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This paper is adapted from a report to the University Grants Committee's Equipment Sub‐Committee and summarises the responses to a letter of enquiry sent by this Sub‐Committee to all British university libraries in 1984. The history, current position, and future plans with respect to automation in UK university libraries are described. Particular sections of the paper cover acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation control, serials as well as staffing, networking, and more general aspects.

My title is an allusion to that old country joke — If I were going there, I wouldn't start from here. Perhaps it should have been: How did I get here from there? Why should I have been given the honour, and the pleasure, of addressing this distinguished company? It is an honour because we are celebrating the coming‐of‐age of a major professional journal and that is a notable event. It is a pleasure, because this is a gathering of friends; some here will remember that twenty one years ago audiences were not always friendly. I spent many years as the Wild Man from Southampton who wanted everyone to go into automation and claimed that it worked. Suddenly about six years ago I was turned into an elder statesman, over the hill and past his best, but a good type to be sent abroad to try to save our colleagues in the Third World from the mistakes we made twenty years ago, or to address gatherings that are more social than, shall we say, technical. I need hardly add that I preferred my role as the Wild Man, or, as I would put it, a pioneer in the application of modern techniques to library management and information handling.

It has long been known in Cambridge that nearly all the thousands of scientists—lecturers, researchers, and undergraduates—never make any use of the University Library, but rely instead on their specialized Departmental Libraries. As working libraries attached to laboratories these give excellent service, but are of course too small to support services which readers can legitimately demand from the staff of a big Copyright Library, and they do not, even collectively, carry so large a stock. The position is clearly unsatisfactory.

NRCd have produced a useful pamphlet which, because of machine development, unfortunately will soon be out of date. In discussing six ‘full‐size’ COM fiche readers a phrase such as “The Agfa‐Gevaert LF 303 is essentially similar to the LF 101 reader…” repeatedly occurs. These machines are subject to the same face‐lift operations (continuous development) as the motor car though the design of one of the most highly recommended models, also “one of the older readers in this group”, has been stabilised for some years; it, the Microscot NMI 90 has had at least one change of name: it used to be the Scottish Instruments NMI 90!

Misunderstandings, delays, Jack of access to the machine, inadequate program packages and over‐optimistic promises from the manufacturers, staff changes and a complete change of machine are all part of the ordinary background to the development of a new Library system. The Humberside Libraries, who suffered from all these, were fortunate, however, in establishing excellent relations with the authority's Management Services Department, and together they have established a satisfactory system. The report gives an account of the process, a list of programs, samples of the printouts produced by the system, and of the various stages in the development of the cataloguing worksheet — another example of co‐operation between Library and computer staff.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £10 per year and the subscription period runs from January to December.

To provide a broad overview of the history of the journal Program: electronic library and information systems and its contents over its first 40 years.

Analysis of content from the original published material, as well as from abstracting and indexing publications and from minutes of Editorial Board meetings.

The publication has grown from modest beginnings as a newsletter for UK university librarians to a respected refereed journal with a wide international readership.

An analysis of the content of articles published on computer systems in libraries and information units over the last 40 years.

The aim of this study is to explore the attempts by early twentieth century cyclecar manufacturers in the UK and USA to segment the personal transportation market and to position early cyclecars through the development of unique product attributes and advertising. More specifically, the authors speculate about early twentieth century British cyclecar marketing strategies that implicitly recognized a sports car segment and positioned cyclecar brands to meet the needs of that segment.

The primary source material for this research is a sample of 205 print ads and articles from the early twentieth century (1912-1921) specialty magazines devoted to cyclecars in the UK and USA. We combine the content analysis of the sample of ads with a critical reading and interpretation of a sub-sample of those same ads.

Between 1910 and 1921, a new form of personal transportation was developed that combined the technology of motorcycles with the utility of automobiles. Known as “cyclecars”, these vehicles were typically constructed from off-the-shelf motorcycle parts and assembled in small batches by a myriad of manufacturers. Current scholarship suggests that the cyclecar craze of the 1910s ended with the introduction of low cost “real” automobiles such as the Ford Model T, Austin 7 and Morris Oxford. We use the content analysis of cyclecar advertisements to construct a brand-positioning map of this emerging segment of the transportation market. We argue that while the core cyclecar positioning was in direct competition with small economically positioned cars such as the Ford Model T, a significant part of the market, primarily centered in the UK, could be considered as for sports cars. That segment of the cyclecar market, along with the development of cyclecars into urban delivery vehicles, continued over time and has re-emerged today in a range of three-wheeled sports cars, including the updating and continuation of the British Morgan 3 Wheeler model which was launched during the heyday of cyclecars.

The authors can only speculate about the impact of the Ford Model T in this study. Further research on that issue is needed.

This is the first historical study of cyclecar marketing. Most of what little has been published about cyclecars focuses on their design and technology.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

It may be said that the great mass of the food taken by an individual is required and used to satisfy the demands of the body for a source of energy in order that the normal functions and activities of life may be carried out. This energy value of the food was looked upon, until within comparatively recent years, as the important consideration in dietetics. With the accumulation of knowledge regarding the necessity of supplying food essentials, apart altogether from their energy value, this attitude has changed, and it is now known that not only is a certain total quantity of food essential, but that an adequate quantity of the various food essentials must also be supplied. The quantitative problem of dietetics, therefore, resolves itself into a consideration of two aspects which may be considered separately—(1) the total food requirements of the body for energy purposes; and (2) the requirements of the body for the individual food essentials—protein, carbohydrates, fats, mineral salts, vitamins, and water.