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Inevitably, traditional shot blasting methods with their inherent drawbacks of lack of fine control, the problems of escaping dust and abrasive and the consequent resistance to them by operatives and managers alike, have had to change to keep pace with the times. And change in a dramatic fashion they most certainly have in the last few years with automation much in evidence. But what is not perhaps generally realised is just how great the advances have been and how widely automated impact treatment systems are used today in various sectors of industry.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exhibit limited understanding of their business processes. This lack of understanding limits the potential of these businesses and is a direct contributor to the high failure rates of this sector of the economy. Research has suggested that existing BP methods to not support SMEs in gaining an improved understanding of their processes due to the high complexity and resource intensity of these tools, more suitable for deployment within a large business context. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper reports on two qualitative case studies of medium-sized financial entities that employ a new approach, the critical process targeting method (CPTM), to improve their understanding of their processes.

In reviewing these two case studies, the authors find that the CPTM can be considered a useful tool in improving process understanding in SMEs, and can lead to the achievement of strategic goals. This paper, however, also describes a number of practical limitations that were encountered when employing the CPTM within the SME context.

This new contribution to theory adds significant and critical support to academia and practice in business process understanding where current methods are found to be too resource heavy for even some large organisations. These two case studies have also provided support for struggling management teams being overwhelmed by the need to understand business processes within their organisations. Published literature and the case study experience both suggest that medium-sized entities have difficulty understanding their business processes.

OUR centenary year has been heralded by no great publicity; the nation, as a reviewer of Brown's Manual in the Times Literary Supplement suggests, has no great awareness of the services of libraries or their considerable progress of late years. Some signs there have been. A leaderette in the Daily Telegraph gave a fair, slightly‐sketched picture of what is being done and, a few Sundays earlier, Alison Settle wrote an account of the Christmas work that was being done in a near‐London library in a manner most desirable but which seemed to show that she had only just become aware of activities which children's librarians had been pursuing, Christmas tree and all, for at least twenty years. While we appreciate this well‐deserved tribute and echo it, we are concerned here more with ways that may be adopted to make such services more widely and articulately recognized by our people. Every opportunity will be taken, we are sure, by the Library Association Council to bring such recognition about. There does not, however, seem to be any general programme for local individual library effort, although this must have been discussed by the L.A. Perhaps something may emerge from the self‐examination which Mr. L. R. McColvin suggested at Eastbourne. That would result in more efficiency, the best form of publicity. Best things, however, are slow to be recognized, and as it is at the local library that our reputation is made or lost, we suggest that each library should have its own exhibition, made from local materials, with the title, or intention in the title, “One Hundred Years of Public Libraries!” It should show what it was like in Bookton or in Bibliopolis one hundred years ago—the paucity of opportunity, the few newspapers and periodicals, the book famine; with such old pictures, newcuttings and broadsides as it may possess, it should show how in that town efforts were made to bring in the light. H. A. L. Fisher's “A city without books is a city without light” may be quoted freely. Then, by Stages it could show what developed; leading up to what is now: the well‐lighted, comfortable and active libraries with manifold inner‐ and extra‐mural work for people of all ages, the adequate bookstock and the eager library Staffs infused with Dr. Savage's “incandescent enthusiasm ” for public service. Let the Story be told in all the local newspapers of the labours of Edward Edwardes, the often tragi‐comedy of the town's ballots on the adoption of the acts, the frustrations of poverty and how they were overcome. Let just claims be made for what is now. Surely every librarian could do something of this, even in the smallest towns and even in those where the local authority has not realized its library duties very fully—perhaps most in these. Praise the local pioneers, pour encourager les autres. Have we not the patronage of the Sovereign, the presidency of the Duke to answer any cavil?

A NEW YEAR is always a time for a glance backwards and forwards, in the library world as in other worlds. If 1937 was not particularly dramatic in events or achievements, it was at least a year which was not unworthy in the library movement. A list of the libraries which came into being appears every year in the Annual Report of the L.A. and we are convinced that the one for the year just ended will be quite sizeable. The opening of a branch library now‐a‐days, as an addition to a large system, or to serve a lately‐populated part of a new area, excites little comment; and that, in itself, is significant and gratifying. People are coming to regard the provision of public libraries as a normal part of urban and even village equipment.

There is an increasing realisation that managerial and professional staff play a crucial role in determining the success of the organisations which employ them, whether in the private or the public sector. Hence there is a growing concern with the quality and development of such staff. A detailed study of these important occupational groups, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC reference F/00/23/00 98) was recently conducted by the authors. Although focused on Britain, the research is linked with parallel studies being undertaken in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and several other European countries. The broader international study will be published within the next year as Roomkin, M. (Ed.), The Changing Character of Managerial Employment: A Comparative View Oxford, University Press, New York and Oxford. The demographic and educational trends which relate to managerial and professional employees, their careers and other aspects of the management of such human resources are discussed. The remuneration of managerial and professional staff, their unionisation and their role in the wider society are then considered.

SO THE Nissan Company of Kyoto has laid the foundation stone of its factory in Sunderland. An era, perhaps a new era in the history of the British Motorcar Industry is really on the way.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

IN A LETTER to the Daily Telegraph last month, it was left to Mr J. Kirby, director of Kirby (Oldham) Ltd to underline the prime cause why statistics of those out of work go down so slowly if indeed at all.