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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.

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.

WITH A PICKET LINE on the front door of Islington Town Hall where the meeting of June 12 was being held, Council might have been denuded of its NALGO members, but there did not seem any numerical difference made to the attendance and the President assured everyone present that they were not really blacklegs!

Question: What do Scotland Yard's Black Museum, Raymond Brigg's Snowman, Welsh harpists, the East Lancashire Railway, and the Sensible Footwear Theatre Company have in common?

Some libraries and information services are quite definitely user‐centred; some think they are but are not always; some seem to be designed for librarians rather than users. The purpose of this monograph is to encourage the development of libraries to meet the perceived needs of users — I hope it will be found useful by librarians and information workers as well as by students.

Two new members of staff are joining BLRDD in September: Lawrence Howells, who is at present working in the Science Reference and Information service, will become a project officer, and Ros Cotton, who is currently working in the Library Association Library, will be the new dissemination officer.

Chadwyck‐Healey Ltd, Cambridge Place, Cambridge CB2 1NR proudly announces, in a six‐page brochure, its intention to issue the whole of the final London edition of The Guardian newspaper for 1990 in February 1991 on a CD‐ROM disk. Subsequently, disks will be issued quarterly within eight weeks after the end of each quarter, cumulating to the year end. All articles and editorial text will be on the disks but advertisements, sports statistics, racing results (other than in articles) and statistics, Stock Exchange prices, radio television and entertainment listings, are excluded as is some copyrighted material. However the complete front pages, including pictures and graphics will be on the disk and may be displayed in facsimile. Searching is available in novice or expert modes and, as is now usual, Boolean operators, right‐hand truncation, wildcard characters, adjacency and proximity facilities and range searching of numbers and dates may be used.

Discusses statistical data of interlending from the English Regional Library System and the other UK national libraries in non‐fiction, fiction, and non‐print material categories. Considers UK developments in interlending for languages other than English, fiction, Newsplan, LAWLIP, HIP, the Library and Information Plans for Music and for Visual Arts, and video materials. Summarises that all of these projects have presented difficulties, and should be brought together to pursue mutually beneficial goals.

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

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.