bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Career Development: The Significance of the Subjective Career
Authors: Collin Audrey
Published: March 2008

Our changing society and troubled economy are making many new demands of work organisations, so that human resource managers are having to deal with new issues and explore ways of dealing with old ones. One aspect of organisational life which is so affected is career development. A recent review of the latest thinking on it noted some of these new questions and proposed the inclusion of lateral as well as “onward and upward” moves within an accepted view of career development. This article offers an even wider view of career development through its recognition of the significance of the subjective career.
Organisational Culture and Management Development in Building Societies
Authors: Smith David
Published: March 2008

Greater competition and forthcoming legislation will bring about major changes in the traditional role of building society managers. This will undoubtedly have implications for recruitment and promotion patterns and will also require societies to devote a major effort to management development. Indeed, most of the larger societies have already begun to implement changes in these areas.
Absence, Age and Organisational Change: A Methodological Cautionary Tale
Authors: Mayes J.T. , Urquhart Celia
Published: March 2008

This article reports a study of absence in a regional police force. The main aims of the research were to investigate the relationship between absence, age and type of shift work. From the outset, we were mindful of the need to design and carry out a methodologically sound study that would be compromised as little as possible by the practical constraints of field work. An unusually high degree of co‐operation in providing access to the required data was provided by the organisation chosen for study. The sample was probably one of the largest of its kind ever chosen for a study of absence. In the end, we were able to conclude nothing at all about the relationship between absence and shift work. We believe that, although the design was modified by practical considerations, it was nevertheless our concern not to settle for a simple “before and after” design that rescued us from drawing some entirely spurious conclusions. An account of how this occurred is offered as a striking reminder of the need for control groups in studies of organisational change. The research did succeed in achieving the other main aim of observing the relationship between absence and age, and this is discussed.
Quality Circles in the UK: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Hill Frances M.
Published: March 2008

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study of some of the earliest quality circle (QC) programmes to be established in the United Kingdom. The 27 companies in question were first contacted in 1981. A second survey, conducted in April/May 1985, aimed to find out how many of the QC programmes have survived the test of time and in what circumstances. Reasons for the termination of individual circles and programmes were also sought. Forty per cent of the programmes unequivocally remain operative in organisations where senior management tend to be committed to the QC concept; the trade unions have been reasonably receptive or indifferent, the working environment is conducive to this type of initiative, and there have been no major crises, such as redundancy or serious retrenchment. The main reasons for QC programme termination were closure of sites or redundancy, and lack of support from senior management. Regarding those organisations in which QCs did not survive, the majority of respondents nevertheless felt that the technique has the potential to make a valuable contribution to British industry, primarily in relation to employee involvement.
The Dynamics of Job Satisfaction — A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Kiely Julia
Published: March 2008

Personnel managers are concerned with making effective use of people. Job satisfaction is thus an issue of fundamental importance in personnel management. Interest in job satisfaction has been maintained largely because of the costs which dissatisfaction entails. Job dissatisfaction has been linked with labour turnover, absenteeism, poor performance and productivity, and low morale. Many of these areas are ones which personnel managers have been able to cost. Job dissatisfaction has also been linked to industrial phenomena such as strikes, grievances, industrial accidents and sabotage.
Changing Patterns of Labour Recruitment
Authors: Ford J.R. , Bryman A. , Beardsworth A.D. , Bresnen M. , Keil E.T. , Jenkins R.
Published: March 2008

A series of studies over the last decade have indicated that considerable change has been taking place in the way in which organisations recruit their workers. In particular, several authors have pointed to the growing prominence of both internal labour market (ILM) recruitment and word‐of‐mouth recruitment. This conclusion is supported by studies that consider job seeking and job seekers, for example, studies by Granovetter, Leeand Martin and Roberts, as well as by studies of employers' recruitment practices. Although care must be exercised when comparing these studies, as has been discussed by Manwaring, together they provide a general view of the direction of change with regard to the management of labour recruitment. In particular, some of the studies indicate a growth in the use of the internal market and word‐of‐mouth recruitment, for example, Jenkins et al., while others, such as Wood and Manwaring, suggest that such channels are increasingly prominent, not as a result of increased usage, but because these channels have been maintained during the recession, while other forms of recruitment, such as the use of the job centre or press advertisements, have been ignored or minimised.
Interorganisation: Some Problems of Multi‐organisational Teams
Authors: Sims David
Published: March 2008

Cooperation between organisations, particularly in the public sector, is often attempted through setting up small joint committees, teams or planning groups, with members drawn from each of the cooperating organisations. The experience of such teams is not always happy. Dixon has pointed out that the result of a joint approach may be an increase in conflict rather than cooperation. Their members may regard such interorganisational teams as, usually, a frustrating waste of time, but occasionally as a vehicle for achieving some of the things they want to achieve.
The Practice of Strategic Human Resource Management
Authors: Hendry Chris , Pettigrew Andrew
Published: March 2008

In the United States in the last few years there has developed a notion of “strategic human resource management” (HRM). As with other high‐sounding phrases in the management of people, first reactions are likely to divide between “let's have some of it” to “it won't work here”, with the latter possibly predominating. Where American pragmatism inclines towards trying new things to see if they work, British pragmatism tends to mean sticking with the actual and the evidently possible. Nevertheless, reviewing ideas which run ahead of practice can, on occasion, be useful in suggesting new possibilities. This article will review the implications of “strategic HRM” and ask whether it has any relevance to some of the issues which currently exercise personnel managers in the UK — notably, decentralising the personnel function and increasing workforce flexibility.
Images of Employees in Company Reports — Do Company Chairmen View their Most Valuable Asset as Valuable?
Authors: Gowler Dan , Legge Karen
Published: March 2008

The last five years have seen an enormous resurgence of academic and managerial interest in the concept of organisational culture — the taken‐for‐granted assumptions, beliefs, meanings and values enacted and shared by organisational members. While for some academics, interest has centred on the epistemological questions raised in the very conceptualisation of organisational culture, for many managers the interest has been more down to earth. A group or organisation's culture is interesting because it is felt to “make a difference” — in other words, that culture can influence behaviour and, consequently, a company's performance, that a “strong” culture is both symptomatic and generative of “excellence”. Hence several practical questions have been posed. Can the organisational cultures generated in the large companies of economically successful nation states (e.g. Japan and West Germany) be transferred to companies in less economically successful countries? Can organisational culture be managed “in search of excellence”? If it can be managed — and there is much academic controversy on this point — how is this to be done?
The Costs of Learning from Experience with Respect to the Firm
Authors: Silver Mick
Published: March 2008

Decisions regarding the amount and form of training are central to human resources management. Yet it is generally recognised that the acquisition of skills may also arise from on‐the‐job experience. There will be many cases where learning by experience will be the most important method of skill acquisition. Yet learning from experience may be thought to require little planning, since it cannot be avoided. As such, little attention is generally given either to costing learning from experience or evaluating its implications. This article adopts an economics perspective to examine the costs of learning from experience for the firm. An implicit assumption of the analysis is the “economic” or “rational” manager and employee evaluating benefits and costs in order to maximise the difference. This may at first appear to the personnel manager less than realistic — but this is to misunderstand the nature of economic analysis. The analysis is based on building models containing (economic) assumptions of behaviour, and thus the effectiveness of market forces. It recognises that problems are highly complex and builds in simplifying assumptions with the intention that they are interpreted in this light.
Bargaining Power and Industrial Relations
Authors: Kirkbride Paul S. , Durcan Jim
Published: March 2008

This article will attempt to argue and demonstrate that the existing and extensive literature on bargaining power in industrial relations focuses almost exclusively on two central aspects of power. Whilst both these approaches throw valuable light on some aspects of power, we shall seek to argue that the predominance of these constrained perspectives has resulted in the relative neglect of other important aspects. Thus we shall identify several lacunae in the literature and seek to raise some hitherto unexamined questions. We shall also argue that, because of the partial nature of the existing literature, there is a need to develop a more coherent and comprehensive model of power which is capable of integrating the multiple facets and incorporating the existing insights.
A Test of the Vroom‐Yetton Decision Model in Seven Field Settings
Authors: Pate Larry B. , Heiman Donald C.
Published: March 2008

It should be re‐emphasized, however, that the [Vroom‐Yetton] model is explicitly normative in character in that it specifies what leaders should do in various organizational circumstances — rather than attempting to summarize what leaders do do and what the effects of those actions are. Thus, if the assumptions in the model about the outcomes which result from various leader behaviors are incorrect, the model will lead to faulty behavioral prescriptions.
Personnel Management in the Netherlands: Recent Developments and Trends
Authors: Tissen R.J. , Bolweg J.F.
Published: March 2008

As a result of an almost inextricable combination of socio‐economic, technological and cultural developments, a number of trends have become discernible in recent years in the Netherlands, both in the management literature and in organisational practice which are of structural importance to the position and content of personnel policy and management in profit and non‐profit organisations.
Predicting Differences in Employee Relations Practice from Values and Beliefs of Managers
Authors: Hunt John W.
Published: March 2008

There is a vast literature on managers' values and beliefs. However, there have been very few attemps to identify British managers' values or beliefs and relate them to employee relations practice. Marsh's survey of practice included questions on managerial values but this researcher did not attempt to develop a set of values which could explain differences between organisations. The objective of the current research reported here was to identify a paradigm of values and beliefs about employee relations as a basis for understanding differences in practices. The central proposition for the research was: There are among British managers identifiable values and beliefs about work, employment, management, effective organisations and the role of government in employee relations to explain, in part, differences in employee relations practice.
Characteristics of Effective Appraisal Interviews
Authors: Anderson Gordon C. , Barnett Jean G.
Published: March 2008

A number of studies, most of which have been carried out in the US, examine the appraisal interview by adopting the general research strategy of examining the relationship of one (or more) interview process characteristic(s) to one (or more) interview outcome.
Decision Making in the Promotion Interview: An Empirical Study
Authors: Wareing Robert , Stockdale Janet
Published: March 2008

Despite an overwhelming body of empirical evidence which questions both the reliability and validity of interviews as a form of predictive device, (see, for instance, the meta‐analysis by Hunter and Hunter, and reviews by Schmitt and Arvey and Campion) interviews, either with or without supplementary information, continue to be widely used in making decisions on selection, placement, appraisal and promotion (Anstey, Fletcher and Walker, Randell, Carlson, Thayer, Mayfield and Peterson and Ulrich and Trumbo).
Personnel: Changes Disguising Decline?
Authors: Mackay Lesley
Published: March 2008

Although in most organisations the personnel function is now an accepted part of the management team, that acceptance may have been achieved at a substantial cost. It will be argued here that in moving towards an unequivocally managerial position, much of the distinctive contribution of the personnel function has been lost. This move can be interpreted as a natural and realistic appreciation of the position of personnel practitioners. Yet, at the same time, it may have undermined the value and potential contribution that personnel specialists have to offer organisations.
The Future Through The Keyhole: Some Thoughts On Employment Patterns
Authors: Melvin Keenan J. , Thom Alix A.
Published: March 2008

Since the end of the Great Depression in the thirties, there has been, until recently, a slow but steady and almost predictable development in the relationship between the employer and the employee. In the last few years, however, significant changes have begun to take place in what had become the conventional pattern of employment. In this article, both the conventional and the new lines of thinking will be discussed, the implications of the emerging pattern assessed, and proposals for action made.
The Ambivalence Of Personnel In In Life Insurance: The Challenge Of Change
Authors: Hope Veronica , Knights David , Willmott Hugh
Published: March 2008

This article reports on a recent study of personnel management in the life insurance industry. Until recently the industry has enjoyed a comparatively untroubled expansion largely because of the investment‐seeking surplus incomes of an increasingly affluent population and the market protection which large asset bases provided for the established companies. Recent developments are eroding the stability, though not the overall potential, of the market and it is against this background that our analysis takes place.
Personnel Management in Recession and Recovery: A Comparative Analysis of What the Surveys Say
Authors: Legge Karen
Published: March 2008

Since the late 1970s, the study of the role, structure and functions of personnel management in the United Kingdom has been greatly facilitated by surveys emerging from a number of large‐scale surveys. A major interest in interpreting the data from these surveys has been to evaluate the impact of recession, and, latterly, recovery on the power, structure and roles of personnel departments and personnel specialists in recent years. The survey data are used comparatively to evaluate the empirical plausibility of the different scenarios which have arisen, and to account for the results that emerge.
Evaluating Strategies On A Cost‐Based Manpower Planning Model
Authors: Malloch Hedley
Published: March 2008

Manpower planning consists of three stages. These are: forecasting manpower demand, forecasting manpower supply, and the formulation of manpower policies (See Figure 1).
Are Business Schools Good Learning Organisations? — Institutional Values And Their Effects In Management Education
Authors: Ashton David
Published: March 2008

The personnel function traditionally carries the responsibility for “running the boundary” between the organisation and the education and training offerings of business schools. The responsibility has never been straightforward, and dissatisfaction continues to be expressed about some of the present offerings. Yet current national forecasts reflect increasing demand on business schools.
The Measurement Of Managerial Abilities In An Assessment Centre
Authors: Smith David , Blackham Barry
Published: March 2008

Over recent years there has been a growth in the number of British organisations using assessment centres for purposes of selecting staff and providing developmental feedback to employees. This article analyses the importance attached to the ratings of particular managerial characteristics and their inter‐relationships using data from an assessment centre operated for existing staff by a financial institution. The implications of the findings for the processes of assessor decision making and the provision of meaningful developmental feedback are then examined.
Organisational Exit: Understanding And Managing Voluntary Departures
Authors: Davis Tim R.V. , Luthans Fred
Published: March 2008

Organisational entry has received much concern and research over the years. Organisational exit, on the other hand, has been slighted in human resource management. Yet, the few who have investigated this phenomenon have found that it is very poorly managed.
Employers' Recruitment Practices And The Long‐Term Unemployed
Authors: Meager Nigel , Metcalf Hilary
Published: March 2008

Since the early 1970s, many studies have examined employers' recruitment practices and how they vary — over time, with the unemployment level and between labour markets, occupations and types of employer. Two recent articles in Personnel Review make a detailed account of the previous work unnecessary. In the first of these, the previous work is discussed and its findings evaluated against recent empirical evidence, and the second begins to relate this work (again in the light of recent findings) to the approaches to recruitment and selection found in personnel management textbooks.
How Does Human Resources Management Change The Personnel Function?
Authors: Torrington Derek
Published: March 2008

The concept of human resources could be a significant development for the personnel function, with a change of emphasis with implications as far reaching as the evolution of sales into marketing or of works management into operations management. On the other hand, it could be a simple novelty with only minor ramifications. What seems quite clear at the moment is that there is little consensus about what human resources management (HRM) actually is among either practitioners or academics. A shift in emphasis within and around the personnel function of organisations is clear, with personnel management tending to decline and for human resources management to increase, but this is often no more than changes of labels, and few people have a clear view of what they are doing and of the way in which their situation is changing(p. 178). In the academic world, we now see university chairs in human resources management being established, although no British university ever had a chair in personnel management.
Dimensions Of Promotion Culture In Midland Bank
Authors: Lee R.A. , Piper Judith
Published: March 2008

This article reports a study of the promotion processes which existed within a single region of the Midland Bank (UK) plc. during 1986. In particular, the concept of a “promotion culture” is emphasised. This, it is suggested, is a major part of any organisational culture and it must be fully understood before the impact of changes in formal promotion systems can be anticipated.
The Origins, Development And Operation Of The Seniority Promotion System For Staff In The British Tinplate Industry
Authors: Dobson John R.
Published: March 2008

An article in the last issue of this journal examined the literature on seniority promotion systems, arguing that most personnel management writers had ignored promotion as a topic area, tending to assume implicitly that most appointments are made from the external labour market. And yet many employers preferred internal promotion to external recruitment. It was also possible to identify a number of pressures on management to adopt both an internal labour market and a seniority‐based promotion system. These pressures were thought to be particularly pertinent in the case of white‐collar employees.
Sexual Harassment Of Women In Industry And Commerce By Co‐Workers: Some Australian Evidence
Authors: Savery L.K. , Gledhill A.C.
Published: March 2008

Considerable research has been conducted into the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace, although most of it has been undertaken in the United States, particularly since the 1970s. In 1974, for example, a group of women, almost equally black and white and with economic backgrounds ranging from very affluent to poor, discovered a common thread in their employment careers, which Farley summed up, saying:
Columns
Authors: Cheshire David F. , Cornford Mike , Vogel Sandra , Lacey Bryant Sue , Dudley Edward , Day Shirley , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan
Published: March 2008

1989 was designated Museums Year to commemorate the centenary of the Museums Association, and unlike many of these PR exercises this one resulted in museums (especially national museums based in London) receiving an unusual amount of coverage in the qualities. Whether stories of protests and problems would have the desired positive effect on actual attendances has not yet been calculated. The unusually sunny weather cannot have helped much either. But the Museums Association itself produced a series of 11 regional guides which if read on the beach or in the pool would have enabled the readers almost to think that they had actually visited the collections described in considerable detail. Too many to note here but a list of all the titles is available from the MA or the Museums and Galleries Commission. Simon Olding's Exploring Museums: London (ISBN 0 11 2904653) and Arnold Wilson's Exploring Museums: The South West (ISBN 0 11 2904696) tackle their areas entertainingly, but their step‐by‐step guides to some of their subjects may soon be outdated as many existing museums are currently undergoing major rearrangements or refurbishments.
Back burner
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

Snow in Bradford causes production and distribution delays at International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (MCB). Yorkshire Water blames shortages on unexpected lack of liquidity at sub‐zero temperatures. Health Minister denies press reports of “ambulance chasing”. Drafting difficulties engulf Government plans to privatise Trinity House. LAPL core journals in management buy‐out rumour bid shock. Arthur Scargill announces that he is willing to consider the Government's restructuring plans, if they make British Coal more attractive to overseas customers, otherwise he has his own Government restructuring plans.
Features
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The smiling person on the cover has now left NLW — and was immediately signed up by Jane Jenkins for the Record. I am now Caretaking Editor, for this issue and for March (it seems I am doomed to be Managing Editor or some other euphemism).
Columns
Authors: Vogel Sandra , Cornford Mike , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan
Published: March 2008

Question: When is a Librarian not a Librarian?
Columns
Authors: Kerns Ruth , Hanstock Terry , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin
Published: March 2008

National issues included: (1) a resolution from the Intellectual Freedom Committee calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expunge the files maintained on their FBI Library Awareness program after giving any individuals involved an opportunity to request their records; (2) another resolution which would subject television news services with commercials being marketed to schools to the same selection guidelines as other materials considered for school media collections; (3) a national policy on permanent paper; and (4) encouraging libraries to celebrate Earth Day in April 1990 to provide information on environmental concerns to their communities.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Talking Newspaper Enterprises Ltd of Unit 3, Station Road Industrial Estate, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 8DB (04352–5422) offers public libraries an important new service of potentially great advantage to visually impaired and print handicapped people. This organisation is a wholly‐owned subsidiary of the national charity Talking Newspaper Association of the United Kingdom, which already sends out taped versions of national newspapers and magazines by post to people with impaired vision who pay a nominal annual subscription. The new scheme makes 90‐minute cassettes of recordings available to public libraries at only 75p each and these cassettes can be lent free to “readers”. Copyright clearance has been negotiated. Daniela Bayfield, the General Manager, will send a list of the very wide range of papers and magazines regularly recorded and full details of the service to any interested librarian. There is also a free information cassette but this is really not worth bothering with as it only says in words what is written on the descriptive sheets and list of journals. East Sussex County Library is currently conducting a pilot study to assess the likely demand for the service, with 19 titles, selected from the 100 or more available, supplied to 21 branches and central libraries throughout the county.
Reviews
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred , Pettman Ian
Published: March 2008

Staff training is an important function in many libraries because it can increase staff competence, effectiveness and morale. For a variety of reasons, including government encouragement, desire to maximise the use of staff resources, and to enable coverage of areas of expertise not available in all libraries, some groups of librarians have found it profitable to undertake training co‐operatively. A number of schemes were set up in the 1970s. As with many co‐operative ventures, there have been successes and disappointments but it has nevertheless been possible to attain a better general standard of training at less cost per trainee.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Book Preview is a new publication, under the editorship of David Elliott, offering “thorough and uncompromising” verdicts on key books two to three months ahead of publication, reviewing about a hundred (half of them fiction) in each issue. The expertise of more than 50 reviewers has been assembled from amongst “book trade professionals” whose independence and impartiality of judgement might therefore be questionnable. Be that as it may it is unfortunate that reviewers' identities have not been disclosed and that reviews are unsigned. The publisher is Book Preview Ltd, 10 Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4PH, but J. Whitaker and Sons Ltd, 12 Dyott Street, London WC1A 1DF has taken on the marketing and distribution, a possible indication of reliability, but clearly the guide's success will depend to some extent on which publishers, and how many, co‐operate by sending review copies. It must be seen substantially to cover the market. The subscription cost for ten issues is £98 in the UK from either of the addresses quoted above. A specimen copy will be sent on request. The reviews in the copy I have seen run from 250 to 500 words and disclose the plots or content in much the same way as would a publisher's blurb. There is, however, addition of a definite opinion from someone who has read the book and is neither its author nor publisher. How far it is worth the subscription price to have this previewed opinion on a total of 1,000 books each year and its possible help in book selection is for each librarian to judge.
Columns
Authors: Cheshire David F. , Vogel Sandra , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan
Published: March 2008

One of the nine thought provoking essays assembled by Peter Vergo in the recently published The New Museology (Reaktan Books, ISBN 0 948 462 035 hardback, ISBN 0 948 462 043 paperback) is “The Quality of Visitors' Experiences in Art Museums” in which Philip Wright discusses the lack of awareness among museum personnel of what exactly their institutions are doing, and indeed should do, in a period when “films, television, video and pop access photography have inevitably altered, if not actually undermined the hierarchy of images that museums aim to display”. Few curators have had professional surveys of their audience undertaken, some have dismissed colleagues' changes as pandering to commercialisation, and invest in sophisticated technology and displays in such a way as to distract from the integrity of the objects in their care.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

This exhibition was held at Novotel, London from 22–24 May 1990 and presented a good cross‐section of recent developments as well as now‐standard products. The newer developments were in those systems which use the digital content of a CD‐ROM disk to combine text with audio and visual presentations. The backbone of the show, however, demonstrated the greatly increased and increasing range of databanks and reference material being published in this format. The expansion of the range is reflected in a decision by Microinfo to produce its CD‐ROM catalogue in glossy form and to issue it free on a two‐month schedule. Currently it lists 150 titles from 40 CD‐ROM publishers. Contact Roy Selwyn at Microinfo Ltd, PO Box 3, Omega Park, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2PG (0420 86848). The same supplier gave advance information about a World Research Database disk, due late 1990, which will contain fully‐searchable versions of Longman's database of world class Research Centres combined with their International Who's Who of leading scientists and technologists.
Features
Authors: Joseph Tony , Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The new library was opening next day. The branch librarian who was to run it was dashing around, inside the building and elsewhere, on a variety of last minute errands and jobs. I, as the junior, was busy writing tickets, labelling books and so on, at the counter. In front of me, arranging books on the shelves, were the Chairman of the Library Committee and the Chief Librarian himself, no less, mucking in like eager schoolboys. And as the two of them worked they talked. But were they talking about the books they were handling or anything to do with the library itself? No. The remarkable subject of their conversation was the public lavatories at Warwick Castle.
Columns
Authors: Cornford Mike , Kerns Ruth , Hanstock Terry , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin
Published: March 2008

… Strange but true facts, number 7: Wandsworth is famous for more than its blue halo.
Features
Authors: Joseph Tony , Cowburn Ian
Published: March 2008

In 1982, according to the Bookseller, there were more than 36,000 new books published in Britain. Of these the vast majority were of course brought out by publishers whose names are well‐known. Of the remaining titles, some will have been published by firms less well‐known, and just a few will have been published directly by their authors. One in the last category was mine.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

In “Alerts” for December 1989, under the title “A Multimedia Record!” I reviewed the CD‐ROM disc The Guinness Disc of Records, 1990, produced by Pergamon Compact Solutions. At that time its use was limited to Apple Macintosh computers with a CD‐ROM drive. Now Mirrorsoft, Irwin House, 118 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SW (071–928–1454) has taken over the “edu‐tainment” side of Pergamon Compact Solutions business and, further, is launching a PC version of the Guinness Disc in June 1990, priced at £100. It is designed to work under Microsoft Windows 3.0 and offers greater user‐friendliness, better graphics, and faster searching than the Macintosh and has been given on‐screen prompts for cross‐referencing and browsing. The minimum hard‐ware requirement is Microsoft Windows 2.x (a run‐time version of 2.03 being supplied with the disc), IBM‐PC PS/2 or 100 per cent compatible with 640K RAM and a CD‐ROM player with external audio output socket, but ideally a 286 or 386 computer with VGA card, more RAM, and a mouse will give the best results.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

When the British Library moves to its new building at St Pancras it will be able to improve accessibility to most of the national reference collections for all who have need. The procedures for admission will be simplified and the Reading Rooms will be open to those aged 18 and over and it is intended that a system of registering users and issuing passes will be developed and available well before the opening in 1993.
Stop press
Authors: Pettman Ian
Published: March 2008

The Centre has recently changed its policy on student access.
Reviews
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred , Pettman Ian
Published: March 2008

This is a most important study of an essentially modern situation. The first part, “Getting in Print”, introduces the way short‐run publications can be produced without sacrificing quality or being priced out of the market. There has been considerable polarisation in the publishing trade as huge multinational combines have continued to take over smaller units and now dominate the publishing, marketing and distribution of English language titles worldwide. This could well have made it difficult indeed for authors of low‐volume, less profitably saleable works to find a publisher. Paradoxically, however, helped by computer technology it has opened up the field for enterprising new small‐scale publishers, with an eye for scholarly specialist subjects and new authors, to issue short‐run editions and even to achieve a better return on capital and higher profit ratios than do the major publishers. The total number of titles produced has actually grown, causing bibliographical problems for librarians who need to keep track of publication, and greatly increasing the number of works going out of print before they can be acquired. The reprint trade is similarly in confusion because the economics of reprinting have become more chancy for some works and potentially easier for others.
Columns
Authors: Cornford Mike , Kerns Ruth , Hanstock Terry , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan , Joseph Tony
Published: March 2008

With its traditional good timing and aplomb the Library Association will ensure that next year's subscription demands arrive with this year's Christmas cards. As I gently spar with my conscience over whether to maintain my record of unbroken membership I feel that it is quite in order to question whether the LA is a cost‐effective, efficiently‐run, value for money organisation.
Reviews
Authors: Bird Joan , Benning Anna L.
Published: March 2008

WordPerfect is a leading word processing package and offers a range of features useful in the library context. As well as standard word processing operations, it has excellent merge and macro facilities; information can be input in fields in a structured record format and then manipulated into any required output format. In version 5.0 onwards graphics and desk‐top publishing features are available.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Here's a note for your new 1991 diary! Following the success of the Library Resources Exhibition in Nottingham last June the organisers announce next year's Exhibition for 11–13 June 1991 at the Rex Centre, Birmingham which is a newly‐opened, purpose‐designed exhibition and conference centre on the Coventry Road just one mile from New Street Station. For further information contact Joy Bussell at Library Resources Exhibition, 2 Forge House, Summerleys Road, Princes Risborough, Bucks HP17 9DT (0844–2894).
Columns
Authors: Cowell Sarah , Cornford Mike , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan , Joseph Tony
Published: March 2008

Through this column I will be exploring the field of environmental information and its provision in this country. I will do this by tackling the subject from the user's point of view: each month I will pick a different user (or potential user) group, and discuss resources, services and organisations which can be of use to this group. Just to avoid any charge of repetitiveness, I will occasionally diverge from this pattern to discuss other issues.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The British Library Document Supply Centre has always accepted that part of its function is to carry out, or commission, research into the needs of its users and their patterns of working, the better to offer improved services. Two recent documents arise from this concern and report collaboration between the Document Supply Centre and the Centre for Exploitation of Science and Technology. The first, Information Flows into Industrial Research, by Phil Barden of BLDSC and Ben Good of CEST, 42 pp., ISBN 0–7123–2065–2, November 1989, £8, discusses the results of a survey of users' attitudes and behaviour, by questionnaire sent to BLDSC's 1,000 largest industrial users in the UK. The survey was to discover the importance of the Library's role in providing scientific and technological information through supplying, on request, photocopies from back issues of journals.
Reviews
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred , Pettman Ian
Published: March 2008

Microcomputers are now vital tools in many libraries and information centres and they are used not only to facilitate administrative and clerical operations but also as a means of accessing information in many different formats. Yet the need for proper management, control and maintenance of these machines has not received the attention it deserves except by way of passing references in the literature on the use of microcomputers in libraries. Elizabeth Lane has attempted to fill the gap with a comprehensive manual. On the management side it covers the planning process, assessment of needs and system requirements, evaluation and cost/benefit analysis, purchase and installation, orientation and training, and record keeping. On the maintenance side the subject is divided into preventive maintenance, responsive maintenance, and costs.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

A new addition to the list of useful products with unlovely names is INSPEC ONDISC the result of collaboration between the UK INSPEC database producers and University Microfilms International. In Spring 1991 they will issue a CD‐ROM version of the INSPEC records as a three‐disk set covering 1989, 1990 and 1991 — the last will be updated quarterly. Each disk will include about 250,000 records from the abstracting of 4,200+ technical journals and 1,000+ conference proceedings, books and reports in the fields of Physics, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computing interpreted widely enough to include most aspects of high‐technology. With this product University Microfilms will introduce a new version of search software with library holdings, word and phrase inverted index, and a thesaurus for precise subject definition. An included option of the searching strategy takes account of British and American spellings.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Companies House holds the official records of all limited companies in England, Scotland and Wales. This information is already available to the public by telephone, postal enquiry or personal visit at the central or any one of six regional offices. Bulk users and “value‐added” service retailers can make special arrangements, usually receiving computer‐generated magnetic tape. Libraries are major customers and the Birmingham Branch Office is even sited in the Birmingham Business Library.
Reviews
Authors: Atkinson Frank , Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Those of us who work, or have ever worked, in academic or public libraries know “Granger” — formerly Granger's Index to Poetry and now The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry — which is almost as old as this century. As it is the only substantial index to verse for adults, it cannot be evaluated by comparison; so a reviewer is already halfway to redundancy.
Columns
Authors: Thompson Verena
Published: March 2008

Providing a service which reflects community needs requires data collection. The Public Libraries and Museums Act of 1964 requires local authorities to provide a comprehensive library service to those who may wish to make use of it. The Race Relations Act of 1976 requires local authorities to promote equality of opportunity in employment and service delivery. Together, library authorities are bound to ensure that services reflect the composition of their local populations through the provision of services that meet expressed needs.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The Librarian's Christian Fellowship has taken the opportunity offered by the Library Association's “Under One Umbrella” training weekend to arrange a service of Thanksgiving and Rededication in St Georges's Church, Great George Street, Leeds, beginning at 5.50pm on Saturday 6 July 1991 to give delegates a chance for a brief period of worship and reflection during a busy conference programme. The speaker will be Canon David Hawkins of St George's Church, and Tom Featherstone, President of the Library Association, will participate in the service.
Features
Authors: Fox Nick
Published: March 2008

History, culture and geography have linked the regions of Hampshire and Lower Normandy for many centuries. Only the English Channel separates the two regions, but with the advent of the Single European Market, links are currently being strengthened through the Hampshire/Basse‐Normandie Accord.
Columns
Authors: Cheshire David F.
Published: March 2008

Over the next few months a lively image of Dick Whittington and his cat will be making its appearance in the capital. Walking briskly along, with his cat trotting obediently behind or dashing ahead with its tail in the air, he will stride across the print and posters of the Museum of London as the Museum's new corporate image.
Columns
Authors: Cheshire David F. , Cornford Mike , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin , Joseph Tony
Published: March 2008

Undoubtedly the most publicised art event during recent months was the long‐awaited opening of the much‐debated extension to the National Gallery. Even when completed the Sainsbury Wing (named, of course, after the trio of grocers who donated the money for its erection) continued to generate controversy in architectural circles. To the uninvolved visitor the building seems to be enormously successful and the suspicion arises that a lot of adverse comments may have come from British architects disappointed that such a prestigious commission went to an American architect. But Robert Venturi and his principal partner, Denise Scott‐Brown, have cracked what had hitherto been seen as an insoluble problem, with style and vigour. Indeed, thanks to Prince Charles' notorious “carbuncle” intervention the National Gallery has now an extension of a quality not achievable (for a number of economic and aesthetic reasons) since the 1930s. This point is clearly emphasised by the illustrations of the structures previously proposed for the site reproduced in Colin Amery's A Celebration of Art and Architecture: The National Gallery Sainsbury Wing (ISBN 0 9476465 86 1, hardback, £40.00; ISBN 0 947645 87 X, paperback, £15.95). This includes not only a succinct history of the National Gallery and a survey of the various previous proposals for an extension, but also a section on “Construction Details” illustrated by some excellent paintings of work in progress, by Andrew Norris. Some of the paintings around which the Wing was designed are in Amery's book, but more are to be found in Michael Wilson's Guide to the Sainsbury Wing (ISBN 0 947645 94 2, paperback, £4.95). This takes the form of tours around the building and around the contents. These include a very large and elegant shop which has led to the immediate removal of the “temporary” shop from its previous dominating position within the National Gallery; a restaurant which allows the public a view of Trafalgar Square similar to that hitherto only available to users of the library in Canada House; and the Micro Gallery (sponsored by American Express) which brings the very latest touch‐screen computer technology right out to the public. With software developed by Cognitive Applications and editorial material generated by 21st Century Systems, this enables any visitor to search the whole of the National Gallery's catalogue and compile their own study notes. The system even has a facility for the display of explanations of “difficult” words used in the descriptions of the 2,000 painting involved, and, at print‐out time, there is even an explanation for the reasons why copyright restrictions prevent the reproduction of certain pictures. No wonder this facility has proved to be an immensely popular aspect of a building which already looks as though it has always been there.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Britannia Storage Systems Limited has responded to the need to protect important documents from water, when sprinklers are used in the event of fire, by introducing a new range of storage boxes. These are made from tough, lightweight, long‐lasting, corrugated, translucent plastic 4mm thick, creased for self‐assembly giving no side seams, and with the lid and folds overlapping to prevent leakage. The illustration gives a good idea of the product. The approximate price is £5 for a box (in lots of about 1,000) to hold A4 files, but boxes can be custom made to any convenient size, the unit price depending on the quantity required. Further information from Martin Humphreys at Britannia Storage Systems Limited, Lancaster Way, Earls Colne, Industrial Park, Colchester, Essex CO6 2NS. Tel: 0787 224411.
Reviews
Authors: Stanyon Mary , Scobie Sheila
Published: March 2008

As a multidisciplinary subject, Women's Studies requires a certain amount of ingenuity by the researcher. In response to this, Women Online is not so much a “how to…” manual, as an overview both of American online databases and of the issues that surround their use to students of Women's Studies. Are women's issues covered sufficiently by databases, bearing in mind that much relevant material tends to be in non‐mainstream sources (letters, small journals, conference reports, etc.) and published by small, feminist presses? Is all‐important retrospective material covered sufficiently? How can one locate material about women showing them in a positive light, when much material is written in a stereotypical way? What language does one use to carry out an effective search?