bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comment
Authors: Rait SK , Cronin Blaise , Marshall Margaret
Published: March 2008

FOR some time, many public librarians have become very sensitive to issues of library provision for multi‐cultural minorities. Many library authorities have recognised that they had a clear duty to meet multi‐cultural needs. Library services in foreign languages are not new for British public librarians and small collections of material in the main European languages were often seen. On a national scale, a central collection in Polish was also formed to meet the particular needs of people who had settled here during and after World War Two. Since the 1960s with people coming from the Indian sub‐continent, demands for Asian books began to appear, and some efforts were made to satisfy these demands. The year 1974 has a significant importance in the history of multi‐cultural library services. From that time the words ‘ethnic minorities’ were mainly directed towards Asian Communities, though the ethnic minorities were invariably called Indians, Pakistanis or Asians, Afro‐Caribbeans, Coloured, Blacks and sometimes even Disadvantaged. The term ‘ethnic minorities’ was rejected by Gundara, J and Warwick, R saying that the terms ethnic minorities and multi‐cultural are by no means interchangeable. The term ‘ethnic’ pertains only to ethnicity, whereas the word multi‐cultural focuses on cultures, surpassing the crude and often meaningless ethnic distinctions. (Gundara and Warwick, 1981, 67.)
Commonplaces
Authors: Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan , Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

PUBLISHERS of ‘Findex’, Business ratio reports, studies and surveys, Inter Company Comparisons Ltd, known as ‘ICC’, have now joined the producers of computer data‐bases. ‘ICC Database’ carries details of 60,000 companies with updating weekly. From print out which I have examined ICC have made useful added value factors to the basic information from the Companies Registration Office. It tabulates the financial figures for four consecutive years, lists a Standard Industrial Classification number for the company's product, gives directors, registered office address and trading address, company number, and a brief statement of the company's business. The database is already available on Dialog, and is expected to become available on Prestel shortly. Any ASC11 coded terminal may be used to access DIALOG, and the prices seem to be fairly reasonable for the speed of the service. ICC have organised a number of free demonstrations of the service in different parts of the country, and anyone wishing to attend the demonstration in Manchester on Thursday, July 26, should contact Diane Dalmon at ICC on telephone number 01–250 3922. Further information about the database may be had either from DIALOG, PO Box 8, Abingdon, Oxford OX13 6EG, tel 0865 730969, or Inter Company Comparisons, 28–42 Banner Street, London EC1Y 8QE, tel 01–253 3906, tx 23678.
Commonplaces
Authors: Dudley Edward , Bunch Allan , Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

ROUSED out of pre‐breakfast tea‐gulping torpor recently by hearing on Radio London the confident assertion, ‘Oh yes, there's a great shortage of librarians throughout the country…’ No Rip Van Winkle beard, wasn't April 1 and no echo of the Last Trump. It was all about a book called Work after work by Judy Kirby and REACH—Retired Executives Action Clearing House, which seeks to relieve the withdrawal symptoms of the retired by finding outlets for their skills in work for voluntary organisations. These withdrawal symptoms in librarians are easily recognised and include immediate and compulsive reading of everything in the Record, a tendency to beam for the first time at young people at conferences, and a not always suppressed urge to write rude letters to the professional press or to the LA. Editing the professional press is not recommended as nostrum for those old retirement blues.
Library promo
Authors: Soederstrijm Penni
Published: March 2008

GOOD AFTERNOON. This is our second progress meeting since Council agreed to fund a video promo, I think you call it, for our library services. Perhaps you'd like to go right ahead and show us what you've shot?
Just in case
Authors: Bingley Clive
Published: March 2008

MR RONALD BENGE, distinguished penseur, tutor in philosophy both classical and homespun, self‐confessed ‘lapsed librarian’ and ‘detached insider’ has written a book about himself—a point which it is desirable to state because not all autobiographies are in truth about their subjects—and since more or less everyone within his peripatetic physical and spiritual ambits has heard rumours for some years that this oeuvre was in progress, there will be general relief that it has now appeared in published form (Confessions of a lapsed librarian, Scarecrow Press 1984, $16; UK, Bailey Bros), so that we can all look up our own names in the index and, perhaps, elsewhere. (I may say at once that the index itself is a predictable short masterpiece of oblique priorities. I have an entry all to myself, as does Rudyard Kipling, but luminaries such as Edward Dudley, Frank Hogg and Philip Sewell appear only under the entry ‘Colleagues’, while others like Sergeant Bruce Copp aren't indexed at all, which is frightfully irritating because one would love to try to learn more about Ronald's near half‐century friendship with that delightful man other than by wading—in vain—through every word of the text with such an end in view.)
Bold Men at the Zoo
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

Cunninman tripped silently up the stairs into the daylight in Mornington Crescent. He was lucky; since the GLC and London Transport had made over the Underground to the sponsored lines, only Corngold Northern had survived the collapse of the Latin American loans market. B.Cal maintained links to Gatwick and Heathrow, but the commuter lines had gone.
A day in the life of…
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

8.43 am Enter the reading room by the spiral staircase from the boiler room. The Janitor snaps up the house lights, dims Terry Wogan and almost reaches ‘attention’ before recognising that it's only the Skeleton Staff coming on‐stream for another Bank Holiday tour de jour.
Comment
Authors: MOORE NICK , ASHWORTH WILFRED , TRAYNOR SHAUN , ANDREWS JOHN S , JONES PAT
Published: March 2008

Currently in Great Britain 12.9% of the workforce are unemployed — over three million people. Within this overall total there are considerable variations in the levels of employment in different parts of the country. Even within individual local authorities there will be sizeable differences in the actual size of unemployment from one town to another.
Infusion
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

Good afternoon, and welcome to the College. As you have spent your first term out in the real world of industry and commerce I'm afraid you've missed the cream buns with the mayor in November, and the glass of wine with the Principal in October. As a matter of fact they're both in London today — a rate‐capping demo I understand. So we're going to start with the information skills module. That means me introducing the Librarian usually (but he's just taken early retirement) and the Library (and some of that looks life‐expired, I must say).
Finding your feet and keeping your balance
Authors: COLEMAN DAVID , BINGLEY CLIVE , BRYON JFW , MUNFORD WA , BOWMAN LIZ
Published: March 2008

The coming year will see many enthusiastic librarianship graduates emerging from colleges and universities up and down the country and taking their first professional posts. Successful job applicants will be seeking to make their mark with an attitude of enthusiasm, efficiency and professionalism. However, so many newly qualified librarians fail to maintain such an attitude. Why? At a recent conference, Pat Coleman warned librarianship students that they “would feel frustrated in their first professional post after completing their courses, and that they would have difficulty in trying to bring about change”. Anna Smyth also expressed some concern at the fate awaiting many of our young colleagues; “If they remain unfulfilled, unstretched and uninterested for long they may well become bored, frustrated and cynical — a well known syndrome within librarianship”.
Reviews
Authors: ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

The MCB University Press appears to be regularly republishing the periodical Library Management as separates and, though they are excellently printed on good paper, they are costly at the price. This particular number is important to the future of libraries in the UK because it considers the whole question, in its widest aspects, of the potential effect of the information technology revolution on those libraries. The work was commissioned in 1982, Information Technology Year, but for a variety of reasons could not be produced at once a fact which is being regarded as a reason for congratulation because it has allowed consideration of recent and rapid developments. As it now stands this report forms a good up‐to‐date outline of many features of the topic, the benefits of application of IT to library services and resulting managerial problems, the response made by the profession to the challenge, the new national information policy, and the vexed question of open access to information without charge. The final controversial conclusion is that the profession has failed to plan for change and that the issues have already passed beyond its control.
The new librarians: valuable ideas in new worlds
Authors: JEWITT CLEMENT , DUDLEY MARTIN , DAY ALAN , BRYON JFW
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this article is to examine a little some of the ways in which the principles of librarianship may be producing beneficial effect in other fields, owing to the mobility of trained librarians caused partly by those dark aspects of the body economic, job stagnation and redundancy, and partly by growing opportunities.
Women in libraries
Authors: LITTLE JANE , CORRALL SHEILA , FLEMING EDWIN , BUNCH ALLAN , ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

“Breast‐feeding mum ‘humiliated’ in library” screamed the headlines in a South of England newspaper earlier this year: a mother of two had allegedly been turned out of the library for breast‐feeding her baby between the bookshelves. After investigation there turned out to have been the usual amount of exaggeration by the press, but there is a serious point here. We talk about making our libraries relevant and accessible to all members of the community, but how can mothers of young children feel comfortable when using libraries unless there are facilities for breast‐feeding and baby changing? Library designers please take note!
BOOKFLAIRBook
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

The London Borough of the Isle of Dogs provides the venue for the 14th Anglo Welsh Book Fair in its nouveau‐brutaliste Barbarian Centre. Soft music and a male stripper on the Farago stand confirms that this event has now arrived on the international bookworm calendar.
No Competition?
Authors: SCOTT PAT , NORTON ROBERT , WHITEMAN PHILIP
Published: March 2008

A while ago The Observer newspaper ran a six week long superquiz, winners to take a trip on the Orient Express. The clues were myriad, infernal and drawn from all disciplines. In a mad moment I wrote them a letter, which they published, pointing out the reverberations that such competitions have in libraries. No bad thing to publicise the fact that when memory and home reference books fail people resort to us. The letter seemed to strike a chord with many, including NLW who asked for an enlargement on the theme.
Alerts
Authors: ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

The new and completely revised fifth edition of Junior fiction index (isbn 0900092 50 5) compiled by Trevor J Knight, FLA for the Association of Assistant Librarians has just been issued. It includes the greater part of the material for children and young people which was in print in mid‐1984 in both hardback and paperback. The subject headings have been revised to reflect changes in what is now included in junior fiction especially those topics dealing with social and sensitive issues. The price is £7.25 but £6.25 to personal members of the AAL.
Comprehensive and Efficient?
Authors: BRYON JFW
Published: March 2008

Until 1950, British librarianship was unimaginably handicapped by the lack of a national bibliography. Try to visualise the difficulty of providing a competent (let alone comprehensive) service without BNB's weekly issues as aids to selection, or its cumulations for bibliographical checking, and the problems caused by reliance solely on trade listings. Today, with so many national and international bibliographies (general and subject) indices and abstracts available a vastly improved service is feasible, yet not every colleague has taken advantage of the opportunities by acquiring the maximum range possible and using them to the full. McColvin wrote in his famous Report that reference service was the great failure of British public libraries: he might justifiably have added that within reference provision generally, the weakest aspect has been the bibliographical.
Electronic Publishing
Authors: BOWYER NEIL
Published: March 2008

What is Electronic Publishing? Electronic Publishing (EP) is the application of communications technology to distribute information. In the context of libraries, it typically means large, often textual databases, stored on powerful computers, from which information is selectively retrieved using terminals linked to the computers via the telephone system.
Commercial & Technical
Authors: FLEMING EDWIN
Published: March 2008

International trade is a prerequisite to national prosperity, but at present with floating and sometimes wildly fluctuating exchange rates, the exercise is fraught with danger. It is, therefore, important that in the matter of commodities trading everyone involved is fully aware of the many highly developed centres of information. To this end, there is a new directory/bibliography on the subject Commodities futures trading: a guide to information sources and computerised services by David Nicholas, Senior Lecturer at the School of Librarianship and Information Studies at The Polytechnic of North London. The pattern throughout the book is to describe a specific course and then give its full name and address at the end of the description.
All for One and One for All: libraries and authors
Authors: COLEMAN DAVID
Published: March 2008

The Bookseller of 6 April 1985 carried what was described as “Hot news from South Bucks”: the feature was even more intriguingly sub‐titled “Frederick Nolan on a much under used publicity device”. Mr Nolan is obviously proud of this major marketing scoop — but what is it? Quite simply the author stumbled upon the libraries of South Bucks as a circuit for promoting his books, and was more than pleased with the result:
Postcards from the Pennines
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

The '85 Monsoon Season Expedition of our Senior Common Room Walking, Eating and Drinking Club was a little late starting. Any expedition to the source of the Pennine Way (PW) — in the footsteps of Alfred Wainwright and Tom Stephenson — is subject to unlooked for logistic difficulties. In our case it was that one of us, myself, could not start before lunch on Saturday; the full Academic Board, at its final meeting of term, had declined to allow us to close the Library on Saturdays‐in‐August. And so our first day consisted of a sortie from the railway station at Edale to the Youth Hostel, ditto.
Letters
Authors: BALDWIN LESLIE R , REDFERN BRIAN , SURRIDGE OWEN , HANSTOCK TERRY , WARSHAW TONY , FLEMING EDWIN , BUNCH ALLAN , ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

While I agree with the broad theme of Jane Little's article in June NLW that there are not enough women in senior library posts, I feel that at least some of her points must be challenged.
Comprehensive and Efficient?
Authors: Bryon JFW , RUSSELL TAYLOR ELISABETH , TOWNSON HAZEL , KERNS RUTH
Published: March 2008

British public librarians have long been ambivalent about fiction stock, accepting its contribution to loans statistics, but reticent, even shamefaced, about its content. Once there were frequent articles in the professional press on “the fiction question” as it was called: today there are fewer such, while the volume of research, and the number of conference papers on fiction is disproportionately small compared to the staff time, money and shelf space allotted to it. Whether librarians have made a conscious decision, or the climate of the times has changed, there is now less professional agonizing over novels' role in the book stock. Strangely, however, the result seems to be much the same: observation in a number of libraries suggests that there is still a residual reluctance to accept fiction as a legitimate, important part of the service, needing and deserving as much professional thought and care, and as adequate a level of provision, as the remainder. For example, do stock editors spend as much time, proportionately, to checking the quality of their fiction as they do to subject books.
Letters
Authors: WARSHAW TONY , LITTLE JANE , FLEMING EDWIN , BUNCH ALLAN
Published: March 2008

John Saunders wrote ‘Why are we campaigning against cuts?’ (NLW July 1985). Cuts columnist Terry Hanstock criticised the article in September NLW and referred to a meeting in Rotherham addressed by John Saunders.
Alerts
Authors: ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

I like it! A company which sets out to undertake as a service for industry the kind of jobs that nobody else wants to do. They are MOTIVITY of 34 Percy Road, Hampton, Middlesex and the phone number is 01–979 6277. For some time they have been willing to assemble equipment, make small parts, do hack‐work, and always politely and effectively. They have been described as “The ODDest Job People” and are anxious to pack, fill, paste, insert, label, type, address, fold, stamp, collate, analyse, sort into alphabetical order…. the kind of work which demands reliable staff but which, by its sheer size or monotoony, people would love to offload. Some of these tedious jobs certainly arise in libraries, so why not make a note of this useful company?
Between the lines
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

As I wrote in my last annual report, this will be my last annual report. The College Authorities made me an offer, under the Terms of Endearment Accelerated Retirement Scheme (TEARS), whose refusal my accountant cannot countenance. Frankly, I shall not be sorry. In recent years, in this country hitherto publicly funded learning centres, and centres of learning, have suffered the greatest blow to intellectual vitality inflicted at the ideological whim of one political leader, since the Maoist Red Guards were unleashed 20 years ago. I have no wish to preside over the further decline of morale standards among the young professionals, or Yuppies as we may learn to call them, on my staff.
Research
Authors: WARSHAW TONY
Published: March 2008

Information technology and the labour market With the help of a previous grant from BLR&DD, the Technical Change Centre carried out a detailed study of the impact of new technology on demands for information workers of various types. Data were collected to show employment trends over the past two decades but forward projections were also based on an assessment of the changes brought about by the new technologies. A full report on the project concluded that although ‘core’ information jobs will increase numerically they will decrease as a percentage of all jobs in information occupations. The present project, which runs through October and November 1985, will produce a summary of the full report, bringing out some of the qualitative data collected from the earlier questionnaire surveys. Issues discussed are likely to include the kinds of people, other than librarians, entering ‘core’ information jobs and the extent to which librarians and information scientists are beginning to enter peripheral or emerging employment sectors.
Editorial
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

LOOKING BACKWARDS IN 1986 That this editorial is almost wholly serious must not be taken as heralding a change in the editorial tone of voice for 1986. Normal demotic style will resume in February.
Scandinavian roundup
Authors: BRO GLISTRUP JØRGEN
Published: March 2008

In 1979 a 374‐page report on all parts and aspects of Danish libraries was presented to the Minister of Culture. The most delicate question dealt with in the report was the administrative joining of public and research libraries, the majority recommending legislation including both, and a common directorate. No thanks, said the research libraries. Now, from the turn of the year, a new Minister of Culture is establishing a directorate for the research libraries only, like the Library Inspectorate, which has been in existence for 50 years, co‐ordinating and developing the public libraries (The former director of The State Library Inspectorate, Erik Allerslev Jensen, has just finished his book on the Inspectorate until 1970 with the title To the Promotion of the Cause of Libraries). Whether the new directorate for the research libraries will succeed or not in co‐ordinating and developing the research libraries, is an open question!
Matter of public record
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

Following the recent publication of the Collected correspondence of the Royal Society of Literature, that well known Old Firm, book packagers to HM Stationery Office, Diplock, Denning and Devlin is/are preparing an œuvre drawn from the files of various Copyright Offices. An advanced dummy has fallen into our hands at the Frankfurter Bookfest…
The Birth of a Business Woman
Authors: SIMSOVA SYLVA
Published: March 2008

When interviewing prospective students I used to ask why they wanted to be librarians rather than booksellers. Almost invariably there was a look of amazement on their faces and they confessed to a reluctance to charge money for the services they were to perform.
Philosophy On The Public Library Shelves
Authors: DUCKETT RJ
Published: March 2008

As a teenager, and beyond, I benefited greatly from the philosophy shelves of my local public library. Later, as a philosophy undergraduate, the local library was useful in different ways. Later still, as a subject specialist librarian, I was responsible for the selection and management of the philosophy shelves in two different library systems. And latterly, as a middle‐manager in an era of reduced prosperity, it has been my sad task to reduce stocks on the philosophy shelves. Such varied experience: as user and provider, as graduate and freewheeler, as bibliophile and hatchet man, has caused me to think much on the subject. What philosophy books should the public library have on its shelves?
Librarians at Leisure
Authors: BARLOW RICHARD
Published: March 2008

What is the function of the annual Public Libraries Group Weekend School, other than to prove that even if our public libraries are not all‐singing, all‐dancing, our chief librarians are? The final plenary session of this year's, for example, was self‐mockingly described as ‘the annual bloodletting’, raising spectres of Ancient Rome, innocent Christians, ravenous lions, bloodthirsty spectators. Yet the actual proceedings would scarce have raised a blush on a maiden's cheek, had any been present by the end of the course. Even the eagerly‐donned hair shirts seemed to be bespoke.
April LA Council Meeting
Authors: ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

Beginning with the end, I report that the most notable feature of the Council Meeting on 17 April 1986 was that it finished before lunch. It is evident, as pointed out by Max Broome, Chairman of the Executive Committee, that in their efforts to avoid tediously lengthy meetings Council has bent over too far backwards, and the correct balance in application of the starring system has not yet been achieved. He revealed that only one item had been starred for discussion on the request of a Council member and few were starred by the Committees. After the meeting several Council members were expressing their unease about the situation notwithstanding that they had not exercised their privilege to star items. It may be that some might think particular topics should be aired without necessarily wishing to start the discussion themselves, but that still does not excuse inaction. Council must give clearer guidelines to Committee members and Chairmen as, for example, that all items must be starred if they have resource implications, especially continuing expenditure, substantially outside the current Estimates, also all matters affecting the byelaws or changes of policy that are likely to prove sensitive to the membership. As matters stand, unless Committees adopt a more generous interpretation of what merits open debate, Council runs a strong risk of becoming an extremely expensive rubber stamp.
Research
Authors: WARSHAW TONY
Published: March 2008

Pamela Graddon recently left BLRDD, having been promoted to head of the Industrial Property Section in the British Library's Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS). Her responsibilities in BLRDD for information technology are now being dealt with by Derek Greenwood who previously workedin the SRIS. Dr Elizabeth Dron, who joined BLRDD earlier this year, has left the British Library on promotion to take up a post in the Department of Environment.
Community information
Authors: BUNCH ALLAN
Published: March 2008

There's a poster going around with the surprising question “Can you tell a clean story?”, since it's usually only dirty ones that people want to tell you. The poster is inviting applications for the Pollution Abatement Technology Award which, if you haven't come across it before, is an annual scheme to identify, encourage and publicise innovations in technology to abate all kinds of pollution of the environment. So, if you've got any good ideas or would just like details, write to Pollution Abatement Technology Award, Royal Society of Arts, John Adam Street, Adelphi, London WC2N 6EZ.
Our Woman In America
Authors: KERNS RUTH
Published: March 2008

A new word has been coined in America — “grambo‐ed”. It combines the current movie character, Rambo, with the Gramm‐Rudman‐Hollings budget law which has severely curtailed, among other things, the hours of opening at the Library of Congress.
Commercial & Technical
Authors: FLEMING EDWIN
Published: March 2008

In the spring this year, the new Registrar of Companies, Stephen Curtis (NLW, December 1985) wrote to all, or nearly all, the public libraries which subscribe to the CRO microfiche directory of companies registered in Great Britain, offering to supply order forms and pre‐paid envelopes to obtain company records by post. As I understand the offer, the pre‐paid envelopes would be included for carriage to and from Cardiff. The letter said, ‘Part of CRO's marketing strategy is to improve the service available to users of the directory of British companies…I envisage supplying you initially with 100–150 order forms plus pre‐paid envelopes as soon as possible’. I understand a number of libraries have already replied positively to the proposal. This is along the lines I suggested first in this column in February 1984.
Alerts
Authors: ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

A press notice from the City of Westminster reports that a phone‐for‐the‐deaf service is being tested in Marylebone Public Library. From the Library the deaf person rings an operator at the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and, via a keyboard and VDU screen, indicates who they would like to telephone. When the call is made by the RNID operator the deaf person can speak to the distant end but replies are received by the operator, who, using a similar keyboard, types them back to the Marylebone Library. This is public provision of an already available system whereby deaf people, with a £200 keyboard adapter and their own domestic TV set, can have help from RNID in making telephone calls. It is said that deaf people much prefer this system to merely asking a friend to make the call for them because they feel they are “not bothering anyone”, the operator being somewhere else and therefore “out of sight, out of mind”. Deaf people not familiar with the equipment will receive instruction from Marylebone Library staff.
Sheffield Women's Book Fair
Authors: RILEY MELINDA , LANTZ BRIAN , CORNFORD MIKE , WARSHAW TONY , LITTLE JANE , FLEMING EDWIN , BUNCH ALLAN , ASHWORTH WILFRED
Published: March 2008

The idea for this hugely successful event at the Crucible Theatre on 7 June, came first from the pages of New Library World, believe it or not. Reading one of Jane Little's articles advertising Feminist Book Fortnight, I noticed that there was not going to be a feminist book fair in this country this year, and that the main fair was to be in Oslo. It seemed an ideal opportunity to alter Sheffield's image as the macho snooker playing capital of the North and the idea for the First Sheffield Women's Book Fair was born.
Research
Authors: WARSHAW TONY
Published: March 2008

Professor Jean Rudduck will use a grant from BLRDD, over 18 months commencing in January 1987, to look at post‐graduate teacher training courses in six settings. The project will cover issues related to the retrieval, organisation, presentation and criticism of information and knowledge. Among topics investigated will be formal introductions to the library, students' use of books and libraries, their management of course work assignments, their perceptions of knowledge and information handling and their experiences of study skills teaching as part of teaching practice. Much useful background information can be found in LIR Report 24, The sixth form and libraries: problems of access to knowledge by Jean Rudduck and David Hopkins (£9.50 from the British Library Publications Sales Unit, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ). For additional information please contact Professor Jean Rudduck, University of Sheffield, Division of Education, Arts Tower (Floor 12), Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN (Tel: 0742–768555). BLRDD is hoping to support a parallel study which will look at similar issues in undergraduate teacher training courses.
Level vibes
Authors: THOMPSON VERENA , FLEMING EDWIN , BUNCH ALLAN
Published: March 2008

Since the early 70's, library authorities have been keen to make their services more accessible to non‐traditional users. The list of target groups for attention appears endless but roughly follows most authorities' equal opportunity statements which inlcude: black/ethnic minorities; gay men and lesbians; and the disabled. As this feature is concerned with the race dimension, I'd like to focus on service provision for black/ethnic minorities.
The Mobile Gets Through
Authors: HERRING PETER
Published: March 2008

Peter Herring, London Borough of Enfield's Deputy Librarian and Cultural Officer assures NLW that this is a true story of what happened to the new mobile library during its first week.
Personal Performance Measures
Authors: HANNABUSS STUART
Published: March 2008

Library performance, organisation‐wide, can be looked at in terms of customer service and benefit, utility and document delivery ratios. Readers can be surveyed, usage can be expressed as numbers of issues, user density and periodicity of visits, and staff‐user ratios can be calculated. But quality of personal service is most important and less easy to evaluate.
Issues of the Day
Authors: CORNISH GRAHAM
Published: March 2008

One of the dangers when writing about specifically Christian views of anything, especially in the West, is that many people make the equation Christian = moral. Well, of course Christians are moral people, or should be, but what is distinctively Christian about attitudes to certain problems currently facing librarians and information workers? Perhaps I can explain a little of what I understand as the Christian response by looking at one or two specific issues of particular concern to librarians.
At Your Convenience
Authors: CORNFORD MIKE
Published: March 2008

There are many different ways for the general public to express their views about the range and nature of our services. Throwing a supermarket trolley through the window, storming out threatening never to darken our shelves again and dumping a bag of overdue books in the fishing lake are three recent pointers to me that maybe I'm not completely in touch with the needs of the local community. These may well be entirely appropriate gestures but I much prefer more subtle messages, especially when it comes to opinions on my book selection.
Short Notes On Public Libraries In Sweden
Authors: BLOMBERG BARBRO
Published: March 2008

Sweden is the only Scandinavian country which does not have any library law regulating the public library service. This is due to the fact that public libraries get 95 percent of their funding from the municipalities which are therefore considered to be responsible.
The library campaign —
Authors: BEEVERS ALAN
Published: March 2008

There is no doubt that The Library Campaign has caused a fuss these last three years. It has inspired and angered, fought and won (and fought and lost!). For many library workers it has offered a focus of concern for the future of our libraries. For others it has appeared like a left wing clique, out of touch with reality.
Swedish Support for Libraries in Nicaragua
Authors: BERGDAHL BIRGITTA
Published: March 2008

Next year the Swedish government will include support for libraries in Nicaragua in the long‐term aid which Sweden gives to Nicaragua. The Swedish programme for international development co‐operation is an essential part of Sweden's foreign policy. Budgetary appropriations amount to one per cent of the Gross National Product in accordance with a decision of the Parliament taken in 1968.
Library Service for the Unemployed, Socially Disadvantaged and Minorities in Hamburg
Authors: KAPPUS HANNA
Published: March 2008

Libraries can assist atypical minority users to regain their ethnic identity, safeguard their means of livelihood and recognise their social identity. The service for Turks in the FRG is discussed in relation to levels of literacy, library holdings in Turkish and the use of a library as a centre for advice and information.
Library Service for the Unemployed, Socially Disadvantaged and Minorities in Hamburg
Authors: Kappus Hanna
Published: March 2008

As a second example of library work with minorities: the work in the prisons in Hamburg. In the FRG in 1983 we had 166 prisons with 55,000 inmates. Most of the prisoners are men, young to middle‐aged. There is little known about their social/economic status. Most of them come from disrupted families, being brought up in educational institutions with continually changing personnel which has influenced the course of life of most prisoners. The majority have no professional training, and many of them have not even completed their school education. Very often the lack of education runs side by side with a verbal disability which reduces the chances of success in life. Problems are often settled with violence instead of being solved by discussion.
On‐line information: A wasted resource?
Authors: Norton Bob
Published: March 2008

Britain has Information Technology. On‐line continues to dominate information‐think. Conferences on IT and business information abound. Databases continue to multiply and target the businessman direct. But who is actually using them?
LA January council
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Alex Wilson was elected Chairman of Council, the customary vote against smoking was duly passed, the usual dearth of librarians in the Honours List noted and Council was under way for another year of office. In his investiture of Jean Plaister as President, Max Broome, the retiring President, made a point of not making a point about her being only the second woman to hold the office, asserting that gender had nothing to do with the choice of LA Presidents. The feminine majority of LA members, though accepting the theory, may not be entirely convinced of its practical application so far! His statement that no previous President has been as intimately connected with library co‐operation as Jean Plaister is certainly true. In her reply Miss Plaister looked forward confidently with the remark “I like challenges”, to a year which will involve the problems of legislation for copyright, increasing government pressure towards charging for public services, and continuing censorship. She drew attention to the fact that the LA has never before had a more broadly‐based membership with only 30 per cent now serving in public libraries and saw this as an encouraging development. Mr Barnes proposed the vote of thanks to Max Broome for his presidency in 1987.
PROMOTING MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND EFFICIENCY — THE NATIONAL ACQUISITIONS GROUP
Authors: Morley Mary
Published: March 2008

Although working in academic library acquisitions departments since 1974, the first meeting I remember being organised specifically for acquisitions librarians was the first Alan Armstrong acquisitions conference in November 1982. Until then, acquisitions librarians in my experience had only occasional contact with each other and the book trade through visits to and from their suppliers, and by attending general library conferences and exhibitions. Interesting and enjoyable as the Armstrong conferences were, public sector librarians balked increasingly at the cost — particularly as cuts in funding took effect on library budgets.
SCHOOL LIBRARIES — SOME ANGLO‐AMERICAN COMPARISONS
Authors: Heeks Peggy
Published: March 2008

We have become used to believing that what America does today, we will discover in ten years time. My recent trip to the United States suggests otherwise — at least in the school library field where the issues that are immediate are much the same on both sides of the Atlantic. There is one intriguing exception, which I shall explain later.
BUYING FRENCH BOOKS
Authors: Walker Martin
Published: March 2008

Any review of a new publication needs to satisfy certain criteria, and I should perhaps begin by stating my position. I have been asked to write this review article on Books in French, a publication produced by Library Services Ltd, a company owned by Library Services Trust, which was set up by the Library Association and its London and Home Counties Branch, and managed through that Branch. My review will attempt a fair and honest assessment based on my past experience, in particular my fifteen years selecting modern languages stock. My views are of course subjective ones — that is the strength of any review. If someone reading this article writes to the Editor expressing a view opposite to mine, we should both be delighted, since healthy debate is usually the sign of a profession willing to challenge accepted beliefs.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ARCHETYPAL LIBRARIAN
Authors: Fisher David
Published: March 2008

I expect many librarians would sympathise with Mr Lee's predicament. As a profession, we are trying to create a sparkling, technological image. In contrast, public conceptions of librarians tend to remain embedded within what might be called the book stamping paradigm. The senior library assistant in Between the Stacks (a satirical novel about library life), shows that he has his finger on the pulse of public opinion, when he says:
TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT LIBRARIES
Authors: Chapman Neville
Published: March 2008

Within the community we serve, there are a large number of general interest groups. Many of these outside groups have a regular programme of speakers, talking for some 30–60 minutes. Whether these are Womens Institutes, Townswomens Guilds, Mothers Unions, Retirement Groups, the Disabled or the Unemployed, they can all make use of the Library Service. At different times in people's lives the service will be of interest and value to them. The opportunity to talk to such groups is invaluable; we can either passively await an invitation or actively promote our availability. As long as we remember that this is an exercise in communication, a two‐way process, we can both promote our current services and acquire useful feedback to aid future development. As such groups can vary, in my own experience for between 10 and 100 individuals the need to be adaptable at all times is necessary. We must always remember that to inform and, we hope, to entertain, with enthusiasm (not the Lecturer's drone), is the object of such an exercise.
CORPORATE DATABASE IN A POLYTECHNIC: MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
Authors: Feeney Ann
Published: March 2008

From April 1989 Leicester Polytechnic will, in common with the other UK Polytechnics, face a major change in its status. It will be encumbent on the Polytechnic to take an entrepreneurial role and explore new ways of generating income. As one of a series of income‐generating initiatives, a project was started at Leicester Polytechnic in July 1987 to establish a database which will list all ongoing and potential research and consultancy activities within the institution.
WOMEN NOT IN LIBRARIES
Authors: Lacey Bryant Sue
Published: March 2008

“Do you want to keep your hand in?” strikes as a peculiarly unfortunate turn of phrase to one so recently delivered of a breech baby. Nevertheless son Dashiell is the reason this woman is presently not in Libraries, and hence was invited to contribute to the fecund pages of NLW.
Features
Authors: Lacey Bryant Sue , Cornford Mike , Kent Alan
Published: March 2008

It was one of the Almighty's little jokes to place the British and the French so close together and make them so entirely different in mental habits. The British hardly ever clear‐sightedly address themselves to establishing a policy — on anything. In Britain a “policy” is what you accidentally find you have after taking a number of ad hoc decisions on related matters. The French, and to a lesser extent other Continental peoples, are inclined to decide first to have a policy, then to decide what it should be in general terms and only finally to translate that general policy into detailed implementation. At European meetings it is therefore common for a proposition to be advanced in extremely general terms…often surrounded by clauses beginning “whereas”, “recalling”, “considering”, the kind of thing which characterises United Nations resolutions but is foreign to the economical language of a British Cabinet minute. At this point the eyes of the British representatives glaze over.
Columns
Authors: Shrigley Roger , Day Shirley , Fleming Edwin , Bunch Allan
Published: March 2008

On 22 October 1988 the lager louts of Reading stayed nervously indoors. The CLW “class of ‘68” was in town.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Viewbooks In NLW for June, 1987 I drew attention to “Viewbooks” because I felt the idea had considerable potential for use in libraries. They are books on single floppy disks of length up to 40,000 words and, because of having a standard format and very obvious single‐key operating controls, can be “read”, after little or no instruction, on RM Nimbus, BBC, Amstrad or IBM‐compatible personal computers. The pages are 18 lines in length and it is possible to move to any page, forwards or backwards, retrace one's steps, select from index terms, cross‐references or contents lists and, even more usefully, search for words or parts of words throughout the entire text. Extra copies of the disk can easily be made and pages or part pages be transferred to another disk for word processing or be printed out in hard copy. A further option is that up to three lines of jottings or personal notes can be made for each page, these being stored at the end of the main text and also being printable.
Features
Authors: Kempthorne Barrie , Roberts Norman , Curtis Stephen , Kerns Ruth
Published: March 2008

From delightful Aberystwyth word trickles through the Libraryland grapevine that Frank Hogg, Principal of College of Librarianship Wales, will retire shortly. Prompts a thought or three.
Columns
Authors: Hanstock Terry , Day Shirley , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin
Published: March 2008

March 1989 has been designated Library Promotion Month with the intention of promoting the positive side of the library service at a time when it might be said to be under threat from more negative forces. The idea is to involve as many people as possible — library workers, councillors, authors, trade unionists, and the general public, of course — in activities and events at local, national, and regional levels. These would include theme days on specific subjects (local history, services for the under‐fives etc.), lobbying, letter‐writing campaigns, public meetings and so forth. What we would hope for is that this combination of activities will focus the eyes and ears of the nation on the potential of libraries (or the potential that exists given a positive approach on the part of those in control of the coffers). We are given to understand that the Minister's long‐awaited response to the Green Paper and the comments it has provoked will be due round about the same period. With this in mind we want to be sure that libraries are higher up the agenda than usual when the Parliamentary implementation of whatever it is the Minister has in mind for libraries begins its process. (At the time of writing — Christmas Eve 1988 — it seems that enabling legislation will be tacked on to the next Housing Bill with secondary legislation in the form of Statutory Instruments being put before Parliament in the autumn. In other words, there is no time to lose.)
BACK BURNER
Authors: Place Hillary
Published: March 2008

Come! Come in! Are those the proofs for the “Overseas Prospectus” at last? When will people realise we don't work a 40 week contract year in this office. Those proofs should have been off before Christmas, and now where are we? Half the students will have enrolled with some bogus degree factory before we get to them. Now then:
Columns
Authors: Bérard Raymond , Cheshire David F. , Day Shirley , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin
Published: March 2008

This book by Rod Cowley — ALS: A Guide for Librarians and System Managers — plunges me into some perplexity. For what is the object of this series of which we seem to have here the first volume? According to the back cover, it is to help librarians or system managers — a frightful term. I do hope that the “managers” are also librarians and not upper echelon bureaucrats with their eyes firmly fixed on the statistics produced by computers. However, the book seeks to help them choose an automated system by examining the different products now available. A good move, for librarians wishing to automate their systems often have great difficulty in making a choice in the face of commercial‐cum‐technical engineers well versed in the techniques of salesmanship. Often there is a risky choice — that of one system rather than another based on hazardous rule of thumb and word of mouth. This indicates the potential value of a series which should enable us to form an opinion of different systems by an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. Rod Cowley is a former assistant librarian at Bromley Public Library which has an ALS system and former Secretary of the ALS Users Group. Today, he is UK Sales Manager of Automated Library Systems Ltd.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The Online Search Centre of the British Library has produced a concise but informative introductory guide to equipment and search techniques for online searching in the fields of science and technology. There have been a number of publications produced to assist would‐be online searchers but none quite so straightforwardly and practically helpful to beginners. It covers “what online searching is”; the basic equipment needs; choice of hosts and databases; the construction of search strategies; and downloading; and gives some sample searches to emphasise the points made. This publication should be a best seller for the British Library. It can be obtained from the Publications Sales Unit, The British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ at £12. The details are: Online Searching in Science and Technology, 1988, The British Library Online Search Centre, 54 pp., ISBN 0 7123 0760 5.