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Speculates on whether companies are obtaining value for money from technology, as IT spending consumers a considerable portion of both the balance sheet and the annual operating budget. Shows how to figure out whether a company is getting its money’s worth out of its investment in technology, and uses four main items in a list to add value: expense containment; process improvement; customer advantage; and talent leverage. Employs copious use of figures and tables to aid the reader. Concludes it is also possible to generate values for semi‐tangible assets such as people and intangibles.

AT the time of writing the future of the Library Association is still uncertain. The revised bye‐laws, approved by a large majority at Hastings, have been submitted to the Privy Council and a reply is still awaited. This delay and uncertainty must be causing some concern at Chaucer House and indeed, there was evidence of this in last month's issue of the Library Association Record which urged members not to worry if voting papers did not reach them by the statutory date. In other words the office does not really know under which set of bye‐laws it is at the moment operating. This situation ought really to have been foreseen: in the event, it has proved embarrassing and presumptuous to try to operate the re‐organisation proposals as early as January 1962. We have waited so long for re‐organisation: ought we not to have delayed putting it into practice until 1963 when it could perhaps have been done with some semblance of order and dignity?

One of the fastest growing segments of the American adult population is adults over 65‐years old. This group is refereed to as “silver seniors.” Understanding the silver citizen market requires an in‐depth knowledge of seniors' attitudes and lifestyles. The purpose of this paper is to present an in‐depth view of the senior woman's self‐concept, lifestyle, and apparel‐related preferences and shopping behaviors.

Using findings from an extensive review of literature and in‐depth interviews with 20 women over age 65, this exploratory research provides insight into the impact of self‐concept, lifestyles, and fashion behaviors on apparel purchase decisions. The qualitative approach used for data collection and analysis provides rich insight into the behaviors and apparel needs of “silver seniors.” The tripartite self‐concept is explored as it relates to fashion attitudes and behaviors.

Findings from this paper indicate that women over 65 are still interested in fashion and that looking fashionable for themselves and others is important. Insights into the specific unmet apparel and retail needs of senior adult women are explored. Findings indicate that senior adult women continue to remain physically and socially active and have need for a variety of garments. Recommendations for apparel manufacturers and retailers targeting this lucrative segment are presented.

This paper is original to the retailing and consumer behavior literature. One of the benefits of this exploratory study is that it provided the authors with an opportunity to examine, in theory and practice, an overlooked yet growing segment of apparel consumers.

AFTER‐CONFERENCE time is the period of reflection, and this year one involving several interests. There was uttered on the platform a warning that the question of the government control of public libraries was in the air; and Mr. Jast rigidly deprecated the discussion of the matter as a bye‐product of another subject then being debated. Library authorities and librarians, however, are asking for a lead from the Library Association, the only body competent or authorized to give it, and no doubt this will form the cardinal “policy” question of the winter.

This chapter examines patterns of neighbouring in the small Essex town of ‘Eastside’, located in London’s eastern suburban periphery. Drawing on qualitative interviews, two groups of resident interviewees are discussed: established, long-term, white British residents who have lived in Eastside for many years, and ethnically diverse newcomers who have recently moved to the area. This chapter focuses on patterns of neighbouring – both positive in the form of ‘neighbourliness’ and negative in terms of ‘unneighbourliness’ – and considers whether neighbouring provided the basis for residents to develop a sense of community. Basic neighbouring activities, such as saying ‘hello’ and the mutual provision of support, were commonplace, although proactive intervention and socialising with neighbours were more limited. Only a minority of both long-term and incoming interviewees identified a sense of community based upon neighbouring. The dominant aspect of the former’s sense of community was a ‘narrative of decline’ in which they lamented the loss of the more intense neighbourliness that they recalled from the past. Unneighbourliness was also evident, for example, in relation to noise, and various reasons for this are analysed including deficiencies within the physical environment, tenure prejudice, and established/newcomer resident tensions.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to develop a framework for understanding deviant genres of music. Although it seems destructive, deviant music has positive effects, and can encourage greater socialization into the larger society.

Design/methodology/approach – By looking at deviant music of the past, it is possible to see more clearly why such music was created, and what functions it has in society. Three main functions were identified: social criticism, spreading the news, and public catharsis of outstanding events.

Findings – These three functions are found in deviant music today. But there are differences. Heavy metal, a counter culture, uses offensive language and images to repel unwanted outsiders and thus avoids commercialization. Grunge, music of a drop out culture, became popular and lost some of its alternative identity. Rap started as a legitimate African American youth art form but was hijacked by the music industry and has expanded beyond a meaningful art world. This has left both artists and listeners vulnerable to a distorted image.

Originality – The real value of deviant music is its historical record of the inner world of subcultures.

THE Fifty‐First Conference of the Library Association takes place in the most modern type of British town. Blackpool is a typical growth of the past fifty years or so, rising from the greater value placed upon the recreations of the people in recent decades. It has the name of the pleasure city of the north, a huge caravansary into which the large industrial cities empty themselves at the holiday seasons. But Blackpool is more than that; it is a town with a vibrating local life of its own; it has its intellectual side even if the casual visitor does not always see it as readily as he does the attractions of the front. A week can be spent profitably there even by the mere intellectualist.