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Local authorities have a duty to listen to service users but, with notable exceptions, have not done so in relation to the provision of direct payments to people with learning disabilities. The paper proposes some measures that would help raise the level of such provision, and discusses the use of Independent Living Trusts.

This paper gives a brief overview of the background to current efforts to help more people with learning disabilities take up direct payments. It reflects on some of the challenges involved for stakeholders, and describes the positive steps that many partnership board areas are beginning to take.

The paper uses a case study to illustrate the difficulties experienced by those trying to access direct payments for people with learning disabilities, and considers the reasons why such difficulties exist. It proposes measures needed to ensure that people with learning disabilities have equal access to this form of funding.

TWO RECENT CONFERENCES AND publications on direct payments indicate how these are integral to the Modernising Government agenda. They will have implications where supported housing is part‐funded by social services and where tenants receive services arranged or provided by social services. They can be used to help people with learning difficulties.

Reference librarians, especially those in academic libraries, must frequently give formal or informal instruction in how to locate secondary materials for research in English and American literature. Most librarians teach their patrons how to use the MLA International Bibliography. Those who can engage their patrons' interest and attention long enough take the opportunity to introduce them to one or more bibliographic guides for the study of English and American literature. Yet this opportunity creates problems for the librarian since there are so many bibliographic guides to choose among. Some are annotated, some not; some cover both national literatures, some only one; some are intended for graduate students and scholars, some for undergraduates. Faced with this predicament, many librarians have come to rely on one broad guide for all purposes and patrons and let other guides gather dust on the shelves.