bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From paradigm to practice: the logic of promotion
Authors: Cronin Blaise
Published: February 2008

As you may well have guessed from the title of this paper I intend to concentrate today on the thinking or rationale behind library promotion. I make no apologies for the fact that my approach will be in the main theoretical because it seems to me that there is little point in discussing the mechanics of library promotion unless we first have a clear idea of why libraries should be concerned with developing what Ralph Gee referred to as a ‘promotional creed’. Despite a healthy and growing awareness of the need to, for want of a better word, sell the library and its services more effectively, there are, still, pockets of scepticism, resistance and suspicion within the profession; for some of our colleagues the principles and practice of marketing have no place in the canon of librarianship, and it's for this reason that I feel a good spring‐cleaning of our ideas and assumptions about library promotion in general will not go amiss. For that reason I'm deliberately going to sidestep the question ‘What does library promotion involve?’ and concentrate instead on the logically antecedent question ‘Why should libraries be concerned with promotion?’; that is to say, I'm going to focus on the function rather than the tools of promotion. As Patricia Berger put it recently, ‘the financial stability of public libraries depends on a continuous and total public relations program rather than isolated incidents; long range preventive methods rather than a remedial or crisis orientated approach will help public libraries persuade communities of their indispensability’.
Current affairs information in local Government
Authors: Peacock Alan
Published: February 2008

Firstly, I must point out to the reader that this article differs a little from the speech actually given at the conference. My second explanation is the inevitable statement that any views expressed here are entirely my own and do not necessarily represent official Cheshire County Council views.
Current affairs information for the media
Authors: Whatmore Geoffrey
Published: February 2008

It is my task to describe how current affairs information is handled by the people who distribute and package it, the media themselves. (I should apologise for the use of that term, which I personally dislike, and so do most journalists and broadcasters, but we have failed to invent a better collective noun.) If there is time we might look at the librarians of the media and consider why there are not more of them, and why the tenets of formal librarianship do not always run there. I shall also be taking a look at computerised information systems, which are by no means ideal for us as yet. But these will grow side by side with conventional systems, so let us consider these first.
Serials control
Authors: Shaw D.F.
Published: February 2008

Serials control is thought to be the most difficult of library housekeeping processes to automate. No automated serials control system has yet been demonstrated to be cost‐effective. Reference is made to systems developed for large mainframes, e.g. OCLC, DOBIS, RLIN and UTLAS. Mini‐computer based systems show promise of more efficient operation. Studies at Oxford have shown the feasibility of automated serials check‐in being achieved faster than is possible manually. Further studies have demonstrated the constraints imposed for a comprehensive system to be cost‐effective. Prediction of the arrival date for irregular serials is a major problem. The difficulties (and expense) of updating files in real‐time represents another problem for which a tentative solution is proposed. The need to improve the user interface is emphasised and this is one of the most important matters for further study.
Photocopying rights and wrongs: a librarian's view
Authors: Wall Raymond A.
Published: February 2008

Controversy was aroused by the Whitford Report of 1977. Library professional bodies and others argued strongly against the Report and recommended alternative approaches to cover multiple copying. In respect of photocopying, the Whitford Report recommended ‘blanket licensing to cater for all user requirements for facsimile copies’ with payment of royalties to collecting societies for distribution to copyright owners. The licensing scheme envisaged would remove the right of an individual to the ‘fair dealing’ single copies which are allowed without royalties by the 1956 Copyright Act, though private researchers or students would be permitted to make their own manuscript copies. Owners of coin‐operated machines would require a special licence and responsibility for infringement would be transferred from the individual user to the machine owner.
British Library supported research in agricultural, biological and medical information
Authors: O'Hare Margaret
Published: February 2008

I should like to describe the work of the biological, argricultural and medical information Review Panels and examine their impact on the information scene in these sectors within the U.K.
The machine aided translator
Authors: Snell Barbara
Published: February 2008

How can a translator's valuable time be saved by the use of electronic equipment? Modern aids—primarily word processors but also telecopiers, dictation equipment and optical character readers are examined. The translation process is broken down with examples, to establish which components can benefit from equipment available at moderate cost. Production time for supported and solitary translators is compared to establish possible time saving areas. Manual tasks undertaken by translator or secretary gain most from mechanisation but information search is also an important area for savings.
Resource sharing in Universities and Polytechnics—possibilities and limitations
Authors: Moody Pat
Published: February 2008

I hope to avoid in this talk issues which are common to all types of libraries. Having previously worked in a specialist medical library and a government library. I hope I have chosen the points which are peculiar to higher education establishments.
NRCd, word processors and the information industry
Authors: Painter Derek
Published: February 2008

The National Reprographic Centre for documentation was formed in 1967 to examine the value of microform systems to members of the library community. In the summer of 1979 the Centre installed a word processing system in order to see how useful this new technology might prove to be in similar environments. NRCd has investigated three applications which may prove to be valuable to special librarians: the relationship between word processors and other reprographic devices, notably photo‐typesetting machines and COM recorders; the automation of certain housekeeping tasks and the mechanisation of information retrieval on a small scale.
Grey literature — the role of the British Library Lending Division
Authors: Wood David
Published: February 2008

In the days of the National Lending Library, the policy of what is now the British Library Lending Division was simply to develop and promote the use of a collection of worthwhile scientific and technical literature. Worthwhile literature was defined as that which might be of use to the higher educational, research and industrial communities. Besides ‘level’ a number of other criteria were also taken into consideration in deciding what we should acquire—demand, cost, availability elsewhere and country of origin. When it became part of the British Library, acquisitions policy changed very little except that coverage was extended to the point where the library began to collect literature in all subject fields and our attitude towards level became somewhat more relaxed.
Market research reports, house journals and trade literature
Authors: King David
Published: February 2008

This paper defines market research reports, house journals and trade literature, discusses the availability of these forms of literature within the U.K. and finally considers their bibliographic control. The discussion on bibliographic control is not limited to literature emanating from the U.K. Since the three types of literature are very different from each other (although house journals and trade literature have features in common) they will be treated as quite separate cases. The need for, and use of these types of literature, undeniably very important topics, are nevertheless outside the scope of this paper.
Local government information: a ‘grey’ area
Authors: Nuttall Barry
Published: February 2008

It has been estimated that in 1980 local government in Britain produced about 50,000 documents. In the same year the British National Bibliography included 42,000 publications and of these a mere 250 emanated from local authorities. This gives a percentage of 0.5 per cent appearance in the BNB and shows the size of the problem.
Commercial sources of non‐conventional literature: the Catalogue of British Official Publications not published by HMSO and Business and Government
Authors: Chadwyck‐Healey Charles
Published: February 2008

I consider that the title of my contribution is perhaps somewhat misleading because when I first became aware of the huge mass of official publications that were by‐passing HMSO I did not think of them so much as grey or non‐conventional literature but as very conventional and in many cases very important official publications.
Information and satellite technology
Authors: Morris R.
Published: February 2008

I shall divide my paper into three parts:
Document delivery, now and in the future
Authors: Line Maurice B.
Published: February 2008

Although no library has ever been self‐sufficient, full recognition of local insufficiency has developed only in fairly recent times, as the output of published material has grown at an unprecedented rate and at the same time its bibliographic control has improved enormously, even though computer‐based bibliographic searches generate only a small minority (one‐seventh or one‐eighth) of document requests. Some means of access to external resources becomes increasingly necessary, and new possibilities for achieving this seem to be dawning. The implications of moving from a ‘holdings strategy to an access strategy’, as suggested in the recent LISC Report, are far‐reaching; I propose to touch on some of these in this paper. The major revolution is that technology appears to be on the verge of making it possible, perhaps even easy, to transmit texts to users over long distances.
Project Hermes
Authors: Yates D.M.
Published: February 2008

In 1981 the National Physical Laboratory and Pira undertook for the Department of Industry a project definition study for a document delivery project to be known as Hermes. The prime aim of the project was to give a practical demonstration of how Teletex (n.b. not Teletext) technology may be applied to publishing activities. The aim of this paper is to describe in outline the system proposed by this study. Recently (November 1982), detailed planning of the first phase of the project has been initiated by the Department.
Some thoughts on the provision of courses in reading for industry
Authors: Finlay Ian F.
Published: February 2008

There is a distinct need in British industry for personnel fulfilling a variety of functions, ranging from information science to distribution, who can read a variety of foreign languages within a given subject field. Specific courses of training catering for such personnel are largely conspicuous by their absence, added to which there would often seem to be a marked lack of realization of the need for them in both industry and those institutions which should be catering realistically for its real rather than imagined needs. This contribution, by a former industrial linguist, sets out to amplify this thesis on the basis of many years of practical experience.
A Future for Printed Indexes?
Authors: Rowley Jennifer E.
Published: February 2008

The present applications of printed indexes in books, periodicals, quick reference sources and indexing and abstracting publications are considered, and the future for printed indexes in each of these spheres is examined. The printed index is often a supplement to the document which it indexes. For each of the four categories of printed index two questions are explored: whether the documents being indexed will continue in printed form; and whether it will continue to be unacceptable to have the index and document in different physical forms.
External databases: an overview
Authors: Foster Allan
Published: February 2008

A typology for external online databases is presented and the current number of bibliographic and source databases is assessed. The nature and importance of source databases, particularly full‐text and numeric services, is discussed. Information professionals must embrace these new products if they are to maintain and extend their role in information transfer.
Computerisation of an industrial information department — the use of STATUS at Howson Algraphy
Authors: Hetherington Jim
Published: February 2008

The problems facing the Information Department due to a combination of an outdated manual edge punched card information system and new requirements are discussed. The approach taken in justifying a major computerisation programme is outlined and a brief description of the application of the chosen package, STATUS is given.
An exploration into the social and economic effects of information technology
Authors: Wray Donald
Published: February 2008

Whenever I find myself confronted with the type of form that one has to fill in when passing through immigration control, or registering at a hotel or applying for a credit card I can usually remember my name and address without too much difficulty but I am becoming increasingly troubled when it comes to filling in the box headed ‘occupation’. A few years ago I would have put in ‘telecommunications’ or ‘telecommunicator’ and would have felt confident that I knew what that meant even if the person reading the form did not—that is, if anyone does actually read these forms. But, during the course of last year—the year of Information Technology, IT82—it was borne upon me that telecommunications was but a sub‐set of something much bigger and grander, namely Information Technology (IT). So should I say that I am an ‘information technologist’?
Agdex—grass‐roots information
Authors: Johnson Ruth M. , Mullay Marilyn
Published: February 2008

Agdex is an indexing service to the intermediate literature of agriculture providing a current awareness and retrieval service primarily for agricultural advisers in Scotland. The development of Agdex from 1973 and the progress made from a manual index using optical co‐incidence cards to an online bibliographic database is described. The processes involved in its production from the selection of material through indexing to searching the database are explained. Since 1973 the market for the service has expanded to include students involved in agricultural education and training throughout the UK. With the needs of users in mind plans for the future include coverage from a wider spectrum of material using co‐operative input and the addition of informative abstracts. Long term, Agdex may become a national bibliographic database for the agriculture industry.
‘Public domain’ software
Authors: Templeton Ray
Published: February 2008

‘Public Domain’, in its clearly defined legal sense, is a phrase which is used to describe an item, usually a book or a play, which is no longer copyright, i.e. when the author of the item has been dead for 50 years. It is perhaps peculiar, therefore, to see it used to describe computer software, as there cannot be many program writers who fall into this category.
Information in local government: challenge and opportunity
Authors: Wilson T.D.
Published: February 2008

In this country local authorities perform many tasks in society, from keeping an eye on the quality of goods, through the maintenance of parks and other amenities, to the provision of basic services in education and social welfare. In doing all of this, those concerned get very little in the way of thanks — more often there are brickbats from the monetarist politicians seeking to control public expenditure and from the ratepayers who bear the consequences.
Commercial information: packaging for innovative services and accelerated recovery
Authors: Cannon Tom
Published: February 2008

This paper adopts a relatively broadbrush approach to an examination of the current state of commercial information and related services. An attempt will be made to integrate the analysis of public and private services while exploring the ways in which more need or requirement based initiatives are taking place within large corporations and other organisations. During this paper the impact of two parallel developments on commercial information and related services will be reviewed. These are:
Information in national planning—a developing role
Authors: Higham Norman
Published: February 2008

It is appropriate in this setting to remember the story of the Scottish Minister chastising his flock for their multitudinous sins, and threatening them with hell‐fire and damnation on the Day of Judgement. ‘Ye'll cry out then to the Almighty “Lord, Lord, we didna ken!” and the Lord in his Infinite Mercy will look down on ye and say “Aye well, ye ken the noo!”’ Lack of information can have serious consequences. Ignorance of the law is no defence in court. And a recent series of advertisements for The Times offered graphic examples of the consequences of not being better informed. Everyone agrees that being better informed is a good thing, everyone wants information but not everyone is prepared for significant resources to be spent on it. But no advances can be made except on a basis of a considerable body of information. All actions are based on information. The experienced person is calling on his own mental information store a million times a day. It is interesting to speculate to what extent he selectively recalls information, to what extent one part of his brain acts as ‘information intermediary’, filtering information and rejecting ‘noise’, an aspect of information work arousing considerable interest today.
Problems at work
Authors: Slater Margaret
Published: February 2008

‘What aspects of your job present the most difficulty?’ Answers to this question, involving graphic and sometimes disturbing descriptions of the problems and constraints of working life, were provided by samples of chemists, engineers and insurance personnel during 1981. The information was collected as background material, while investigating an apparently different but actually related topic. Results and subsequent speculations seemed, however, to make it worth excising this fairly self‐contained body of data on impedances to effective job performance and presenting it in isolation. Apart from light thrown on the wider subject of the original enquiry, the exercise may be useful in its own right to anyone concerned with studying or improving the nature, quality and productivity of working life. Managers, personnel and training officers, sociologists and industrial psychologists may therefore find it interesting.
Aspects of referral
Authors: Martyn John , Rousseau Glenda
Published: February 2008

The report of the Metals Information Review Committee contains two recommendations relating to referral. The first, classed as a Principal Recommendation, was to the effect that a pilot referral centre for metals information should be established at the Metals Society and funded by the Department of Industry. The second, listed among the Other Recommendations, was that the British Library Research & Development Department should investigate the effectiveness of current informal referral practices, including the role of referral in technology transfer. It noted that the project should include consideration of whether there should be a national referral system for science and technology, or whether smaller, subject or industry‐oriented services are more appropriate. According to the report, this recommendation was based on the finding that ‘the referral function is a basic component in effective access to and availability of information, independent of improving bibliographic control and information dissemination. It provides a key to maximising the usefulness of existing resources of knowledge and information’.
The electronic academy
Authors: Cronin Blaise
Published: February 2008

This article is based on a study commissioned by the British Library Research & Development Department to consider the feasibility of setting up a national distance learning scheme for information and library studies in the United Kingdom. It reviews recent developments internationally in the field of distance learning and provides an assessment of the enabling technologies. A number of models for future action are proposed.
Public/private sector interaction: a review of issues with particular reference to document delivery and electronic publishing
Authors: Cronin Blaise , Martyn John
Published: February 2008

This review of the literature on the interaction between the public and private sectors in information services provision, with specific reference to document delivery and the impact of new communications technologies, was undertaken at the request of the British National Bibliography Research Fund. It covers only the English‐language literature, and does not present any particular point of view other than is implicit in the literature covered. Some notes on the issues explicitly or implicitly raised in the review are presented in the final section.
FEROS
Authors: Power John
Published: February 2008

I work for the Inner London Education Authority in a post which deals with co‐ordinating computing developments across the twenty‐eight maintained and aided colleges in the authority. I became the computer liaison officer in December 1983 and had previously been in the ILEA for fourteen months, but before then had no computer background at all.
Distributed information processing: trends and implications
Authors: Wiggins R.E.
Published: February 2008

Ask what is meant by ‘Distributed Information Processing’ (DIP) and you are likely to receive as many varied answers as there are respondents. Depending on their background and experience, they may refer to such matters as distributed computing, communications networks, clustered mini‐computers, office automation, local area networks, personal computers; the list is virtually endless.
One‐woman show: the case of the electronics library
Authors: Sliney Marjory
Published: February 2008

The library and information needs of a small Irish electronics company are outlined against the backdrop of existing library services outside the company. The alternatives available and the setting up of a library and information facility — as a one‐woman show — within the company are documented.
Factual databases
Authors: Martyn John
Published: February 2008

As seems always to be the case in the information field, the terminology relating to databases is loose and imprecise. Twenty years ago we used to talk about abstracting and indexing services, meaning lists of references to journal articles and other forms of publication, usually with abstracts of the articles, and with a variety of indexes. They were always printed services, published anything from fortnightly to annually. There were also data compilations, such as the Annual Abstract of Statistics, the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, better known perhaps as the Rubber Bible, Wisden and Bradshaw. There wasn't any particular connection in the information officer's mind between an abstracts journal and the other things I've mentioned, except of course that they were all sources of information. Fifteen years ago the abstracts journals were being printed using computer support, which meant that machine‐readable versions existed, and were available for searching. Searches were done in batch mode, you may remember. Not long afterwards, information people began to acquire the ability to search these computer‐held versions for themselves, and the term ‘database’ began to be heard, meaning a machine‐searchable file of bibliographic references. Then various organisations began making collections of numerical data available, and for a little while these were called ‘databanks’, to distinguish them from ‘databases’, although not everybody actually made the distinction. More recently, there have been files available which contain names and addresses, or other sorts of directory information, which while not being bibliographical are not numerical either. There are also files of connected text, and even files which consist of computer programs that are available for downloading and use by the customers.
Promotion of industrial innovation by public sector agencies: information methodology
Authors: Smith Peter
Published: February 2008

This paper presents experiences gathered by the author during a twelve‐month period in an enterprise agency, Tyne & Wear Enterprise Trust Ltd, providing a service to small and medium‐sized manufacturing firms in the fields of product diversification and innovation.
Trends in private viewdata systems
Authors: Hunter P.N.
Published: February 2008

I would like to thank the organiser of the Seminar for giving me such a wide brief: trends in private viewdata systems in the context of where we are now and where we want to go. I shall treat it as a licence to discuss practically anything which has to do with private viewdata systems. I will start with a ‘historical’ section, so as to indicate what qualifications I've got for discussing this subject. Then I'll show what viewdata looks like to me at the moment. Last, I will say where I think viewdata ought to go, or might go, in the future.
Third party services
Authors: Ewan Jim
Published: February 2008

First of all I must stress that my remarks do not necessarily, or even probably, reflect Intercom's attitude — and I trust that you will treat this as personal data, in the spirit of the Act.
User‐survey of an international library — resource allocation: preferred allocations of the library budget
Authors: Norton Robert , Gautschi David
Published: February 2008

In a previous paper we have attempted to describe the potential value of measuring how users perceive the library, and we have shown how segments of the user population could be defined by a perceptual criterion. This paper is an attempt to describe progress in the research on both quantitative and qualitative levels: we attempt to describe measurements of preferences in collection, resources and services developments of those segments of the user‐group. We attempt also to signal correlations of these expressed preferences in terms of perceptions previously indicated.
China, the inscrutable phoenix: libraries from pre‐Ming to post‐Mao
Authors: Evans Tony
Published: February 2008

It is said that one of the first recorded libraries of any magnitude was that of the Imperial Chou dynasty at Luoyang in the modern province of Henan in the 7th century BC, although the existence of libraries in China can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty about 500 years earlier. There is indeed said to be some positive evidence of documentation activities also going on in the 12th Century BC, since there are records of seismic activity dating from that time. Some three hundred years after this ‘first’ library, however, the infamous act of ‘Burning the Books’ took place. This was carried out on the orders of Shih Huang Ti — the self‐styled ‘First Emperor’ of the Ch'in Dynasty as a result of a petition from his First Minister to eradicate all earlier teachings. Not only did they condemn those who did not hand over their books, to forced labour on the Great Wall for four years, but also buried alive several hundred scholars who were suspected of knowing the books so thoroughly that they could reiterate their contents from memory. This act of ‘Burning the Books’ repeated itself of course during the Cultural Revolution as to a certain extent did a 20th century, although not necessarily much more humane, process of burying alive take place. The emperor was said, however, to have preserved copies in the Imperial Library, and especially those dealing with divination, pharmacy, medicine, agriculture and arboriculture. He also might, to perhaps stretch a point a little, have been said to have been involved in the documentation world, since he was apparently responsible for a wide range of standardisation including the track gauge of chariots — possibly to help him get the dimensions of the Great Wall right (from some parts of the Great Wall I saw however, a mountain goat would have problems let alone a horse and chariot).
Graduate labour market statistics
Authors: Tarsh Jason
Published: February 2008

This article is intended to give a detailed if summary account of recent statistics and research on the graduate labour market. The past five years have seen renewed interest in links between higher education and the economy. Graduate manpower statistics can therefore be seen not just as records of graduate deployment but also as means of assessing claims that have been made about higher education and the labour market. Where possible this account of the statistics includes a brief reference to how they can be used in this type of debate.
Vocabulary control and information technology
Authors: Austin Derek
Published: February 2008

Writers on library automation such as Borko and Lancaster foresee an end to human‐based indexing and classification. They anticipate a time when users will be able to direct their subject enquiries at machine‐held files of keywords extracted automatically from the ‘natural uncontrolled language of the document’. Borko considers that this will allow the user ‘to identify a few relevent items from among many thousands and display them on the video screen in seconds’. This paper reviews these claims, and then examines a genuine case where the computer followed the procedures proposed by these teachers. It also considers how a measure of vocabulary control, based on recommendations in some recent national and international standards, would have avoided the entirely irrelevant output produced by the machine.
On the fringe: working as a Health Education/Information Officer
Authors: Lacey Bryant Sue
Published: February 2008

More library and information workers are likely to develop their careers ‘beyond the fringe’ of conventional librarianship. The post of Health Education/Information Officer (HE/IO) within Croydon Health Education Department demonstrates the potential to do so. The HE/IO acts as an information broker. Four main areas of activity are identified: (1) developing the library and information service; (2) meeting the information needs of colleagues; (3) promoting a healthy life‐style; (4) promoting the Health Education Department's services. The library has been reorganised. It is becoming a focus for other organisations seeking advice on handling information. The relevance of online searching is being tested. The creation of the post has enabled colleagues to concentrate on assessment, not retrieval, and has expanded the information dimension of the Department's work. The broker, like other Health Education Officers, undertakes research, liaison, planning, organisation, publicity and teaching. Library displays, reference packs of leaflets and information packs are used to promote health through libraries. Successful information brokerage requires wholehearted commitment to full participation in the work of a team, willingness to adapt and acquire new skills, and flexibility. Librarians and information workers could assume several different roles within Health Education Units.
Software evaluation
Authors: Flood Stephen
Published: February 2008

There are many services available to librarians and information workers who are considering the purchase of computer software to exploit the benefits of automation. In this paper I want to show how this information might be used in practice.
MORPHS—an intelligent retrieval system
Authors: Jones Kevin P. , Bell Colin L.M.
Published: February 2008

It may appear rash to claim that an information retrieval system is ‘intelligent’, even if such claims are made within the limited context of artificial intelligence; nevertheless, such a claim is implicit in the MORPHS acronym: minicomputer operated retrieval (partially heuristic) system. What is a heuristic system? Heuristics are systems where the instigator is less than completely certain about the outcome of material fed into them. This is not the type of behaviour most would expect from a computer system, where provided the program has been written correctly, the software and hardware are functioning correctly, and the limits of the system are not exceeded, results are highly predictable.
How the OPCS Library can help
Authors: Burge Suzanne
Published: February 2008

This paper is in two parts, the first describes the range of OPCS publications and the second the services which the Library can (and cannot) provide.
The role of the information profession in fostering academic/industrial liaison
Authors: Ashworth Graham
Published: February 2008

Historically, universities have been seen as places of excellence in research, with certain added teaching and educational functions. In Britain, though not in many other countries, there was seen little or no need to transfer that excellence out into the world outside nor for there to be much of a relationship between the universities and industry. So universities have been very relaxed about transferring their capabilities to the world outside — and the world outside has not been, until very recently too concerned about that. It may be helpful to spend a little time looking at that in greater depth.
Education for excellence: information, innovation and education
Authors: Turner Christopher
Published: February 2008

Education in information studies is, like most other technology‐orientated disciplines, going through a process of exciting creative development. This development is being stimulated by the usual curriculum pressures of discipline and epistemological shift, external social change, technological change, market pressure and student demand; as well as strong pressure from developments in other disciplines such as computing and business studies.
The value of downloading for database users and database producers
Authors: Winder Joyce
Published: February 2008

The value of downloading for database users is identified. These values are for temporary storage of data to repackage information and long term storage in newly created internal databases. The impact of these activities on the database producers and online vendors is discussed. Two factors which affect the volume of downloading are the availability of the technology and the legal implications of downloading. Several pricing policy solutions are mentioned.
Innovative research in support of more informed decision making
Authors: Melody William H
Published: February 2008

Information and communication technologies are becoming more important to efficiency and growth in an increasing number of industrial and public service activities. Massive science and engineering research and development programmes—such as the Alvey Programme in the UK—have been established in many countries and by the EEC, with the objective of pioneering new technological advances in the field. The UK has frequently made impressive scientific and technological contributions to this. Yet the UK has not reaped the full benefits of this inventiveness.
The paperless office
Authors: Calvert Gordon
Published: February 2008

Some years ago there was a rumour that the latest technology would give you the benefits of an office without paper. However, one look at most offices today shows no decrease in the piles of paper which inflict damage on our ‘in trays’; in fact, contrary to belief, we are consuming more paper than ever before.
Director's report on Aslib
Authors: Lewis Dennis A
Published: February 2008

In 1986 Aslib's development plan was implemented and by the end of the year the benefits were being clearly seen. We invested heavily in developing and launching new products and services in our three primary areas: membership services, professional development and publications. Additionally, we have maintained the impetus in raising Aslib's profile and have made considerable progress in developing our corporate image.
Breaking free: survival and growth in a commercial climate
Authors: Rigglesford David
Published: February 2008

I am basing my paper on my own experiences with Employment Relations during a period of transition from government funding to private funding. I hope you will be able to learn something from these experiences; some things we have done well, others we have had to learn.
The local authorities Research Project Database
Authors: Creasey John
Published: February 2008

In April of 1986 a small database was mounted on Cambridge County Council's computer to serve the needs of the local authorities. Its beginnings can be traced to the 70's when representatives of SOLACE (The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) and representatives of local authority associations as well as individual local authorities, had expressed to the Department of the Environment a need for a register or database of research set up for their purposes. Eventually a sub group of the NLGSLC (National and Local Government Statistical Liaison Committee) consisting of DOE and local authority representatives was formed to examine methods of meeting this request.
Chemical toxicology databanks
Authors: Bawden David
Published: February 2008

The use of three databanks of chemical toxicology (RTECS, HSDB and CIS), in various implementations, is described. General conclusions about compilation, implementation and searching of chemical databanks are drawn.
Environmental databanks on the Chemical Information System
Authors: Huddart David J.
Published: February 2008

The Chemical Information System (CIS) is a system of approximately 30 databanks available as a dial‐up online source of interactively available information for chemical compounds and their properties. The system was formerly known as the NIH/EPA Chemical Information System on account of its inception and development by two US Government agencies — The National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency. It is in particular the involvement by the EPA that explains the emphasis of the system on environmental information and the importance of the CIS as a source of data in this area. The databanks are by and large numeric and text databanks containing actual values and observations (quantitative and qualitative results), in contrast to bibliographic databases which, in general, contain only references to the sources of information. The data is compiled by many different producers and ranges widely in terms of applications. The information available can be broadly categorised as:
Sources of environmental pollution information: the marine environment
Authors: Moulder David S.
Published: February 2008

Where do you go to find information and data on marine pollution? This paper sets out to give pointers to the most useful sources, and is divided into three sections: bibliographic sources, data sources and referral sources.
Copyright and computer generated works
Authors: Hart R.J.
Published: February 2008

Under the current Copyright Act, as amended by the 1985 Copyright (Computer Software) Amendment Act, there is some doubt as to whether copyright subsists in a work which is generated by a computer. Although the 1985 amendment introduced that ‘material form’ was to include ‘references to the storage of that work in a computer’, the 1956 Act, at Section 2, requires there to be an author before copyright in a literary, artistic or musical work subsists. To my knowledge, the only case in which such issues have been considered in any way was the Express Newspapers Plc v Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Plc and others (FSR <1985> 306) in which the High Court (Mr Justice Whitford) ruled that ‘output from a computer that has been randomly generated by the machine itself is a copyright work’. The case arose out of the battles between the national newspapers in their lottery competition. The one in question was the ‘Millionaire of the month’ competition organised by the Daily Express which consisted of sequences of letters set out in a grid of five rows and five columns. The defendants argued that no copyright subsisted in the letters because they had been prepared by a computer, and consequently had no human author. In rejecting this argument, Mr Justice Whitford said that ‘the computer was no more than a tool with which the sequences and grids were produced using the instruction of the programmer’. He likened the defendants' argument to one which said that a pen was ‘the author’ of a written work. That was clearly not the case. Express Newspapers were entitled to an injunction. It is interesting to note that the decision was handed down by Mr Justice Whitford, presumably based upon the discussions he had chaired in producing the ‘Whitford Report’. Mr Justice Whitford said ‘that a great deal of skill and indeed, a good deal of labour went into the production of the grid and the two separate sequences of five letters’. The judge also came to the conclusion that a Mr Ertel, who was an employee of Amphora Enterprises Inc, an American Corporation who were contracted to Express Newspapers, did all the necessary operations to produce the sequences of letters. In particular the judge noted that Mr Ertel:
Doomsday or resurrection — professional information management and the management of information professionals
Authors: Wales John
Published: February 2008

It is now nearly a decade since the current Director of Aslib rocked the somewhat complacent debating chambers of the information profession with his paper ‘There won't be an information profession in 2000 AD’. At the time, the IT world was developing a view of the paperless office brought about by heady dreams of electronic libraries, common networks and end‐user searching. The day of the intermediary was drawing to a close, or was it? With the passage of time, experience brings with it a realisation that nothing is black and white, but a rich texture of shades of grey. As we enter the ‘Information age’, those with the capability to exploit information effectively will be the winners. The advice ‘to change or be changed’ was never more apt than it is today.
Keynote paper: trends, probabilities and tomorrow in information technology
Authors: Ryan Hugh
Published: February 2008

It has become almost a cliché to note that we live in the information age. Yet, despite this, it is, in fact, a key point in looking at our times and business. In the agricultural age, the key product and the shape of society was set by agriculture. In the industrial age, once again, the shape of society and the way we view it and the key product of the age were the industrial products. Thus, this being the information age has a key implication for us in that, if this is the information age, then the most important product of our time is information. This strange product, information, is what future generations will view us by. The production of information will shape our society and the shape of those things we value.
The rhetoric of promise: advertising in the information industry
Authors: Rafferty Pauline , Cronin Blaise , Davenport Lizzie
Published: February 2008

During the First World War, the Creel Committee, set up by President Woodrow Wilson, used the powerful weapon of advertising to disseminate information and shape public opinion. Creel promised Wilson ‘a plain publicity proposition, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the world's greatest adventure in advertising’. This campaign, with memorable adverts such as Courtauld Smiths' Red Cross poster, ‘The Greatest Mother in the World’, and James Montgomery Flagg's self‐portrait of Uncle Sam declaring ‘I want YOU for the US Army’, was a great success for advertising technique and enhanced the status of the tyro profession. It also showed how effective advertising could be in persuading and swaying mass opinion. A ‘Printer's Ink’ editorial of 1917 clearly shows that the relationship between advertising and control has been, perhaps for the first time, fully exploited, and fully appreciated:
The information society—idea or entity?
Authors: Martin William J.
Published: February 2008

Whereas it has been commonplace over the years to describe societies as for example, agrarian or industrial, democratic or totalitarian, socialist or capitalist, it is scarcely surprising that an increasingly popular term today is that of the ‘information society’. In this everyday context, with no deeper meaning either inferred nor intended, the term is simply a form of linguistic shorthand. As such it has acquired a fair amount of currency and even, a certain validity, although this in itself counts for little in terms of overall sociological meaning or significance.
The use and usefulness of publishers' catalogues to medical and nursing librarians
Authors: Moorbath Paul
Published: February 2008

A questionnaire was sent to medical and nursing librarians in 5 Regional Health Authorities. There were 97 replies. The questionnaire asked about which selection aids the librarians rated as being important and which were seldom used. Librarians were asked for their opinions about the content and format of publishers' catalogues. The catalogues were examined to see whether respondents' criticisms were justified.
Integrating library functions into a general computing network
Authors: Grainger Felicity , Ladyman Stephen
Published: February 2008

The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology carries out research into the causes and treatment of the rheumatic diseases. In 1984 a programme of computerisation was implemented. By linking mini computers on an Ethernet and by providing terminal access to the network, a system was designed which allows staff to access all automated facilities from anywhere in the building, or from remote sites. It also allows vendor independent modification. The suite of software purchased allows free flow of files and data between functions. This software was used as the basis for automating library services in such a way that not only can Institute staff access all automated library services from anywhere in the building, but they are using the menu driven operating system familiar to them. A reference database containing a record of all papers obtained from outside the Institute, and a book database incorporating acquisitions, a catalogue and circulation control have been set up. Staff send requests for interlibrary loans and photocopies online to the Library. Scientists can maintain personal reprint collections. Data retrieved from online searches is down‐loaded into files immediately accessible from any point on the network and can be incorporated into any of the databases. Journals management is automated. The Library is therefore not an ‘island of information’, but an online facility.
Expert systems
Authors: O'Neill Margaret
Published: February 2008

As I am not sure how familiar the audience is with the concept of expert systems (ES), I intend to start this talk on the subject with an introduction to the area and brief history. I will then go on to outline the distinguishing features of expert systems, and to look at what they do, where they work, and the implications of this new technology for library and information science.
Government approach to Information Management
Authors: Sangway Diana
Published: February 2008

In 1919 the Stationery Office published a booklet written by the Treasury called, Notes for the use of Registry Branches. This was an excellent little guide to carrying out all the tasks which we associate with registries. We do not now know what effect its publication had but we can see that much of what it covered is still recognisable in our own present‐day registries, and much of the advice is still valid.
Networks update
Authors: Tuck Bill
Published: February 2008

Technology, politics and the marketplace: While the underlying technology for constructing networks continues to evolve very rapidly, forces from the ‘political’ sphere and from the marketplace may be having an even greater impact on the evolution of information and communication systems.