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The creativity and productivity of architects, engineers and many others in the world of computer aided design are being severely hampered because too many designers are without an efficient document management system. Explains the impact that this omission can have and how, once in place, a document management system will leave designers free to concentrate on their core activity – designing.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue which contains a selection of papers written by the staff of UCL SLAIS.

The history of the School is briefly described and its philosophy of taking a broad and inclusive approach to professional education is reviewed.

There is considerable benefit to professional education in an institution which incorporates all branches of information work, and retains a sense of the value of traditional skills in tandem with an exploitation of new technologies. The contributors to this issue reflect this both by the range of disciplines which they represent and by the range of topics, from the most traditional to the most modern, and demonstrate the synergy between them.

The article provides an introduction to the special issue and promotes the value of an inclusive approach to professional education in the information disciplines.

The purpose of this paper is to propose meta‐synthetic ideas and knowledge asset management approaches to build a comprehensive strategic framework for Beijing City in China.

Methods include a review of relevant literature in both English and Chinese, case studies of different types of support frameworks in the UK, the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong, formulation of a meta‐synthetic support framework for Beijing City, and justification of its application to policy development by various studies. Three stages of meta‐synthetic support frameworks are proposed.

The suggested meta‐synthetic support frameworks are highly appropriate for the optimisation of, and innovation in, management and services systems of government information resources. The proposed knowledge asset management approaches offer significant practical value in improving the competence and capabilities of service‐oriented government, providing a set of solutions to identified, urgent problems, including a joint administration system for creating value, a release and distribution management system for sharing and protecting value, and a licensing and authorisation management system for adding value.

This paper focuses on the formulation of a theoretical support framework for the reuse of government information resources and the justification of its effectiveness to guide policy development at strategic level. Case studies of its application at operational level are ongoing and will be discussed in future papers.

The suggested meta‐synthetic support frameworks support the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of intelligent traffic administration, good governance of value‐added services based on government information resources, and intellectual activity around city travel and traffic. The study has wide implications for the improvement of service‐oriented government performance, public satisfaction and the image of government.

The paper presents the adaptation of meta‐synthetic ideas and knowledge asset management approaches to collaboration, optimisation, innovation and compliance management issues in the reuse of government information resources. The advantages of different types of support systems and frameworks are integrated as a coherent whole for a strategic framework of legal, regulatory and standards support to China and Beijing.

Wherever computer use becomes established, document files begin to accumulate, and the problem of finding the desired document becomes increasingly important as the number of files increases.

The purpose of this article is to examine the historical development of archives and records management education in universities in England and review the state of research and teaching in the discipline in 2005.

Using a framework that draws on sociological attributes, the main text provides a historical analysis derived from primary and secondary sources, together with a brief overview of current educational provision for the discipline.

The article finds that graduate education in archives and records management has developed in the UK over a period of 60 years (1947‐2005) and is well established, with seven Master's‐level programmes offered across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, in a variety of learning modes (full‐ and part‐time, open learning, face‐to‐face) and from different perspectives and contexts (history, information science, digital preservation). The university research community in the discipline has developed more recently and needs to progress quickly and soundly to support the future intellectual life of the profession.

The geographical scope is limited to the UK and focuses in particular on England.

The paper identifies some gaps in educational provision, for instance mid‐career cross‐domain research opportunities, and an apparent lack of interest in academic research by UK practitioners, which might be further investigated.

No study of the historical development of the academic discipline of archives and records management has previously been published.

The aim of this paper is to outline a triangulated methodology for studying usage of electronic health information systems which combines the quantitative data accrued from computer logs with qualitative data from in‐depth interviews and observation.

The appropriate methods and inherent issues are reviewed from the literature, with an emphasis on qualitative research. The work of the authors is then highlighted, showing how qualitative methods can inform log analysis.

The paper suggests from the review that it is not only possible but also extremely fruitful to combine quantitative and qualitative data to interpret user behaviour.

The methods used by the group, known as “deep log analysis”, are innovative, and the attempt both to discuss these and to provide concrete examples from this research provides its originality.

The purpose of this article is to compare Anglo‐American cataloguing codes and practices for description over the past 150 years and assess the contribution that they made to International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD).

The major international codes, and those of major British libraries, are examined point by point, using as a basis the main areas of description as outlined in AACR2. Cataloguing textbooks are also referred to when appropriate.

The article finds that general order of elements has been remarkably constant throughout the period, most variation being seen in the physical description area. Primacy of the title page as a source of information is long established. Publisher's name was often of minor importance, and in public libraries physical description was greatly reduced. It is clear from wording that codes often adopted rules from one another, and evidently some libraries made a great attempt to adopt the latest thinking. Solutions to some problems evolved gradually over a long period. Even some apparently minor aspects of punctuation have a long pedigree. ISBD clearly drew on a long‐established consensus as far as possible.

In revising AACR2 it is important to be able to see how we have reached where we are now, and in particular to avoid repetition of past mistakes. In an increasingly international publishing environment it is vital to solve the problem of multiple places of publication.

This subject has never been tackled in this way before, and the findings are timely for the ongoing revision of AACR2.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how digital resources might best be created and how the digital medium might best be exploited to serve the needs of research and teaching in the humanities.

The history of text‐based humanities computing is traced to illustrate the complexity of humanities sources and the requirements for their representation in digital form.

The paper finds that digital information is completely different from any other kind of information, being dynamic, extensible and manipulable in many different ways. It is not static and it can be manipulated in many different ways. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) has been widely adopted in the humanities particularly for full text sources encoded according to the Text Encoding Initiative application. XML permits the display, analysis and manipulation of fine detail within a document. It also facilitates the chunking of information and the integration of data and metadata leading to new forms of publication that exploit the digital medium to the full.

The research environment proposed in this paper challenges current modes of working with a more innovative approach to the nature and functionality of digital representations of humanities sources.

The paper looks at the development of humanities computing and should be helpful for anyone embarking on or managing a humanities digital project.

The aim of this article is to investigate the nature of use and impact of the Improve Your Library self‐evaluation process on school libraries and their integration into whole‐school development planning for pupil learning.

The research is structured in two phases. Phase one seeks to map levels, patterns and experiences of use by those responsible for the library within schools and to establish the nature of support needed for librarians from school library services and training providers. Phase two will track schools in detail to explore the extent of difference the process may have on library integration into the wider school self‐evaluation, development priorities and planning, and on library contribution to pupil reading and learning.

Preliminary investigations indicate that there is considerable diversity in current evaluation practice and in expectations of the Improve Your Library toolkits. There is a need for a national vehicle for sharing individual library experience to inform reflective practice.

The research focused on English schools. Successful delivery of the intended case banks of practice examples is dependent on a good range of schools being willing to share their experience.

Training and support needs and networks will be identified for providers and practitioners. Practical experience will be made available to librarians, school management and policy‐makers.

This is a timely evaluation of the first unified system of library self‐evaluation across English schools within the context of a new approach to whole‐school evaluation. It will provide librarians with a means of sharing and comparing experiences in the absence of a formalised benchmarking system for school libraries and contribute to a national picture of school library activity and priorities.