interpretable knowledge‐bases is one of the immediate next moves in the emerging technology of information. Feasibility of computer induction of new knowledge from examples has been shown in more than one laboratory. Means are described for generating knowledge‐based programs that are automatically guaranteed analysable and executable by machine and human brain alike.
Information for decision‐making
Authors: Morris Alfred
Published: February 2008

I have been asked to describe how I make decisions and what kind of information I need to make those decisions. So that you understand the context in which I make decisions I need to tell you a little about myself and my work.
The senior manager's information needs
Authors: Streatfield David
Published: February 2008

Over the past few years I have been involved with various research teams looking at organisational communication and at the impact that libraries and other information services have on certain kinds of organisations. When we examined information services in various local government settings (including social services departments, local education authorities, planning departments and more general local government services) we found what appears to be an automatic tendency to serve a relatively narrow band of middle management staff at headquarters.
The Information Society — how different?
Authors: Williams Bruce
Published: February 2008

It was, I suspect, Daniel Bell — the Professor of Sociology at Harvard University — who invented ‘the information society’. In 1973 he had written of ‘the coming post‐industrial society’ as the consequence of three key developments — first, the rise to dominance of the services sector of activity; second, the growing role of theoretical knowledge for innovation in technology, making invention more the parent than the child of necessity; and, third, the displacement of intuitive business judgements by systems analysis and decision theory which he described as the ‘new intellectual technology’.
The management of online legal information
Authors: Houghton Bernard
Published: February 2008

Legal databases can be classified into four groups:
Change in library and information services: some thoughts on the Portuguese scene
Authors: Magalhães Rodrigo
Published: February 2008

Change is a somewhat mysterious process which has aroused the academic interest of sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and specialists from other fields. Information scientists should also be concerned with this topic, given that change seems to be the most permanent feature in this new discipline. Typical research questions such as what is change or how does change come about can be approached from many standpoints, ranging from the concepts derived from sociological and psychological theory to the very practical description of change taking place day by day.
User survey of an international library: expectations and evaluations
Authors: Norton Robert , Gautschi David
Published: February 2008

The object of the exercise is to perform an overall evaluation of the INSEAD library service as perceived by segments of the overall user‐group. The aim is to translate the results of such an evaluation into keener insight into the habits of the users, and ultimately into policy formulation and action for the future development of the service.
In defence of bibliographic standards
Authors: Brunt Rodney M.
Published: February 2008

The last few years have seen considerable advances in the field of computerised bibliographic control. In addition to the mainframe‐based systems such as MARC, there has been increasing interest in mini‐ and microcomputer systems for both technical processing and information retrieval. With these developments has come a re‐examination of the usefulness of bibliographic standards which have emerged since libraries started facing the needs of interlibrary communication. This reconsideration of standards has prompted among many librarians the idea that the advent of computerised systems means the end of the need for standardisation. There is a general feeling that it is no longer necessary to require cataloguers (if they figure at all in the argument anyway) to create records in the rigorous way demanded by the likes of the Anglo‐American cataloguing rules (AACR). The power of the computer, it is felt, obviates the sophisticated and resource‐wasting processing that goes on in cataloguing departments; and features such as boolean searching, truncation, etc, can get over the need for accurate specification of authors' names or the titles of documents.
Providing library support for a community‐based mental handicap project: some experiences from a recent setting‐up exercise
Authors: Lewis M.G.
Published: February 2008

The author has been involved in setting up a library situated in a Community Mental Handicap Team room within a hospital. The library will shortly form the basis for a comprehensive information service within the ‘Foremost Community Programme’, a joint venture undertaken by Brighton Health Authority and East Sussex Social Services. In this article he describes his experiences in setting up this Library.
Installing and managing an in‐house viewdata system
Authors: Metcalf A.J.
Published: February 2008

My intention is not to put you off going ahead with a private viewdata system by exposing some of the problems and experiences of Philips UK, but to equip you with a checklist which will help you achieve a smooth implementation and a reliable ongoing service. A service that will be beneficial to your users and have cost savings.
Fourth generation videotex
Authors: Jacobs C.H.
Published: February 2008

The term videotex is deliberately used in this paper in place of the more usual word in the United Kingdom — viewdata. The meaning of the latter is probably best summarised in the phrase ‘text on screen’. This tends to lead to an attitude which positions the technology in a restricted area, that of information presentation. This then forces discussion on futures into matters of display protocol and graphics standards. Whilst these matters are relevant and are of importance in some situations, when videotex is seen as an approach to interactive communication with applications such an attitude is seen to be unnecessarily restrictive.
Data protection: trade unions' concerns and principals
Authors: Jenkins Clive
Published: February 2008

Trade unions are concerned about the right of individuals to control information about themselves. Computerisation causes particular concern because it enables easier cross‐reference between data sources so that individuals are less sure that information collected for one purpose will not be used for another, unknown, purpose. A further related concern regards the accuracy of such stored information. It may be misleading if used for another purpose. Our concern is not just with information held on computers.
Periodicals, prices and policies
Authors: Thornton S.A. , Bigger C.J.
Published: February 2008

The acquisition of periodicals is one of the more neglected areas of practical librarianship. There is a strong tendency among library managers to leave the handling of periodicals to junior staff once the initial decision‐making on the choice of agent has been made. The manager then only hears how the system is operating when something goes drastically wrong — by which time it is usually too late.
Commercialising a database: the HSELINE experience
Authors: Pantry Sheila
Published: February 2008

Much is written on databases, computers, users and information to be found therein, but little (or nothing) on getting a database onto a system commercially. Once a bibliographic database is running well inside an organisation thought should be given to exploiting it and making it available for outside organisations to use. HSELINE is an example. Potential producers are taken through the stages of deciding which system to mount the database on, target audiences, special national or international needs, meeting legal obligations, negotiations with the host system covering royalties, SDI (selective dissemination of information) payments and offline print charges. When all negotiations are completed then the publicity machinery comes in. How to arrange a press launch, press releases and publicity brochures, and further publicity suggestions — exhibition stands, talks, demonstrations and training courses are also covered.
Reuters: a survey of end‐user searching
Authors: Harman Jennifer
Published: February 2008

As part of its commitment to new technology Reuters, the international news‐gathering agency, is replacing its library of press cuttings' files with a full‐text database, Newsbank. Until the introduction of Newsbank, information retrieval from the cuttings' files was carried out by a team of trained librarians; now it is the journalists — the end‐users — who are expected to search the database. In order to obtain feedback on the value and use of Newsbank a questionnaire was distributed to Reuters' journalists. Results show that Newsbank, in its present form, is not a success. Furthermore there is a strong feeling amongst the journalists that information retrieval is not part of their job but should be carried out by trained librarians.
Business information needs in Scotland
Authors: Reid Christine D.
Published: February 2008

AH businesses regardless of their size and sphere of activity require information in order to exist, to compete and to survive. In business planning and marketing, the need for factual and up‐to‐date information has never been greater and the consequences of ill‐informed decision‐making can be disastrous. I have been asked to consider what libraries are doing to meet these needs for business information.
Coping with software information
Authors: Periston Silvina
Published: February 2008

Concentrates on the organisational and indexing aspects of software collections. Unique problems are posed by: 1. the complexities of the nature of software; 2. rapid changes taking place in the software industry. One needs to decide if the collection is to be current or historical. The organisation of the material and level of indexing should be matched to the use being made of the system. Evaluates different levels of indexing. Discusses the indexing decisions that are unique to the software/information technology field. References are given to more detailed information.
Videotex and database management systems
Authors: Tuck W.R.
Published: February 2008

Videotex has developed, for the most part, along a separate path from that of traditional data processing. For this reason there have been relatively few attempts to merge the two fields, to apply the knowledge gained in the structure and management of traditional databases to the problems of videotex, or, on the other hand, to consider the user interface approach of videotex as a means of providing access to more traditional databases. In this paper we outline the historical reasons for this split, and indicate some of the ways in which a cross‐fertilisation between the two domains could now be valuable.
Information services in a beleaguered agricultural industry
Authors: Palmer Judith
Published: February 2008

Since the late 1970s mounting concern about farming practices and agricultural policy has coincided with a steady decrease in the funds available for publicly‐funded research. Major reorganisation taking place in agricultural research is forcing library and information departments to reassess the range of services they offer. The increasing pressure to seek commercial sponsorship in order to offset the effects of cuts, will have repercussions for information practitioners who will have to market their services more aggressively, extend their horizons, and increasingly come to regard information as a tradeable commodity. Information will become more commonly available to the end‐user without the necessity for an intermediary, both on the farm and in the laboratory.
The information society
Authors: Cronin Blaise
Published: February 2008

An information society is one in which labour has been intellectualised; one in which the expression ‘to earn one's daily bread by the sweat of one's brow’ sounds decidedly anachronistic. Employment in the information sector of the economy is growing apace — counterpoising stagnation and decline in the traditional manufacturing industries. Soon, terms such as information worker, knowledge engineer, ideas processor, symbol manipulator will be as common as weaver, cartwright and miller once were. As if to underscore this trend, the US Bureau of Labor recently reclassified the white‐collar work‐force as ‘information workers’. The soi disant information society has come of age. What began life as a sociological construct and then became a feature of futurologists' patois before degenerating into a media cliché, has finally achieved respectability through endorsement by economic and political analysts. How has this come about and what does it portend?
Problems in using medical statistics
Authors: Macfarlane Alison
Published: February 2008

I work at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit which is a Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) funded multidisciplinary research unit. We have a strong view that before collecting new data we should use the data which already exist. As a result, both our economist and I make very extensive use of official statistics.
Medical statistics: overview
Authors: Alderson Michael
Published: February 2008

This paper begins with a discussion of definitions of certain terms to be used, and clarifies the scope of the presentation. It then turns to aspects of libraries and users to clarify the services that may be required. The third and longest section briefly covers the different sorts of data that maybe available in or via libraries under the umbrella term medical statistics, and points to other sources of material.
The West German information policy: results of the first and plans for a second governmental programme
Authors: Abbel Robert
Published: February 2008

The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany was engaged upon formulating an information programme for the years 1985–1988 when I delivered this paper. (Since then the Program has been published and is also available in English). While this will result in a new orientation of governmental activities in this field it will of course rely on developments and experiences of the past and cannot be understood without knowing them. Therefore I will start with giving you this background especially with respect to the first programme for the Promotion of Information and Documentation, the so‐called IandD‐Programme of 1974. Then a short summary of the situation will be given as it has developed within and after this programme. And this will be the basis on which to discuss current activities and planning.
La France — a‐t‐elle une politique de l'information?
Authors: Meyriat Jean
Published: February 2008

Je vous entretiendrai de ce qui tient lieu en France de politique de l'information. Je pense en réalité qu'il s'agit plutôt d'une non‐politique de l'information et je vais tenter de vous expliquer pourquoi. Il faut pour cela d'abord caractériser la situation qui prévaut en France en matière d'information.
The context of change in the information professions
Authors: Melody William H.
Published: February 2008

The information profession owes much to Daniel Bell and his well‐publicised speculations in the 1970s about the future post‐industrial, or information society. People working in such long‐established and well settled sectors of society as education, libraries, printing, consultancy, administration, and the entire bureaucracies of every organisation in the world — including Britain's civil service — were suddenly reclassified as part of the information sector, and transformed into pioneers in the progressive and futuristic information society. Did the information sector really grow without anyone recognising it? Or has there always been a very large information sector? Its creation essentially was a relabelling exercise. But it did help to focus attention on the important and unique role of information in society.
Director's report on Aslib
Authors: Lewis Dennis A.
Published: February 2008

My last formal report to the Annual Conference was at Norwich in 1985, but I did offer both broad and detailed comments and opinions on the ‘state of the nation’ at the Multipartite Conference in Bournemouth in September 1985.
Transborder data flow — how it impinges on the information industry
Authors: Mahon Barry
Published: February 2008

I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert on transborder data flow (TBDF). On reflection I do not know what it takes to be an expert in the subject. It is however a subject which has taxed the minds of a large number of people in the information industry since the early 1980s and also a number of our public administrators. In that sense as I happen to be employed by an international administration it is inevitable that I should have come in contact with TBDF discussions at various levels. I will however, during this presentation, concern myself mostly with a review of the implications of TBDF. In so doing I will try to cover the following aspects:
Where research is going
Authors: Perry Brian
Published: February 2008

Library and information services worldwide are still having to face a period of great change, both in the environments within which they have to operate and in the types of services that they are expected to provide. Research must be directed to helping both the practitioner and the user to provide and react to services effectively, but at the same lime research funds for this are having to be stretched. Major trends affecting the scene are examined and current and future research is described, whose results will go towards solving some of the problems.
Electronic and print publishing — a media marriage
Authors: Hooper Richard
Published: February 2008

This occasion turns out to be rather special for a reason not known at the time that Dr Lewis invited me to give this lecture because since then I have begun my new life running Superchannel, the ITV/BBC European satellite television service. This lecture has therefore become a retrospective on electronic publishing looking back over my years at British Telecom and before that at Mills & Allen, where I created one of the first Prestel information providing companies. The title of my lecture is: ‘Electronic and print publishing — a media marriage’. You will note that there is no question mark.
Introducing information technology: experiences of a large industrial unit
Authors: Dutton B.G.
Published: February 2008

This is an account of recent thinking and development work relating to the impact of information technology on one sector of ICI and is not intended as a general overview of the field; the views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of ICI plc.
Excellence under the microscope
Authors: Cronin Blaise , Gudim Mairi
Published: February 2008

In recent years there has been a rash of text books and articles addressing the complex theme of organisational excellence. Successful organisations have come under the microscope as never before, and their structures, philosophies, strategies and leaders analysed to the point of near exhaustion. Corporate excellence has, it would appear, become the Holy Grail of contemporary management theory and practice.
The advisory role and changes in agricultural information
Authors: Read Nick
Published: February 2008

Following the recent paper by Palmer in Aslib Proceedings in which she discussed the changes taking place in agricultural information, this paper discusses the effect of recent government policy on personal advisory work. It seeks to demonstrate that state advisers and private consultants exhibit similar information‐related behaviour and share a relatively small clientele. Pressures of commercialisation on the public sector will increase competition which will be to the detriment of the public service as it will be unable to provide advice of the same intensity or quality as private consultants who can devote all of their time to their, relatively few, customers.
South‐East regional planning and the M25: the SERPLAN Regional Monitoring Group
Authors: Simmons Martin
Published: February 2008

The endurance of a regional planning forum in the South East (SERPLAN), its current strong activity in response to recent lack of interest by the Government, and its survival despite the abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC), is testimony to the crucial importance the local planning authorities attach to it. This stems mainly from the dynamics of social and economic change in the metropolitan region: the forces of dispersal — of people in search of better housing, of economic activity arising from changes in industrial and occupational structures — and decline in the Capital itself.
Telematics and retribalisation
Authors: Cronin Blaise
Published: February 2008

The word ‘telematics’ derives from the French ‘telematique’, a neologism coined by Simon Nora and Alain Minc, authors of a report commissioned by the French government, which appeared originally as L'informatisation de la societe (The computerisation of society). The report appeared in 1978 and despite its high octane intellectualism and occasional prolixity, succeeded in capturing the popular imagination. More to the point, it struck a cord with the then government and became, in effect, a blue‐print for major infrastructural reform and development — development which has continued apace under successive French governments.
Building the Domesday database — lessons for integrated database development
Authors: Tapper Richard
Published: February 2008

The Domesday Project videodiscs are the first integrated database to be created for public dissemination. They incorporate data, presented as simple interactive graphics, pictures and text from an unprecedented array of subject areas. This paper describes how the BBC team solved major problems to combine data from nearly 45 different sources into a single database.
Polytechnic libraries and academic research: a case study from Brighton Polytechnic
Authors: Heery Michael
Published: February 2008

This paper examines the growth of research in polytechnics. It considers the extent to which polytechnic libraries are able to support academic research. The role of large research collections, such as exist in many university libraries is discussed. The paper argues that polytechnic libraries can best support research not by emulating the collection‐building policies of the universities, but rather by developing active information services. It uses a case study from Brighton Polytechnic to demonstrate how a successful service has been offered to researchers in the subject fields of accountancy, business and management. Analysis of online search records and of a survey of academic staff is used to evaluate the efforts of Brighton Polytechnic library to provide a useful service to academic researchers.
Information for chemists — a European viewpoint
Authors: Hyams Monty
Published: February 2008

The chemical information marketplace is a truly international one, in which Europeans play a very important part, especially in the areas which I have selected for discussion. The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of chemical information systems which employ topological coding — for example, CAS online, Telesystemes‐DARC and the Molecular Design suite of programs.
How the organisation works
Authors: Drew Rodney
Published: February 2008

Over the past few years, organisation after organisation has gone through change and upheaval. Whether you call this rationalisation, reorganisation, or just ‘the cuts’, the eighties have seen an ever increasing concern with performance, productivity and profit. In this climate, many of the old familiar ways of doing things have been discarded, sometimes to be replaced with new innovative methods but all too often with the simplistic idea of ‘back to basics’.
A responsibility to change
Authors: Shute Alison
Published: February 2008

This paper is based on public library experience and draws mostly on Devon but aims to cover themes and messages which apply equally to other libraries and information services.
Marketing the library
Authors: Smith Roy
Published: February 2008

I have a confession to make. I wrote a paper, The marketing of libraries, which turned out to be a poor man's Blaise Cronin. My sin was not to ask the elementary questions of the Aslib request for my presence — namely: ‘What, when, where and why?’ Had I done so I would have got to ‘Why’ and saved myself some hours of writing and research. Why then did Aslib ask me? The answer must be that Sutton has succeeded in crashing the normally impenetrable barrier between public and special libraries. Possibly its razzmatazz, its well‐oiled publicity machine — even its maverick temerity to accept that libraries are not, and probably cannot be, ‘open and free’, may have struck a spark in your conference organising committee's consciousness.
A bigger slice: cost justification for library and information services
Authors: McLean Neil
Published: February 2008

Libraries, as distinct from information services, have built their existing reputation primarily on their ability to acquire a broad resource base of books, journals and grey literature in advance of demand in order to meet as many demands as possible. Size of collection has always been an implicit measure of success both in the eyes of fellow professionals and in the eyes of the parent body. The acquisition and maintenance of such collections demanded a high proportion of fixed costs and most justification centred on incremental adjustments arising out of inflation costs or the need to provide a larger resource base. This general approach to the costing of traditional libraries has been common to both the public and private sector irrespective of the size of the library involved but it is now under severe challenge for a number of reasons:
Micro software for library and information work — an overview
Authors: Ramsden Anne
Published: February 2008

There is a wide diversity of microcomputer software on the market, and in the last two to three years in particular, there has been an enormous growth in software to meet the needs of both the small special library and the information unit.
Information services for local authorities
Authors: Mort David
Published: February 2008

I have just moved back into the local government information area after working for six years in business information at the University of Warwick, so I am no expert on local government information services, so I'm not going to go through a list of the services available — the new directory mentioned by Mary Robinson can do that much better than I can. What I am going to do is talk about a new information service for local authorities — the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), describe how this new initiative relates to some of the established services, and finally make some general observations on information services for local government.
Databases and networks: a directory
Authors: Robinson Mary
Published: February 2008

The Local Government Training Board is an organisation set up by, and for, local authorities to promote and advise on training in local government throughout England and Wales. One of our major roles is to act as an information exchange about training and management in local government. We encourage local authorities to share experiences and information. As part of this, we are therefore very interested in better access to local authority documents. This paper discusses the recent activities of the SCOOP Working Party on local authority documents and also tells you something about the new directory it has produced.
Corporate citizenship and monopolistic practices in the information industry: a study of IBM
Authors: Rafferty Pauline , Cronin Blaise , Carson James
Published: February 2008

Image is important in business. Corporate advertising is a means of raising salience, heightening consumer awareness, establishing market presence and credibility, creating an organisational culture and, more recently, influencing shareholders and averting hostile takeover bids. To quote Management Today: ‘Familiarity breeds favour, not contempt. Nine times out of ten in every country, there is a high correlation between how well people know a company and how well they regard it’. It is hardly surprising that corporate expenditures on media advertising can be reckoned in billions of dollars. Transnational corporations (TNCs) and political parties alike have discovered that image is not a matter of peripheral concern, but a fundamental lever in manipulating public opinion. Opinion polls over the last decade have demonstrated that seven out of 10 people believe that a company with a good reputation will not sell poor quality goods. That perception may be spurious, but its effect on profitability is very real. However,‘… if a company can't deliver its corporate promise at point of sale, lavish ad campaigns are nothing less than a waste of money’.
School/public library co‐operation
Authors: Tameem Jamal A.
Published: February 2008

School/public library co‐operation has been a significant topic in the discussion of networking libraries and co‐operative ventures to improve the information services in the community. Different authors and researchers have elaborated different perspectives on interlibrary co‐operation. This paper is an attempt to survey these perspectives in order to provide insights into trends and critical issues regarding co‐operative activities between school and public libraries. The discussion defines the nature of co‐operation as well as the functions of the agencies involved in co‐operative activities. It then elaborates the need for such endeavours in order to evaluate the significance and contribution of interlibrary co‐operation in the community. The paper also addresses the agreed‐upon principles on which co‐operation has been based. The criteria for successful co‐operation are elaborated to identify factors that could be conducive to co‐operative endeavours. The discussion also includes a review of available research studies in order to identify research findings and trends in the area. Some co‐operative activities are highlighted to provide a picture of the status and extent of co‐operation. An analysis is also provided of combined school and public library systems and multiple library systems to assess the success of these programs. Finally, emerging trends in school/public library co‐operation are identified to predict the future of co‐operative activities, research studies are evaluated and some new areas for future research are suggested.
Acquiring unpublished population documents in Africa: a personal experience
Authors: Kwafo‐Akoto Kate O.
Published: February 2008

Acquiring both published and unpublished documents produced in Africa is, generally, a difficult task due to the existing poor state of bibliographic control and the publishing industry. It is even more difficult to obtain unpublished documents in a specialised area of study such as demography — a diffused area which cuts across several disciplines. This paper discusses the problems encountered on acquisition trips to some African countries to acquire unpublished population material, and some recommendations are made to help improve the current unsatisfactory situation.
The Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS) library at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Tameem Jamal A.
Published: February 2008

This study covers the development of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS) Library from 1979 to 1986. The IDS functions under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The IDS Library has favoured the development of the diplomatic and professional skills of promising Saudi diplomats from a number of governmental agencies. In this time period, the IDA Library saw considerable development in library area, collections, technical services, staffing, and general support services. There is also a new administrative plan for organising the library and its services. The success of this depends on the skills of the library staff. The IDS Library currently has 12 staff members, three of whom were sent to the US to finish their doctorates in LIS.
Sources of environmental pollution information: radioactivity
Authors: Gaines Matthew J.
Published: February 2008

Since international relations are highly developed in radiological protection, many of the sources of information are international agencies or organisations overseas. This paper explains the role of the more important agencies, particularly the International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency. For the UK it describes the distribution of responsibilities within government and industry, and summarises the role of the National Radiological Protection Board. Finally, it points to factors which are likely to generate even more work for librarians.
Library/education problems with electronic copyright
Authors: Wall Raymond A.
Published: February 2008

From receiving my copy of the draft copyright clauses of the forthcoming Bill late on 5 August 1987 to parting with comments compiled with the participation of the library/information organisations on 21 August 1987, I lived, ate and breathed the words of the parliamentary draftsman. Some words were found palatable and refreshingly pithy compared with 1956. The ‘haute cuisine’ treatment of databases as cable programme services was welcomed, once realised on the second read through. Other parts were unpalatable, and some positively caused indigestion. In certain places I was hungry for more, however. The main aim of this paper is to explain and summarise what I believe to be the ‘electronic copyright’ problems in libraries, and also in education resource units, on which the draft clauses could have provided more.
Technology transfer in forestry
Authors: Hibberd B.G.
Published: February 2008

Foresters in the British Isles have been compelled to develop and apply new techniques during this century. By 1919 the area of woodlands and forests in Great Britain had been reduced to 0.9 million hectares, less than 5 per cent of Great Britain's total land area of 22.7 million hectares, and this in a country which would, without the influence of man, have had tree cover extending to all but the most exposed sites, with a natural tree cover 6,000 years ago of between 60 and 70 per cent of the land area. It was evident that these crowded islands could no longer support woodlands without government intervention; financial returns on investments in afforestation were low in industrial terms and took many years to be realised; the ever present need for food production had largely ousted trees from all but the least fertile sites and the widespread introduction of herbivores and persecution, often to the point of extinction of the larger carnivores, meant that natural regeneration by native tree species had little prospect of redressing the balance.
Information services for industry and commerce in Northern Ireland
Authors: MacNabb A. , Philip G. , Martin W.J.
Published: February 2008

This article is based on a British Library Research and Development funded project entitled ‘Industrial, commercial and agricultural information in Northern Ireland: a survey of needs and provision,’ October 1985‐June 1987, by A. MacNabb, Dr G. Philip and Dr W.J. Martin, Department of Information Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast.
Keynote paper: the age of competition
Authors: Heller Robert
Published: February 2008

There's no doubt that the information industry is the world's fastest growing: not only micros, software, workstations and databases but magazines, news‐letter books, every form of printed and televised message. Desktop publishing threatens another surge forward. Technological revolutions never come about by accident — so what's the reason?
Value chains, pogo sticks and competitive edge
Authors: Cronin Blaise
Published: February 2008

A pogo stick puts spring in your heels. It takes you hip‐hop‐hopping past the foot trekkers. Information technology (IT) is the executive's pogo stick: with it you skip ahead of your rivals and leave the competition for dead. Would that life were so simple … that one‐upmanship were so easily achieved. The copywriters' inflated rhetoric promises a great deal. When you buy system XYZ you are also getting in‐built competitive advantage. White rabbits out of hats. Sometimes there is no rabbit; sometimes it's not white; sometimes it's a mutant; sometimes there's no rabbit, just a lot of droppings. But the copywriters ignore reality. Gaining and sustaining competitive edge may not be as easy as ABC, but it's no more difficult than bouncing along on a pogo stick. Just make your cheque payable to XYZ Inc…
The Information Question Time
Authors: Widdowson John , Ivens Michael , Heller Robert , Gomershall Alan , Brown Royston
Published: February 2008

I still have an affiliation to BSI, but my current prime role is with a new organisation called Resource which is half‐way between the British Government and BSI, with an express role to improve the influence of the UK through co‐operative projects with overseas countries. So, the sort of information consultancy I was doing in Thailand and Saudi Arabia, and various other countries, I am still doing but with a wider brief to help not only BSI but other quality organisations and I hope possibly organisations like the ones you work for. One of the reasons why I am saying this is to encourage you to see me at a later stage if you have any interest in overseas developments of projects on the information side, to see whether we can assist or even contribute funds towards the development of such things. Having only been with Resource since 25 January 1988, I think it would be undiplomatic of me to speak on their behalf, so for the purpose of this exercise I am speaking only as John Widdowson, individual and traveller, with, hopefully, some outside view.
Keynote paper: A view to the future for the information industry
Authors: Bennion Yvonne
Published: February 2008

I am extremely grateful to you for giving me an opportunity to contribute to your conference, though as someone who has followed a career somewhat removed from your immediate concerns, I should say that I never in my wildest dreams imagined as a trainee librarian nearly 20 years ago that I should be standing here today!
Research and development
Authors: Worlock David
Published: February 2008

The IT industry in the UK, and thus by reduction the information content‐orientated industries which create the services and products used in the IT environment in homes, laboratories and offices, live in highly competitive times. The information industry is by definition a global industry, and increasingly the research and development of new products is seen upon a global basis. The continued development of a world communication system, with satellite links between concentrations of product and service implementation, ensures that this is the case. The major information economies of the USA and Japan strive for leadership in this environment. While not competitive in that league, the UK information economy is examined by government and industry alike to ensure that we have in the UK what it takes to establish a large indigenous information industry, creating high levels of information service employment and creating considerable export potential. Yet, while the American Information Industry Association (IIA) has recently appointed a Director of Globalisation, the UK industry remains more on the defensive than the offensive. Research and development activity has plateaued in most sectors and fallen in some, while government contributions overall are planned to fall dramatically. There was never a better time to look at the future of the information industry: research and development is the key to that future.
An overview of microcomputer text retrieval packages
Authors: Rowley J.E.
Published: February 2008

Text retrieval software packages are designed to support the creation of textual rather than numerical, tabular or graphical databases. General trends concerning the nature of text retrieval software packages that run on microcomputers are analysed. A profile is drawn of the various features that can be expected of a text retrieval package, in order to build a picture of a typical package and to facilitate comparisons between packages. Factors that are considered are: price ranges, the length of time that packages have been available in the marketplace, contract and support, use and access, programming languages, outputs, retrieval facilities, interfaces and integrated modules. The market is shown still to be developing and changing.
Use and abuse of statistics
Authors: Hoyle Susan
Published: February 2008

My first illustration, intended to show some of the problems facing those of us who use statistics to convey information to others, comes not from transport, but involves a giraffe called Victor, whom you may recall some years back becoming the focus of the nation's concern when he fell on his knees after being moved to a new zoo. Giraffes are not designed to be on their knees; they always stand, awake and asleep; and Victor's life was in grave danger. The radio news reporter asked the vet what chance Victor had of surviving the attempt to put him on his feet again. ‘A 50/50 chance’, said the vet. Victor died. The next day the reporter was back and thus accused the vet: ‘You said he had a 50/50 chance and he's dead, so you were wrong, weren't you?’ It is hard to know how to deal with this level of ignorance of what numbers mean, but people's nervousness around statements of probability in particular can be, and frequently are, taken advantage of.
Sources of non‐government transport statistics
Authors: Godward Ernest
Published: February 2008

We are, all of us, each and every day, a transport statistic. We probably do not realise the fact. As we purchase the ticket for our journey we are unwittingly entered into some computer system and thereby become a statistic. This, however, does not indicate that ‘Big Brother’ is watching you. The systems currently available would not know you from Adam. Taking a typical example; if you have travelled here by bus today your statistic will look as in Figure 1.
Who needs knowledge? The Aslib Annual Lecture
Authors: Benton Peter
Published: February 2008

I've tried, in thinking about this talk, to live up to that provocative title. ‘To proceed pulpitically’, as Lord Chesterfield would say, I would like to start with a text from Lord Melbourne, that wise old counsellor of Queen Victoria, and it runs like this, ‘I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macauley is of everything.’ To put that in a slightly different way, ‘In an uncertain world it is more important to understand than to know’. You may just be intrigued that the new science curriculum has come to a view which I hope will soon be published, that in teaching science to children from the age of five to sixteen, perhaps no more than 40 per cent of the weighting should be on what they actually learn in terms of knowledge and skills. Equally important — perhaps more so — is that they should acquire scientific method, the ability to observe, to infer, to induce and to deduce, to test their conclusions in real life and to communicate these conclusions. So I believe that in an uncertain world this phrase, that it is better to understand than to know, deserves to have a wider currency.
Agricultural information in Northern Ireland
Authors: Philip George , MacNabb A. , Martin W.J.
Published: February 2008

This paper is based on the second of a two‐part report on a British Library Research and Development funded project which surveyed the information needs of, and provision for industry, commerce and agriculture in Northern Ireland. This article examines information provision for the agricultural sector while part one was concerned with the industrial and commercial sectors. The main information providers to the agricultural sector were identified as the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, The Ulster Farmers Union, The Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association, The Milk Marketing Board, The Livestock Marketing Commission and the agricultural education and research establishments. Each of these providers were interviewed as was a 2% sample of farmers throughout Northern Ireland. The survey of farmers showed that for the most part, farmers were satisfied with the present level of provision. It was noticeable that their information needs were not as acute as those of the industrial and commercial sectors. This could be attributed to the fact that most farms in Northern Ireland are small and there is a heavy reliance on tradition. Most farmers surveyed were of the impression that the information was available if needed. It was entirely coincidental that this survey was conducted at a time when active consideration was being given to the possible imposition of charges for the Department of Agriculture Advisory Services. Farmers rated the present advisory services quite highly, although few were aware of the full range of services available to them. This survey should be a useful pointer to existing trends in the use of services and should also indicate gaps in provision.
End‐user searching — What are the implications?
Authors: Dutton Brian
Published: February 2008

Previous speakers have covered developments in online and in the associated field of CD—ROM and several referred to the end‐user. The purpose of this paper is to outline thinking with regard to the role of the end‐user in the use of these facilities.
Information retrieval using micros
Authors: Woodward Tony
Published: February 2008

This forms the basic theme of this presentation. I am sure that this is evident to everybody who has any concern in this field at all. Most of the increasing power of microcomputer information retrieval systems comes from two developments: the developments of the information retrieval engine itself and the development of the user interface. The basic parameters of text retrieval remain much the same i.e. select your index terms, create an inverted file, provide very rapid search facilities and Boolean operands to limit your searches. The basic flaw in all text retrieval is the heavy investment in processing of the inverted file which makes most text retrieval unsatisfactory for transaction based processing such as stock control.