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This article summarises a 1989 survey on the use of optical products in libraries and information centres in Western Europe. Out of a total of over 13,500 questionnaires distributed to eighteen countries, some 23% were returned and of these just under 10% said they were using optical products (primarily CD‐ROMs) in their libraries or information centres. Nearly half of the respondents who were using CD‐ROMs had acquired only one product, which, in the main, was used by library staff as opposed to end users. This accounts for the high popularity of products such as Books in Print, BL/BN Pilot disk, BookBank, Ulrich Plus and Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher—though Medline was the single most used disc. Many respondents had not yet had their CD‐ROM products long enough to be able to give much information on their experience with them or the impact on users. Where details were provided, it was plain that the optical products seemed to be appreciated by users, contributed to greater information awareness and permitted the library to offer a better and faster service. It is interesting to note that these are exactly the kinds of things that libraries not yet using optical products expected to achieve if and when they did use them. While CD‐ROMs had reduced online searching to some extent, feelings were mixed regarding the pros and cons of various optical products. Searching may have been speeded up, but too infrequent updating of the information was seen as a negative factor together with the price. The price or cost of optical products as well as lack of a suitable budget was also cited by many as the reason for not getting such products in the foreseeable future. In fact, nearly 60% of those replying they were not using optical products in their libraries said they would not be getting them. It is clear that it is the bigger academic libraries with a large collection, a lot of staff and a large user community which are presently using CD‐ROMs and other optical technologies.

The policies of the American Library Association (ALA) concerning the concept of intellectual freedom are embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the association's official statement on free access to libraries and library materials. The Library Bill of Rights is a brief, deceptively simple document that has provoked constant debate and reinterpretation since its adoption by ALA almost 40 years ago.

My object in compiling this bibliography has been to list reference materials that will be useful to pharmacy students, faculty, and reference librarians working with them. While the bibliography is not intended to be comprehensive, I have covered the essential reference sources as well as some additional titles which are certainly desirable. Some of the books have been around for many years and are now in new editions; others are just appearing on the scene. I included periodicals only when they served a special purpose such as to offer a source of statistical or marketing information. Several of the references could have appeared in more than one place and, in the interest of brevity, I arbitrarily chose the category that seems most appropriate to me.

At this year's National Online Meeting a panel chaired by Pamela Cibbarelli (Cib‐barelli Associates) and consisting of Ching‐chih Chen (Simmons University), Tom Kochtanek (University of Missouri‐Columbia), Tefko Saracevic (Rutgers University) and Carol Tenopir (University of Tennessee) discussed the topic of libraries present and future. The subject of library schools featured prominently in the discussion, and this was reported on in our last issue: the subject then turned to how the field is changing…

This article intends to provide a quick overview of microcomputer use in American libraries. It also speculates about future trends in library microcomputer applications in the light of the rapid development in micro‐based hardware, peripherals and software.

One area in which libraries can help with learning is in helping people become librarians in the first place. At this year's National Online Meeting a panel chaired by Pamela Cibbarelli (Cibbarelli Associates) and consisting of Ching‐chih Chen (Simmons University), Tom Kochtanek (University of Missouri‐Columbia), Tefko Saracevic (Rutgers University) and Carol Tenopir (University of Tennessee) discussed the topic of libraries present and future, and the subject of library schools featured prominently in the discussion.

For many engineering librarians, a most welcome event during the year under review was the publication of Professor Ching‐Chih Chen's Scientific and Technical Information Sources (the MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1977). Making use of her extensive knowledge and experience in the field, Ms. Chen has come out with an up‐to‐date and reliable reference source for scientists and engineers. Conventional as well as nonconventional sources of information are listed in this guide which cites nearly 3,700 titles, grouped in 23 categories. A matter of special interest to librarians is that the book generously provides review sources from library and scientific literature for most entries. Any librarian without a sci‐tech background should be able to make use of the volume for obtaining a working knowledge of his or her field. This is all the more important in an area like engineering, which is continually being extended by the addition of new interdisciplinary fields. This development is symbolized by the phenomenal growth in technical vocabulary not ordinarily defined in conventional lexicographic aids. This trend as well as the increasing use of electronic data bases for literature retrieval has stimulated the need for new as well as revised dictionaries and thesauri without which one cannot formulate a workable search strategy. Mercifully for librarians the supply of these basic sources is keeping pace with the demand. Some of the new and revised dictionaries are reviewed in detail elsewhere in this survey, but we mention here a few more to prove the point. These include The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 9th ed., rev. by Gessner G. Hawley, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978; Glossary of Terms in Thermal Soil Mechanics by Alfreds R. Jumikis, Piscataway, N.J.: The State University of New Jersey, College of Engineering, 1977; Hydrographic Dictionary, 3d ed., Monte Carlo, International Hydrographic Organisation, 1977; The Pipeline Glossary and Directory, Beaconsfield, Bucks. Eng., Scientific Surveys Ltd., 1978; Modern Dictionary of Electronics, 5th ed., Rudolf F. Graf, Indianapolis, 1977; and Transportation‐Logistics Dictionary by Wallace Little, Washington, D.C., Traffic Service Corp., 1977. It is this writer's belief that the trend towards specialized subject dictionaries and thesauri will continue to grow for some time to come.

Did you know that Unesco produces twenty‐two computerised databases and that thirty‐nine information systems or services are available through FAO? So what, you might say, but it is nonetheless interesting. This directory lists 615 selected information systems, services and databases set up by thirty‐eight United Nations agencies. It contains almost twice as many entries as the previous edition which appeared in 1978.

I know what you're thinking. How come he manages to get to all these places? Well, it helps if you are one of the organisers!

Bangkok, City of Angels, City of Sin, the Venice of the Orient, the place where after one night the world is supposedly your oyster. The huge variety of delicious, delectable exotic fruits; the many different kinds of evocatively scented orchids and other flowers; the vivid blues and yellows and pinks of silk blouses and dresses; the hot, spicy tasty soups and food; the smiles of everyone who looked your way; the dazzling, be‐jewelled, golden library in the Royal Palace (oh for a job there!). Bangkok — (I gloss over the traffic; the mosquitoes; the heavy downpours steamily dispersing the heat of the sun ) — the place chosen for the venue of the First Pacific Conference on New Information Technology for Library and Information Professionals held from 16–18 June 1987.