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This paper considers those high growth companies who do not appear to consult official support bodies – in particular, Grampian Enterprise Ltd. The challenge of finding these businesses has been likened to looking for “diamonds in the sand”. Both general and specific recommendations are drawn that would help in the locating and motivating of these SMEs to seek official help.

Our nineteenth volume opens with this page in circumstances as unsettled and uncertain as any in the history of this or any other journal. In defiance of prophecy the European conflict drags its colossal slow length wearily along, bearing with it the hopes and fears of the whole human race. It is not to be wondered at that the aims for which we strive have not made great strides in the year that has just closed. Important as we recognize literature and its distribution to be, the pressing material needs of the people often cause them to lose sight of the invincible fact that the freedom of the human spirit, its intellectual and humane expansion, are, after all is said, the ultimate aims of the war. It will not be of abiding service to the British race if in conquering the Germans we sacrifice beyond redemption all those sources of sweetness and light which have been the outcome of centuries of British endeavour. We do not fear that such sacrifice will be demanded of us, but the logic of material facts demonstrates that all who care for schools, libraries, museums, art galleries, music, and all other agencies for the moral and spiritual uplifting of men, must be on their guard against the well‐meaning but ignorant encroachments of those who would rather “save money” by abolishing them, than, for example, by foregoing their own individual luxuries.

The aim of this article is to summarise the available evidence from systematic reviews about the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or treat child physical abuse and neglect. A computerised search was undertaken of major electronic databases up to December 2005 using key search terms. Only systematic reviews were included in which the primary studies evaluated the effectiveness of targeted or indicated interventions for child physical abuse or neglect. A total of 31 systematic reviews were identified and 15 met all the inclusion criteria. They covered a range of interventions/services, including home visiting, parenting programmes, multi‐component interventions, intensive family preservation services, family‐focused casework and multi‐systemic family therapy. There was limited evidence of the effectiveness of services in improving objective measures of abuse and neglect, due in part to methodological issues involved in their measurement, but good evidence of modest benefits in improving a range of outcomes that are associated with physical abuse and neglect, including parental and family functioning and child development. The results also showed some interventions (eg. media‐based and perinatal coaching) to be ineffective with high‐risk families. The evidence provided by these reviews has clear implications for children's services in the UK and other western developed countries.

SINCE this is the last time I shall write this page as editor of Work Study I crave your forbearance if it tends to have a more personal note than usual. Of necessity communication through the printed word lacks the intimacy of personal contact. After fifteen years of writing for the same readership I sometimes feel the intense curiosity Bernard Shaw revealed in a letter to a schoolgirl which I was privileged to read. ‘I confess’ he wrote, ‘that I should even like to know what sort of looking animal you are.’

Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.

The characteristics of the so‐called Kailyard school of Scottish novelists are similar to what may be found in Catherine Sinclair, Norman Macleod and the short stories of Mrs Cupples: close observation of persons and traditions in a well‐known, confined locality, a good deal of humour and a good deal of pathos, sometimes deteriorating into sentimentality. None of the most typical Kailyard books was meant for children, but the three principal authors—S. R. Crockett, Ian Maclaren and J. M. Barrie—all wrote at least one juvenile book of some merit.

MANY and sundry are the worries which fall to the lot of the librarian, and the matter of book‐repair is not the least among them. The very limited book‐fund at the disposal of most public library authorities makes it imperative on the part of the librarian to keep the books in his charge in circulation as long as possible, and to do this at a comparatively small cost, in spite of poor paper, poor binding, careless repairing, and unqualified assistants. This presents a problem which to some extent can be solved by the establishment of a small bindery or repairing department, under the control of an assistant who understands the technique of bookbinding.

Effective teaching, while supplemented by best practice methods and assessments, is rooted in accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content. As a foundation for history content, elementary educators rely strongly on textbooks and children’s literature, both fiction and non-fiction. While many researchers have examined the historical accuracy of textbook content, few have rigorously scrutinized the historical accuracy of children’s literature. Those projects that carried out such examination were more descriptive than comprehensive due to significantly smaller data pools. I investigate how children’s non-fiction and fiction books depict and historicize a meaningful and frequently taught history topic: Christopher Columbus’s accomplishments and misdeeds. Results from a comprehensive content analysis indicate that children’s books are engaging curricular supplements with age-appropriate readability yet frequently misrepresent history in eight consequential ways. Demonstrating a substantive disconnect between experts’ understandings of Columbus, these discouraging findings are due to the ways in which authors of children’s books recurrently omit relevant and contentious historical content in order to construct interesting, personalized narratives.

This article describes how effective public service leaders are choosing to lead in exceptionally challenging circumstances. It outlines the current crucible of demand for excellent services and significant cost reduction and radical organisational change. At its core, it shows how some public service leaders are making great progress by making five key choices ‐ demonstrating bold, engaging and collaborative leadership; majoring on the transformational not transactional elements of change; not letting the inevitable uncertainties get in the way of intense engagement of their people; making tough calls on priorities; and steering their leadership teams and broader leadership communities towards genuine collaboration and connectedness.The article also identifies six leadership frames that public service leaders are drawing on: confidence; safe uncertainty(Mason, 1983); employee engagement; trustworthy leadership; collective, mutually supportive leadership; and appreciative, transformational choices.

LIBRARIANS, unlike the Surveyors and others, have not added “Royal” to their Association's title, yet the Library Association is one of the few, and now one of the venerable, societies which draw their Charter Straight from the King. More than that, after we had enjoyed fifty‐three years with such Status, our King became our Patron, and the Consort of the Heir‐Apparent actually our President. It is in this proud position that we may share specially the sense of loss which the untimely death of George VI has caused in the world. Whether his patronage will be extended by his successor or not, we cannot be deprived of the consciousness of privilege which his recognition created, and we pay homage to the fine memory of him who bestowed it. Libraries are places wherein memories endure; our shelves prove that the most brilliant eras have been those with Queens‐Regnant. All who work in them are the loyal servants of the new, youthful Queen Elizabeth, who will be as much Queen of Hearts in her own time as was her namesake four centuries ago.