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The 28th annual conference of Aslib, held at Nottingham University from 11th to 14th September, 1953, proved to be the largest that Aslib has so far organized. A list of those present is printed on pp. 254–260. Yet again Aslib was glad to be able to welcome a number of overseas guests and members, including Dr. and Mrs. Lancour and their small daughter from the U.S.A., Drs. and Mrs. van Dijk and Miss Rom from the Netherlands, Mr. M. S. Dandekar and Mr. J. V. Karandikar from India, Miss D. M. Leach from Canada, and Mrs. T. Collin from Norway. Mr. Walter A. Southern, a Fulbright scholar from the U.S.A. affiliated to Aslib during his year's study in the United Kingdom, represented the Special Libraries Association, and Mr. J. E. Holmstrom attended as an observer on behalf of Unesco.

AT the very outset of this paper it is necessary to make clear that it is not an attempt to compile an exhaustive bibliography of literature relating to special librarianship. Neither space nor time permit this. In fact, the references given can only claim to be a sample of the wealth of material on the subject and this paper is submitted in the hope that it will stimulate others to more scholarly efforts. Reference numbers throughout this paper refer to items in the ‘Select list of references to the literature of special librarianship’, section 2 onwards.

The purpose of this paper is to promote decision-making structures between the customer and the supplier in a highly uncertain environment. This phenomenon of demand-supply chain synchronisation includes sharing of high-quality and timely demand and supply information in order to improve the quality and speed of decision-making.

The study was carried out as an abductive case study, which started from empirical observations that did not match the prior theoretical framework. Through abductive reasoning and empirical experiments, the prior framework was extended to a new synchronisation model and tools that better accommodate the observed need.

A new co-innovation toolbox was developed to create common understanding of demand-supply chain synchronisation between the customer and the supplier. The toolbox includes Demand Visibility Point-Demand Penetration Point, Supply Visibility Point–Supply Penetration Point and Integrative Synchronisation tools.

The study extends the current models and tools of demand-supply chain synchronisation. With the new toolbox, the development needs of decision-making structures can be identified more comprehensively than with the current tools.

The developed visual toolbox helps partners create a common understanding of problems and development possibilities in demand-supply chain synchronisation in a highly uncertain environment. Common understanding is a starting point for changing decision-making structures to improve the overall performance of a demand-supply chain.

The new toolbox is both more comprehensive and more detailed than the previous tools.

An index, as the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary puts it, is ‘that which serves to direct to a particular fact or conclusion’. Its first purpose is to indicate the existence and the location of every item of information in the field it is designed to cover. Its mission is to establish contact between searcher and information sought, exactly, exhaustively, and expeditiously.

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.

Ideally all science should belong to everyone, in the sense that everyone needing scientific information for whatever purpose ought to be able to procure quickly the most apposite items of the whole world's literature and be equally able to understand and use them wherever they come from.

Innovative startups have begun a trend using laser sintering (LS) technology patents expiration, namely, by introducing LS additive manufacturing (AM) machines that can overcome utilization barriers, such as the costliness of machines and productivity limitation. The recent rise of this trend has led the authors to investigate this new class of machines in novel settings, including hub configuration. There are various supply chain configurations to supply spare parts in industrial operations. This paper aims to explore the promise of a production configuration that combines the benefits of centralized production with the flexibility of local manufacturing without the huge costs related to it.

This study quantitatively examines the feasibility of different AM-enabled spare parts supply chain configurations. Using cost data extracted from a case study, three scenarios per AM machine technology are modeled and compared.

Results suggest that hub production configuration depending on the utilized AM machines can provide economic efficiency and effectiveness to reduce equipment downtime. While previous studies have suggested the need for AM machines with efficiency for single part production for a distributed supply chain, the findings in this research illustrate the positive relationship between multi-part production capability and the feasibility of a hub manufacturing configuration establishment.

This study explores the promise of a production configuration that combines the benefits of centralized production with the flexibility of local manufacturing without the huge costs related to it. Although the existing body of knowledge contains research on production decentralization, research on various levels of decentralization is lacking. Using a real-world case study, this study aims to compare the feasibility of different levels of decentralization for AM-enabled spare parts supply chains.

As we have both been confronted with the task of documenting large masses of ill‐sorted information on such general and widely different subjects as fuller's earth, seaweed, peat, raw materials, co‐operation, and Scotland, we have tried to devise a system of arrangement of the material which is quick to compile and easy to use both by ourselves and by others. We do not have the services of a special librarian, and have to document our notes in odd moments. We would not have had time to look up the index numbers of the Decimal System for innumerable entries, many of which are only a few lines in length. The choice then seemed to be between the Kaiser and the Holmstrom systems. The Kaiser system appeared rather artificial and difficult to apply to a very varied mass of material, but Holmstrom's system offered a method of self‐indexing which would lend itself to subsequent decimal classification if need be.

SUMMARY A classification is a theory of the structure of knowledge. From a discussion of the nature of truth, it is held that scientific knowledge is the only knowledge which can be regarded as true. The method of induction from empirical data is therefore applied to the construction of a classification. Items of knowledge are divided into uniquely definable terms, called isolates, and the relations between them, called operators. It is shown that only four basic operators exist, expressing appurtenance, equivalence, reaction, and causation; using symbols for these operators, all subjects can be analysed in a linear form called an analet. With the addition of the permissible permutations of such analets, formed according to simple rules, alphabetical arrangement of the first terms provides a complete, logical subject index. Examples are given, and possible difficulties are considered. A classification can then be constructed by selection of deductive relations, arranged in hierarchical form. The nature of possible classifications is discussed. It is claimed that such an inductively constructed classification is the only true representation of the structure of knowledge, and that these principles provide a simple technique for accurately and fully indexing and classifying any given set of data, with complete flexibility.

This paper aims to address two questions: what kinds of benefits are realized from a vendor‐managed inventory (VMI) program (operational, i.e. efficiency related, vs strategic, i.e. sales related) and how the benefits are shared at the dyad level (suppliers vs buyers).

The paper uses an exploratory multiple case study with data from five operational VMI dyads, evaluating both buyer and supplier perspectives.

Three empirically grounded patterns of VMI are proposed. Five contextual inhibitors of VMI impacts are suggested.

The framework presented has been generated from a relatively small number of cases. Threats to external validity have been mitigated with case selection from multiple operational contexts and grounding findings in prior literature.

Using the conceptualization, potential VMI adopters can set more realistic and explicit implementation targets. The suggested contextual factors will help to design more appropriate VMI systems.

Past research on VMI can be mainly characterized by modeling/simulation approaches, focus on operational efficiency implications, and concern with impacts to buyers. In contrast, empirical studies on the actual impacts and dyad‐level reasons considering also the strategic (sales related) motivations for implementing VMI are few. This study contributes by suggesting how VMI is in some instances motivated not by bilateral interests to develop a supply chain, but by unilateral interests, with buyers searching for effortless purchasing, and suppliers for a means to lock in and secure sales.