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The early 1990s saw the emergence of automated self‐service issue units in the UK. Since then we have seen the introduction of second and third generation systems, the launch of self‐return facilities and their adoption for use in both public and academic libraries. This paper re‐examines the position of self‐issue and return towards the end of the decade and century based on the literature and research conducted by Loughborough University. It describes the main self‐issue/return systems available, lists the benefits and opportunities of implementing them and discusses considerations such as objectives, costs, security, location of equipment, functionality and design of systems, and the effect self‐issue/return has on users and staff.

As technological progress races on, the Library and Information Science (LIS) profession is continually faced with new challenges and new technologies to aid in the effective dissemination and use of information. This paper looks at the challenge and implications of expert systems technology for LIS. It will discuss in particular the possible contribution of LIS to expert systems development, in the light of a recent survey of 50 expert systems producers in the United Kingdom, conducted by the authors. It concludes that there is room and need for LIS skills in expert systems development teams, but that these skills may need to be augmented by more specific computing experience if LIS graduates are to have a realistic chance of employment in this area.

The European Community Directive 90/270/EEC, issued in 1990, concerns the minimum health and safety standards of display screen users. The Directive becomes law in the UK and the rest of Europe on 1 January 1993 and instructs national administrations to bring the laws and regulations necessary to make it effective into force. In the UK this responsibility falls to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This paper describes possible risks to workers using display screen equipment, standards relating to visual display terminals, the provisions of the Directive, how these have been interpreted by the HSE in its draft legislation and the implications of this legislation for libraries.

The theory underlying the economic value of library benefits is outlined, and research (mainly in Australia and New Zealand) is reviewed. A UK research project examined four methods of assessing benefits in economic terms with particular attention to a consensus “market value” model. In developing the “market value” model one key variable is the relationship of book reads to book prices. A prototype value added schedule gives estimates of value for different library services to compare estimated total benefits with total costs. For UK public libraries, calculations show that the economic value of library benefits exceeds costs incurred, with social and intangible benefits in addition. New performance indicators are suggested by the research. It is shown how the methodology can be extended from public libraries to a parliamentary library and also to the economic and social costs of crime.

At first glance, this A4 size guide looks very much like the UKOLUG newsletter, sharing as it does the same cover design. However, this book is one of a number of publications from the group aimed at users of online and CD‐ROM resources, and builds upon two previous UKOLUG guides to CD‐ROMs.

The UK Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) was a major research and development programme funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher education funding councils. One part of its work was concerned with document delivery, and several projects had this topic either as an explicit focus or as a necessary component. Reviews these projects, assessing the contribution of each one to UK document delivery services in academic libraries.

Document delivery is a fast‐changing practice, being highly subject to economic and technological developments. The FIDDO project, supported by the UK Electronic Libraries Programme, has as a major objective to supply relevant and up‐to‐date information to library managers in this dynamic field. This review of Websites concerned with document delivery aims to contribute to that objective. The review identifies a selection of the more important Websites that might be used by a library manager, and supplies a review of each from both practitioner and academic perspectives.The Websites reviewed include indexes of document suppliers, reports of research projects, system developments and national initiatives, and professional sites. The scope of the review is worldwide, although a specific effort has been made to include sites based outside the USA.

The idea that user consultation is central to effectiveness, quality and efficiency is still relatively new in many public service organisations, including libraries. This paper reviews the methods available and describes the results of a survey of all UK public library authorities to find out what methods they employ, their effectiveness, and in which context they are used. Recommendations are also made for improving user consultation within libraries.

Analyses of work based learning (such as that offered by Brennan and Little) have typically ignored the issue of ownership of knowledge. Here the authors consider this issue as it relates to accreditation in the UK higher education sector, arguing that the points raised have relevance for the international community. The main argument is that employing organisations are the main beneficiaries of accreditation, and as such universities need to make a much clearer case for work based learning to safeguard learners – and society – from exploitation and the universities from becoming vessels for narrowly defined performance statements, unworthy of higher education.

Virtually any personal computer user who uses contemporary software probably needs a huge hard disk storage drive that holds 6, or 10 or more gigabytes (remember, a gigabyte is 1000 million bytes). For example, if you store the popular Microsoft Office ‘97 software package in your computer, you'll need about 100 megabytes for that package alone. If you want a computer that uses Windows '98, you will have to provide over 500 megabytes just for the Windows software. By the time you have installed a few standard packages, plus some software for applications like library operations and database access, the first gigabyte of hard disk space has probably been filled. If the computer is used for Internet access, additional large blocks of storage will soon be filled with pages downloaded from the World Wide Web. A huge disk drive can be a wonderful asset if you use your computer to manipulate very large database files, or large graphics/picture files, or if you want to store historical files that can be expected to continue to grow in the future.