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THE ARTICLE by Simon Francis in the last issue of NLW (and the letter from Anthony Croghan in the Record for December) are clear indications that the honeymoon between the library profession and the British Library is drawing to a close. To change the metaphor, we have done our share of cheering and clapping, and are beginning to ask interesting questions about the new package deal. Surprisingly we are finding a dearth of hard facts within the mass of publicity which is being poured out. There are those who see this as a gigantic public relations exercise—what has the British Library to hide?

ONE OF THE questions I get thrown at me at fairly frequent intervals by undiscerning friends is ‘Why don't you go on Mastermind/Brain of Britain/ etc? You're a librarian. You could do it easily.’

ONE CAN BE forgiven for worrying about the ‘Peter principle’ when taking up a post on the practising side of the profession after nine years teaching librarianship.

Although the idea of linking a shape grammar to a genetic algorithm is not new, this paper proposes a novel way of combining these two elements in order to provide a tool that can be used for design exploration. Using a shape grammar for design generation provides a way of creating a range of potential solutions to a design problem which fit with the designer's stylistic agenda. A genetic algorithm can then be used to take these designs and develop them into a much richer set of solutions which can still be recognised as part of the same family. By setting quantifiable targets for design performance, the genetic algorithm can evolve new designs which exhibit the best features of previous generations. The designer is then presented with a wide range of high scoring solutions and can choose which of these to take forward and develop in the conventional manner. The novelty of the proposed approach is in the use of a shape code, which describes the steps that the shape grammar has taken to create each design. The genetic algorithm works on this shape code by applying crossover and mutation in order to create a range of designs that can be tested. The fittest are then selected in order to provide the genetic material for the next generation. A prototype version of such a program, called Shape Evolution, has been developed. In order to test Shape Evolution it has been used to design a range of apartment buildings which are required to meet certain performance criteria.

Outlines the aims, purposes and contents of the various reference guides to the manuscripts, poems and novels of Sir Walter Scott, to the dramatizations of the novels, to contemporary and subsequent reviews and critiques of his literary work, and to bibliographical studies.

MY VOTE for the Most Depressing Spectacle of the Month goes to a shelf of leather‐bound, gold‐tooled ‘video classics’ seen in my local video rentals shop. The leather binding and gold lettering looked quite impressive until you touched one of the volumes—Wuthering heights, for example—and realised that this ‘book’ was plastic, every single molecule of it. And empty, unless you counted the video tape.

To highlight its activities and services the British Library issues a number of authoritative newsletters to inform the library and information community of the latest developments in the Library’s services departments. Provides a brief outline of four recent newsletters, including starting dates and a glimpse of content and purpose, along with a list of contact names and addresses. Together, they cover a wide variety of topics from the preservation of eleventh‐century Buddhist manuscripts to the specialist collection of traditional, ethnic and folk music.

According to statistical reports, most of the national electorate is not sufficiently interested in politics to bother voting for candidates for public office. This indifference is not shared by many authors. More than 50 book titles in the 1981–82 Books in Print (New York, Bowker, 1981) have the words “Politics of …” followed by the subject of the book. Some are concerned with the politics of large issues such as war, peace, energy, human rights, justice, oil, technology, the media, Euroeconomics, or international air transportation. Other authors deal with more personal concerns such as the politics of alcoholism, drugs, Medicare, mental health, motherhood, language development, self‐sufficiency, or education. These titles indicate the control exercised by government in many different areas of life. Until a law, statute, ordinance, ruling, or regulation effects an individual, there is relatively little interest or concern with the actions of elected officials, or the agencies implementing these decisions.

This chapter complements the one that appeared as “History of the AIB Fellows: 1975–2008” in Volume 14 of this series (International Business Scholarship: AIB Fellows on the First 50 Years and Beyond, Jean J. Boddewyn, Editor). It traces what happened under the deanship of Alan Rugman (2011–2014) who took many initiatives reported here while his death in July 2014 generated trenchant, funny, and loving comments from more than half of the AIB Fellows. The lives and contributions of many other major international business scholars who passed away from 2008 to 2014 are also evoked here: Endel Kolde, Lee Nehrt, Howard Perlmutter, Stefan Robock, John Ryans, Vern Terpstra, and Daniel Van Den Bulcke.