bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The concept of a national organization for information: the British Library, achievements and potential
Authors: Hookway Harry
Published: February 2008

Rather than making an exhaustive survey of the Library's progress since 1973, I have selected a few areas that seem to me to be important in illustrating the British Library's work. The tide of my paper is The concept of a national organization for information: the British Library, achievements and potential and in order to understand the Library it is necessary to know something of the background and the pressures which led to this institution being set up.
UK liaison with international agricultural systems
Authors: Hirst F.C.
Published: February 2008

Rather than represent Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), or any other, official policy, I wish to express my personal views on the UK‐international scene. As I am the UK liaison officer for AGRIS (International System on Agricultural Sciences and Technology), I will give this system major consideration—but there are other international systems which entail considerable UK involvement, not least, the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux (CAB).
The use of computer‐based bibliographic information services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Authors: Gray D.E. , Johnston Susan M.
Published: February 2008

During the beginning of the 1970s it became apparent to the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's library service that the mechanized information revolution was upon us. We had taken part in a number of investigations which indicated that the technology was well developed and reliable. We knew, in addition, that large‐scale commercial services were available. What we did not know was what the real value of these external services was to the Ministry. They were all derived from very familiar printed secondary journals. Did mechanized operation offer substantial advantages? Was the cost justified? How could mechanized operations fit into the present library activities? If mechanized services did offer improved facilities, what administrative arrangements were necessary? It was decided, therefore, to attempt to answer these questions by the evaluation of external computer‐based bibliographic information services under practical conditions.
ARCIS: an agricultural research current information system
Authors: Fell Elizabeth
Published: February 2008

ARCIS is an information system holding titles, researchers' names and institutes, administrative codes, free keywords and costs for about 4,500 research projects sponsored by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland (DAFS) and the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland (DANI).
Future perfect
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: February 2008

Consider the means available to us for enjoying a piece of music, such as this, which I am about to play, Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave—a cassette recording made on a machine costing £10; an EMI studio tape played through equipment costing £3,500, or better, through £8,000 worth of stereo or quadrophonic equipment; or even a live rendition by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. If you were to compare these versions of Tchaikovsky, what you would experience is a quick and simple demonstration of the law of diminishing returns: As each step towards perfection is taken, costs escalate dramatically. Now this law happens to be universally applicable and stands squarely in the way of man's innate desire to attain perfection. The urge towards perfection is so powerful that the law, acting as an unwelcome barrier, is usually either deliberately ignored or conveniently forgotten. Your hi‐fi enthusiast, for example, continues to pore over equipment specifications and buys bigger, more sophisticated and cosdier items regardless of the facts that his small lounge will not accoustically fit a thirty‐two‐foot organ pipe and that unless he is young he cannot hear notes above seventeen or eighteen kilohertz. How many of you, I wonder, would realize it if the studio recording of Marche Slave had been rolled off by EMI at fifteen kilohertz? Certainly I could not detect it, nor could anyone else above the age of fifty‐five. So why strain so hard for perfection? Indeed, why bother?
User evaluation by budgetary games
Authors: Parker C.C.
Published: February 2008

This paper describes a relatively new budgetary game technique which may be used to evaluate library and information services. It describes a particular application of the technique to research workers at Southampton University in which the relation between the Library and other University support systems was investigated. The results indicated that according to the users, the value placed on library services held up well in conditions of budgetary restraint. An extension of the game technique applied to type of library and information service, indicated that interactive services were more highly valued than active services.
Prestel and public libraries: an LA/ Aslib experiment
Authors: Martyn John
Published: February 2008

From time to time in the information and library world, something comes along in the way of a new idea or a new piece of technology which we feel is likely to have a significant effect on the way we do things in our professional lives. During the last fifteen years or so, the new developments have included post‐coordinate indexing systems, electrostatic copiers, the use of computers in batch mode, citation indexing, computer typesetting, on‐line search of remotely‐stored data bases, the growth of networks, The National Lending Library at Boston Spa, routine use of microforms, the British Library, and so on. There are usually a few new things either just on the scene or lurking below the horizon, like microprocessors, word processing equipment, Public Lending Right, possible new copyright legislation, the European Patents Office and possibly Euronet, which cause us to worry, perhaps, or to want to find out more about them. Finding out about any of these things, though, hasn't been too much of a problem, because we have been able to do a conventional literature search through the scholarly and professional journals, or through Government publications, and get by these means a pretty good idea of what has been going on. What I am going to talk about tonight though, Prestel, isn't really like that at all. For one thing, most of the publication about it has been in the popular press, in the shape of new announcements and press releases, with very little in the conventional journals (apart from one or two papers in the electronics and electrical press). For another thing, it seems to have come upon us relatively rapidly, even though, paradoxically, its promised public advent has been beset by a variety of delays. Then too, whereas other technological advances have appeared in different areas of human activity and have gradually infiltrated into the information and library world, here we have a radically new type of information supplying service which suddenly appears more or less full‐grown in our world from a possibly unexpected quarter. And, of course, the creature changed its name from Viewdata to Prestel not very long ago, which has not greatly helped our confusion.
The meaning of ‘about’ in fiction indexing and retrieval
Authors: Pejtersen Annelise Mark
Published: February 2008

In acknowledgement of the key position of the concept of ‘aboutness’ in the indexing process, the definition of the term ‘about’ seems to have become the crux of the discussion about indexing systems. ‘About’ is not a simple and self‐evident term in the process of indexing, and the earlier view of a one‐sided relationship between the term and the contents of documents is called into question. A new definition of ‘about’ is needed and a short review of recent contributions on the subject will illustrate some of the suggestions put forward for operational and functional definitions of the ‘aboutness’ of documents. The problem has also been tackled through experiments on alternative design criteria for indexing schemes (Swift et al).
GREMLIN: a co‐operative local government information service
Authors: Preston Tony
Published: February 2008

In mid‐1977 the Greater Manchester Reference & Information Sub‐Group (a working party of librarians representing the ten public library authorities in the county) set out to create an inexpensive but workable local government information service which would be available to any of the local authorities who wished to participate. Of the ten constituent districts, only Stockport had a full‐time local government information officer. One of the main features of Stockport's service was a weekly current awareness bulletin, using input from about a hundred journals. Oldham and Tameside were assisting Stockport by scanning extra journals and providing relevant abstracts and photocopies; in return they were receiving copies of the Stockport bulletin. Tameside staff were using this bulletin to help produce their own irregular information bulletin on a reduced scale and, like Stockport, were supplementing it with a photocopy supply service. Salford had produced independently for two years a fortnightly current awareness bulletin. Provision in the other districts was minimal.
Locally produced current awareness services
Authors: Rowley J.E.
Published: February 2008

THhe value of current awareness services has long been recognized, and the possible forms of such tools are well documented. However, little attempt has been made to study the role and exploitation of these techniques in libraries and information units. Questions such as: which current awareness services are most popular?, is the most appropriate dissemination method dependent on the sector of librarianship?, how significant a part of a libary's activities are current awareness services? and, how do they fit into the day‐to‐day routine of the library?, remain unanswered.
Official information
Authors: Cornjord James
Published: February 2008

My title is intended to cover two related matters which have excited much public interest over the last few months—official secrets and freedom of information. The Official Secrets Acts and particularly the notorious section 2 of the Act of 1911 have of course been matters of public concern for many years. The Act of 1911 was passed through Parliament with scarcely any discussion during a spy scare, but as the Franks Committee has long since pointed out, its all‐embracing character was not the product of inadvertent haste, but the culmination of twenty years of effort in Whitehall to get Parliament to take the problem of protecting official information seriously. The security of the realm was, and remains, the most effective argument for extending a blanket of secrecy over all official information, however trivial. The difficulty for those who want to remove part of the blanket has been to convince the doubtful sympathizer that the blanket is divisible, or that some of it can be turned back without revealing all. The alternative, very satisfactory to Whitehall, ministers and senior civil servants alike, is that the release of official information should be entirely at their discretion. It is of course necessary for government that a great deal of official information be published as a matter of routine. The problem with the discretionary system is that some information needed for effective parliamentary scrutiny and public debate is not made available until after its publication could have affected government decisions, or indeed, at all. And the government, in deciding whether or not to publish, is apt to confuse its own political position with the national interest.
The IEA Coal Data Base—the development of the Coal Thesaurus and indexing strategy
Authors: Davidson Robert M.
Published: February 2008

The subject coverage of the Coal Data Base is very large and represents an amalgam of the interests of the member countries who supply input. The basic coverage is as listed in the contents page of Coal Abstracts:
UK abstracting and indexing services—some general trends
Authors: East H.
Published: February 2008

The recently published Inventory of abstracting and indexing services produced in the UK provides a considerable amount of both ‘hard’ and indicative data from which some general trends in the development of abstracting and indexing services can be deduced. A study of these trends was undertaken and the findings have just been published in the BLRDD report series. This paper presents, in a summary of those findings, information about the size, longevity, ownership and scope of such services.
Characteristics of brand names used in marketing information products and services
Authors: Myers John , Oppenheim Charles , Rogers Stephen
Published: February 2008

218 brand names of microfilm/microfiche readers, computerized information retrieval systems and on‐line databases were subjected to an analysis of their characteristics. They acre analysed for the product information they conveyed and for the characteristics of the words employed. It was found that brand names tend to employ meaningless concocted words and that the favoured words begin and end with a consonant. Other features of the words used and differences between the groups of products were noted.
Statistics: an active force
Authors: Boreham A.J.
Published: February 2008

I am proud to be a statistician. I like to reply to the question ‘What are you, Mr Boreham?’ with ‘I am a statistician’, in ringing tones. Of course at my advanced age I could be expected to be proud of my trade, having committed most of my working life to it. So you may discount my pride if you like. But I sincerely believe that I am not merely putting a good face on a mis‐spent life. I am willing and able, I think, to show that a life committed to statistics is not mis‐spent and in this paper I will try to do so. There will be three sections in it. The first will establish statistics as a basis and handmaiden of all sciences. The second will establish it as the basis for the control of all processes. The third will establish it as the essential engine of the next phase of evolution.
How much good does your library do?
Authors: Blagden John
Published: February 2008

This conference session is to be devoted to the value of information as seen by the customer, but ironically all of the session's speakers are in fact intermediaries in the information transfer process. We cannot therefore speak from first hand experience, but what we can do is to talk about our experience based on the systematic analysis of customer contacts.
Information for industry—the role of the information broker
Authors: White Martin S.
Published: February 2008

My purpose is to draw the attention of the information profession to the fact that the majority of British companies have totally inadequate access to information, to outline the role information brokers can play in alleviating the situation, and to stimulate discussion. In view of the overall theme of the conference, the economics of information, it is probably time that due attention was paid to the problems of what is almost an information ‘third world’, because of the possible adverse effect on the economy of the United Kingdom if it continues to go unnoticed. The size of the problem is substantial; on the British industrial scene, the professional information population is dwarfed by the actual number of companies.
Student opinion of the services of a university library
Authors: Moss G.D. , Green A.M.W.
Published: February 2008

A survey of student user opinion of the new university Arts and Social Studies Library is reported. Students are concerned more about adequacy of book stocks and study spaces than about other issues. It is suggested that this type of survey might provide information for policy decision makers in allocating resources.
The hidden cost of saving: the effect of cancelling periodicals
Authors: Peacock P.G.
Published: February 2008

Little attention has been given to the long term effects of cancelling periodicals. A case study of Stirling University Library between 1973/76 and 1978/79 is used to demonstrate that cancelling periodicals can significantly increase a library's workload.
Parliamentary scrutiny of European Community business
Authors: Guy John
Published: February 2008

The range of community publications and documents available from the Information Office and other sources, including HMSO, has already been discussed, so I shall confine myself to a brief examination of a group of documents known as Council documents. I shall do so in the context of the scrutiny by the United Kingdom Parliament of Community business. I propose to begin, therefore by describing the scrutiny procedure.
Manpower planning and research
Authors: Slater Margaret
Published: February 2008

Possibly the best entry point or initial approach to manpower planning is via term‐definition. Perhaps we should also keep this term‐defining concept in mind whenever we think, talk, or write about the subject, because the very label manpower planning in itself is ambiguous and capable of multiple interpretation. It attempts an encapsulated description—indicative rather than precise—of a faceted discipline or multi‐disciplinary field. As an activity it has four broad aspects: stocktaking analysis; forecasting; planning and policy making; implementation.
A National Information Policy for the United Kingdom
Authors: Anthony L.J.
Published: February 2008

Every year, Aslib, in common with other library and information organizations, plays host to a large number of overseas visitors, many of them from developing countries. They come to the United Kingdom for many reasons but mainly to improve their own knowledge and experience, to study British ideas and methods and to make some judgment of which of these may be relevant to their own particular environments.
Classification of viruses for information retrieval
Authors: Fidler Susan J.
Published: February 2008

A computer file, which may be consulted and updated online, has been compiled of all plant and animal viruses at present recognized. The data is arranged according to type of nucleic acid present and method of replication (Baltimore classification). An alphabetic list gives family, subgroup, etc., together with synonyms. A coded subset of viruses of veterinary importance is being devised for use in diagnostic surveys. The file is being incorporated with an ‘in‐house’ current awareness system thesaurus.
Names of living organisms in a thesaurus on animal health and hygiene
Authors: Sylvia
Published: February 2008

The Library of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Tolworth serves the needs of the State Veterinary Service Headquarters & Field staff, and of the Animal Health Divisions of MAFF. The functions of the Government veterinary service include
The selection of periodicals for binding
Authors: Peacock P.G.
Published: February 2008

The books, periodicals and binding component of the Index of university costs is based on the assumption that the ratio of expenditure on binding to combined expenditure on monographs and periodicals in British university libraries is 1:8. Practice in individual libraries varies widely about this mean. It is possible to find even among libraries serving similar academic populations ratios varying from 1:6 to 1:20. There may of course be sound reasons for particular binding policies that depart markedly from the norm. The purpose of this paper is not to advocate uniformity of policy but to propose a set of criteria for the selection of periodicals for binding that may assist librarians to apply their professional judgment systematically, whatever the level of funds at their disposal.
Machine aids for translators: a review
Authors: Stiegler A.D.
Published: February 2008

Since translating is an office activity which, like other office activities, consists primarily of processing text, it is instructive to examine the reasons for automating text production. Most of these reasons will be equally applicable to the production of translated texts. We shall then investigate the current developments in machines and micro‐chip technology which are applicable to translation. These will include voice recognition and response and optical character recognition equipment amongst others.
New developments in information technology for interlingual communication
Authors: Sager J.C.
Published: February 2008

Information technology is a new interdisciplinary field combining information science, computing, telecommunications and electronics. As it establishes links across national and linguistic boundaries it also acquires a multilingual dimension requiring translators as links in the interlingual communication process. The translator thus can no longer be considered in isolation; he is simply another mediator, generally between natural languages, similar in function to information scientists who mediate between natural and artificial languages, be they documentation languages or command languages to access databases, and similar also to those computational linguists who mediate between natural languages and computer languages. Interlingual communication is expanding and its means and methods are changing. This is not only reflected in two major Aslib Conferences on this topic in two years, but in Action Plans of the Commission of the EC, the activities of INFOTERM in Vienna, ISO, FID, and UNESCO involvement in this work, the growth of terminological data banks, as well as new organizations and studies in every developed country, some of which were mentioned during this conference.
Effect of online services on purchases of a printed index
Authors: Childs Susan , Carmel Michael
Published: February 2008

This paper reviews the trend of purchasing of a printed index (Index Medicus) within one regional health authority. It shows that as the machine readable counterpart (Medline) has become more easily accessible the purchase and use of Index Medicus has increased rather than diminished.
The case for copyright
Authors: Davies John
Published: February 2008

Those of you who have been addicted to watching television for as long as I have may remember some years ago that the BBC produced a series called ‘The Lions' Den’. The purpose of the programme was to surround a speaker with those whose opinions were most diametrically opposed to his or hers. One would therefore find Andy Warhol with the National Viewers and Listeners Association, Enoch Powell with the Campaign for Racial Equality, Ian Paisley with the Committee of the Provisional Sinn Fein.
Monitoring the demand for the service: of academic libraries—the survey as a library management tool for capital services
Authors: Basker Jim , Brettell Saxon
Published: February 2008

A decision on the allocation of seating space within an academic library requires information on the complex pattern of behaviour of library users in relation to the services of that library. In a period of particularly stringent limitation on library funding, especially on the capital account, it might be argued that the constrained space within an existing library should be even more effectively managed than in the past. This would seem to justify a correspondingly more intense process of monitoring of the use and potential use of library services by library managers. The information obtained should be relevant to decision taking in that it is appropriate and immediate but at the same time as inexpensive as to justify its gathering.
The use of Prestel in libraries on Budget Day
Authors: Bruce Margaret , Langrish John
Published: February 2008

The paper describes a study carried out on Budget Day, 10 March 1981. The behaviour of user groups and the problems encountered in accessing viewdata were observed in four different libraries. Attitudes of library staff to the service were collected and the Budget News presented by various Information Providers (IPs) was analysed. The findings of the research are discussed. The paper focuses on the changes viewdata has initiated in library organization and in the working practices of librarians, the patterns of user behaviour and the particular ways in which news is structured by different IPs. The role of libraries in promoting viewdata is considered. Variations in methods of presentation by six IPs are discussed.
Resource sharing: a commercial point of view
Authors: Field D.S.
Published: February 2008

I hope that my observations on the topic of the discussion appear relevant and stimulating. It may be that from what I have to say you will look on me as the ‘Devil's Advocate’. I shall try to play the role with conviction. My aim is to be short, sharp and subjective (in an objective fashion).
Authors versus books
Authors: Smith Anthony
Published: February 2008

The system of moving letters devised by Johan Gutenberg established, or rather, confirmed a chain of specialist relationships which runs: author, printer, bookseller/publisher, reader, librarian. For five centuries these have been the principal actors in the politics of the text; they have fought one another and depended upon one another; they have been held together (or apart) by a body of law and professional doctrine. Printer, bookseller/publisher and their ancillary crafts and trades were all once firmly held within the Stationers' Company but as the printing press technology spread beyond guild control in the late 17th century these functions diverged more and more. We inherit the rituals and procedures of these separate professional groups and their relative status. They have seemed to us as inevitable as the seasons and as essentially separate. Not even those revolutionary prophets of the early twentieth century who predicted the withering away of the state considered that a technology might arrive, as suddenly but as profoundly needed as the printing press, which would lead us to question the settled assumptions of the renaissance. For that is what the new technology of the text urges us to do; at least, to dig out some of the unargued assumptions about the nature of authorship, say, compared with librarianship, about the relationship also between publisher and bookseller, publisher and librarian, and so forth.
Grey literature online: the GLC experience
Authors: Owen Tim
Published: February 2008

I can remember quite clearly the scene in the information officers' room at the Research Library in County Hall, the morning after the 1981 GLC elections—what an age ago it seems. There was the Members' information officer having a clear‐out, ditching piles of paper. ‘Airships—out! Olympic Games—out! CB radio—out!’ he sang as he bent with a will to his work. What he was doing was disposing of the bumph accumulated during the lifetime of the previous administration, reams of data collected for the benefit of the outgoing GLC, or acquired at the request of individual Members with bees in their bonnets about one subject or another, who had now fallen in battle. At the same time as the detritus of the previous four years was being swilled away, other hands were already bending to the task of assiduously garnering more bumph on the new ‘in’ topics—control of the police, ethnic minorities, cheap fares. And it is possible that in about three years from now we will be engaged in precisely the same operation in reverse. It's a slightly fanciful picture, but it is a fair comment on the way we operate; not so much ‘expand or die’ (though we do that when we can) as ‘respond or die’. The new administration, of whatever political colour, has its own new ideas that it wants to put into operation as quickly as possible, and it's our job to provide the necessary supporting information as rapidly as we can. What has gone before is largely so much water under the bridge. That's how we view our terms of reference.
Grey literature worldwide: the UAP programme
Authors: Vickers Stephen
Published: February 2008

The title of this paper rather implies that UAP is concerned specifically with grey literature, therefore I shall begin with some clarification of the UAP programme. While considerable effort has been put into publicizing the programme, I am confident that not all will be familiar with it and that some may not even know what the initials stand for, which is—Universal Availability of Publications. UAP is an objective and a programme developed by IFLA—the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions—which enjoys the full support of Unesco. The objective is the widest possible availability of published material (that is, recorded knowledge issued for public use) to intending users, wherever and whenever they need it, as an essential element in economic, scientific, technical, social, educational and personal development. To work towards this objective the programme aims to improve availability at all levels, from the local to the international, and at all stages, from the publication of new material to the retention of last copies, both by positive action and by the removal of barriers. It should be seen as a major element in a wider concept of Universal Access to Information. It concerns most of the activities of a conventional library, but only that part of the activities of a documentation centre or information service related to the collection and supply of publications. It may be noted though, that the distinction between traditional libraries and documentation centres is becoming increasingly indistinct, and that new publishing methods using machine‐readable processes are contributing to a gradual but accelerating erosion of distinctions between various kinds of supplier. Publishers will probably take on some of the roles of libraries and vice versa, with increasing contact and co‐operation between the sectors. This is an area to which I shall return later.
The BLEND‐LINC project on ‘electronic journals’ after two years
Authors: Shackel B. , Pullinger D.J. , Maud T.I. , Dodd W.P.
Published: February 2008

This paper describes the progress after 2 years of a 3½ year experimental programme organised jointly by two Universities as the Birmingham and Loughborough Electronic Network Development (BLEND). The aims of the programme are to explore and evaluate alternative forms of user communication through an ‘electronic journal’ and information network, and to assess the cost, efficiency and subjective impact of such a system. After summarising the background leading to this research, the project is described which involves the development of various types of ‘electronic journal’ with a community of initially about 50 scientists (the Loughborough Information Network Community—LINC). In this project, the journal procedures involving authors, editors and referees are being studied, up to the point at which editors accept pages for publication. The scientific subject area of this experimental programme is ‘Computer Human Factors’. Each member is expected to contribute at least one research article and one shorter note in each year of the project, and may also use other forms of communication such as messages, newsletters, annotated abstracts, workshop conferences, co‐operative authorship, etc. Considerable problems have been experienced with the hardware available to LINC members, with communications equipment, with modifying and developing software to obtain an acceptable operating system, and with various unexpected bureaucratic and organisational difficulties. These problems and the results to date will be reviewed. Nevertheless, more than 20 papers are in the system and the first number of the ‘Computer Human Factors’ experimental electronic journal was open to LINC members on 1st October 1982.
Setting up a ‘One‐Man Band’ library in a commercial environment
Authors: Perrott A.M.J.
Published: February 2008

This article describes the preliminary stages of establishing a ‘One‐Man Band’ library for a commercial marketing department, highlighting some characteristics of this type of information work. The ‘One‐Man Band’ entity—which can be defined as a special library or information unit operated by one person—is well recognised as a type of service with its own features, and has been a topic of interest in library circles for some time.
Document delivery services and copyright
Authors: Bull Gillian E.
Published: February 2008

The staff and members of Aslib have long been noted for taking a close interest in the topic of copyright, and have done a great deal in recent years to clarify the copyright problems experienced by members, and to represent members' interests in national debate. If I may remind the audience of some Aslib activities in very recent times—for example, in the Supplementary Memorandum submitted by Aslib to the Price Committee in 1980, this statement was made re copyright:
Measuring the value and marketing the service: an approach to library benefit
Authors: Hannabuss Stuart
Published: February 2008

The value of libraries and information services lies in their contribution to customer information needs. As non‐profit organisations, their benefit is seen less as profit than as benefit or utility to the communities they serve. They follow service goals and resource management goals, and a successful balance ensures effectiveness and efficiency. Good management methods within the organisation increase the likelihood of achieving these goals, and such methods include systematic monitoring and analysis of internal data and systematic and imaginative marketing.
Interpretation of copyright law—looking especially at the situation created by the new technology
Authors: de Freitas Denis
Published: February 2008

The underlying concern of copyright is with communication; the purpose of the copyright system as it exists today is to stimulate those who have something to communicate—ideas, information, visions—to express them in a form in which they can be communicated to other human beings. The copyright system seeks to encourage authors to write, musicians to compose, artists to paint, and to provide incentives for the dissemination of their output by giving them rights of control over the use to which these forms of expression—literature, music, visual art—may be put by the public. The copyright law today is entirely statutory, subject, of course, to judicial interpretation as and when disputes come before the courts. The present statute is the Copyright Act 1956; its principal effect may be summarised in the following way:
User education in the online age
Authors: Lester Ray
Published: February 2008

The prime idea of ‘user education’ has been to teach present and prospective users of libraries and similar information services how to find the information they need. Users need to be educated in the proper use of libraries: effective library use is not a naturally endowed skill. Or we might say: ‘user education’ is needed either because our libraries are really rather complicated to use; or it is needed because users are not normally at all sophisticated in their approach to libraries, and left to their own devices they simply cannot find the information they need; or it is needed for a combination of both those reasons.
Progress in Information Sociotechnology: the ten‐year syndrome
Authors: Cawkell A.E.
Published: February 2008

At the 1978 Aslib conference, I gave a talk entitled ‘The New Technology’, subsequently summarised in a short article in this journal. In it a drawing of something I called the ‘Consumersole’ appeared. This device, which was discussed in an article also published in 1978, was a prediction of what might be used in homes and businesses at the end of the century.
A microform policy to reduce the physical growth of industrial libraries
Authors: Blick A.R. , Ward S.M.
Published: February 2008

It is an irrefutable fact that all libraries, no matter what their size, will eventually run into storage problems. The solution may be, as with the British Library, to build more and more storage facilities at the cost of millions of pounds. However, for industrial libraries a request for more and more storage space is not a solution which is likely to be well received by higher management, especially as the cost of floor space in buildings escalates. Therefore, another answer must be found. This paper discusses a policy which has been adopted in the libraries of the Research Division of Beecham Pharmaceuticals. The policy involves the extensive use of microfiche holdings of journals in the libraries; to the surprise of many people this has not generated adverse reaction from the customers. The policy does not stop the library stock from growing but substantially reduces the rate of growth. It is not achieved, however, without an overall increase in cost which must be set against the alternative cost of additional storage space.
The subject librarian and social scientists: liaison in a university setting
Authors: Holbrook A.
Published: February 2008

A review of the human and professional relationships between university social scientists and the subject librarian. Some general principles that concentrate on personal aspects of interaction are put forward for consideration. Problems and techniques in establishing initial contact with users are outlined followed by analysis of formal and informal liaison with the three main groups: undergraduates, postgraduates and staff, the latter in more detail. Attention is paid to wider influence on user/librarian contact. These include social scientists' perception of the library and subject librarian, the siting and organisational context of the subject librarian, and the long‐term need for the liaison role.
Pricing of information products
Authors: Barker Frances H.
Published: February 2008

There is no doubt that the availability of machine‐readable information products accessible by online means is posing a threat to the existence of printed information products. The reason is not that there is no longer a place for printed products, but that the shifting pattern of available products and usage is making it difficult to find the ‘right’ pricing structure. If the producer gets the pricing structure wrong, then the whole product—printed, machine‐readable or otherwise—is in jeopardy.
A scientist's view of print versus online
Authors: Chambers John
Published: February 2008

The aim of the MAFF Slough Laboratory is to achieve the safer storage of cereals and foodstuffs by minimising their infestation by insects, mites and fungi. The work involves novel research in diverse areas so there is a relatively large need for searching the literature. The library facilities at the Slough Laboratory are second to none for the majority of staff, who are biologists, but costs dictate that they are less satisfactory for the smaller number of chemists. The provision of an online terminal has been of benefit to workers in both disciplines, though particularly to the chemists. Nevertheless, when the suggestion was made recently that our library no longer needed to purchase certain journals in printed form, I objected strongly. In this paper I attempt to explain my reasons for these objections.
Secondary publications have a future in libraries
Authors: Norton Tom
Published: February 2008

When I looked at the summaries of the other speakers at our conference today, I wondered what there was left for me to say. Everything of importance on the subject seemed to have already been covered. Perhaps I should talk about the remote future; some distinguished members of our fraternity earn an honest crust doing so. The Director of Aslib does so with flair and panache. A rather good model to follow, I thought. Earlier this month I chaired a conference where Dennis Lewis gave the last paper of the day and his address was concerned with the future. At this conference we handed out questionnaires for the audience to give their opinions on the speakers—a dangerous practice, Mr Chairman, I am glad to see that you haven't copied it today. Dr Lewis' paper was very well received and there were numerous complimentary remarks. One member of the audience added the comment: ‘Why is it that whenever I go to a meeting or conference, Dennis Lewis is there talking about the future?’ The writer did add: ‘Perhaps because he has something to say that we should all hear!’
Improving your image: how to promote a library or information service
Authors: Wood Douglas
Published: February 2008

The object of this paper is to help library and information staff to promote themselves and their services, so that they present an efficient and capable image of their work. The paper brings together some straightforward ideas and practical marketing methods which can be used in the library and information field.
Information for management in higher education
Authors: Farrant John H.
Published: February 2008

Universities are in the information business: to create, interpret, store and transmit knowledge comprises the greater part of their function. (I use the word ‘universities’ as shorthand for ‘universities and other institutions of higher education’, though what I say does apply most particularly to universities.) It would be a reasonable inference, then, that universities would be particularly scrupulous in using information for their own internal management. Observation suggests the contrary: relatively little information is used for decision‐taking, and without a high attention to accuracy.
Sources of data: demographic/educational/social
Authors: Roweth Barbara
Published: February 2008

I was asked to talk about demographic, social and educational data sources for the management of further and higher education from the perspective of the individual institution and the local authority. My emphasis will be on the production of statistics and the processes by which statistical information is made available, but it would be difficult to think about sources of statistics in this area in isolation from their use and the purpose for which they were collected, so I shall begin with a brief review of the kinds of uses I have in mind.
Information management: an Australian photomontage
Authors: Lane Nancy D.
Published: February 2008

One of Australia's publishing success stories of 1982 was the coffee‐table book, A day in the life of Australia. One hundred photographers were sent to different locations throughout Australia. Their assignment: Take pictures. The result is a national album showing people in country towns, capital cities, isolated cattle stations, doing what they would normally be doing at different times of the day. The photographs selected by the editors for publication could not hope to provide an exhaustive overview of Australia and Australians; nonetheless, those who browse through the pages get the feeling they've shared a significant part of Australian life.
Information management: taking account of the human element
Authors: Higgin Gurth
Published: February 2008

In what I have to say I have defined the human element as not including ergonomic considerations. I do this mainly because I know little about ergonomics, but also because there must be many people at this conference who know a lot more about it than I do. What I shall address myself to, is the possible social, including organisational, implications of the development of information technology — its psychological implications and its implications for implicit value choices concerning the sort of socio‐technical systems we set up around the new technology.
Structural change within the information profession: a scenario for the 1990s
Authors: Gleave D. , Angell C. , Woolley K.
Published: February 2008

The development of electronic information technology and its increasing rate of adoption and implementation is having a major impact upon both the volume of information activity and the levels of employment in information related jobs.
Information management: the industrial need
Authors: Lewis Colin
Published: February 2008

The First of January 1984 may well be recognised as one of the most significant dates in the evolutionary calendar of Information Management. On that date there came into force the first mandatory stipulation regarding the form that information would have to take. This event could well be the first of many that will force industry to make changes in the methods by which it produces, receives and stores information. This must, inevitably, require the provision of people aware of the impact that such changes will bring and who will be trained to respond effectively to those changes.
Setting up and running an information centre in a large UK chartered accountancy practice
Authors: Bickerstaff Mollie
Published: February 2008

A few years ago, being possessed of some reasonable word processing services and an assortment of minicomputers, the partnership recognised that the time had come to co‐ordinate our existing office automation and to make a much greater investment in information technology. This was partly because continuing improvements in technology offered greater productivity, a matter of tremendous importance to all whose businesses are based on selling the time of their professional staff, partly because the consultancy side of the practice was already growing significantly by means of selling office automation services to clients, so one could see it was a good thing, and partly because we wished to retain our edge in the market place, the competition being just as important in accountancy as it is in any other type of business.
Online use of external databases in Australian manufacturing industry
Authors: Maguire Carmel , Kench Robin
Published: February 2008

Online use of external databases by Australian manufacturing companies has been growing rapidly since 1979. A survey of online users in some chemical and food companies found that in one‐third of the companies scientists and technologists performed searches. They did not search as many databases as the librarians in the other companies. They are, however, obtaining more information than before. All companies considered online searching cost effective, citing the rapid retrieval of information and the fact that searches need only be conducted when information is wanted, as evidence of cost‐effectiveness. Implications for manufacturing industry in Australia of current trends in the online industry are discussed and the potential of the new technology for equalising access to information among companies of all sizes is noted.
Videotex systems and data access methods: a state‐of‐the art review
Authors: Buscain Alison
Published: February 2008

The following paper is based on some research work carried out by the author while studying at the Centre for Information Science, City University, London in 1982. The original work concentrated on the Prestel system, but has for the purposes of the present paper been broadened out as far as possible to encompass videotex in general. A fairly extensive literature review has also been carried out to bring the coverage up to date.
The library and information profession's response to data protection
Authors: Eric Davies J.
Published: February 2008

I will attempt (albeit briefly) to give an overview of the profession's formal involvement in data protection. My objectives will be threefold. Firstly, to sketch some of the background of the library and information profession's concern with data protection. Secondly, to indicate what is happening currently (and there is a great deal happening), and thirdly to outline how and where I see matters developing in the future. This particular gathering may well provide a useful input into this last area because it is really up to the individual members of the profession to indicate where the effort and development on this subject should be concentrated. Those close to the issue (too close it feels at times) have their own specialised view of things, but there is a danger that the general interests of the profession are not sufficiently regarded and pursued unless frequent soundings are taken.