Search results

We wish our readers, especially in this war year, the Best of the Season's Good Things!

Over the past 20–30 years significant advances have been made in the long life protection of structural steelwork. There are several reasons why this has become possible.

The developments in the use of computer systems in libraries from 1966 to date have been great. This report, written to coincide with the twenty‐first anniversary of the publication of Program, looks at some of these developments, in Britain, in North America, and in other countries. It traces the history of library automation from the early experimental systems through to the co‐operative systems, the locally developed systems, the mini‐ and microcomputer‐based and stand‐alone integrated systems that are available today.

System designers concerned with bibliographic storage and retrieval systems have, in the past, followed one of three approaches — simple data structures, with the handling of the inherent complexity of bibliographic data embedded in the programs; free text (inverse file) systems of which the ‘online database’ systems may be seen as a specialised extension; and structured database (DBMS) methods, of which some MARC systems are a special subset. The form of storage of the bibliographic data affects not only the efficiency of retrieval by various fields of the record, but also the space used in storage, the cost of maintenance and addition of new material, and especially, the nature of the retrieval language and the flexibility of response to users' needs. The choice of design approach involves study of each proposed application, and guidelines are offered for consideration in matching functional requirements with the varying strengths and weaknesses of the software techniques. Hybrid database structures offering both free text and DBMS features are becoming acceptable, at least for small systems, and the likely paths for future development are noted.

The history of interlending since 1945 is inseparable from changes taking place in the infrastructure of library and information services and from progressive innovation in communications technology. Three phases of development can be discerned. In the first interlending based on linking individual library services through the NCL/RB system and supplemented by co‐operative acquisition schemes is paralleled by the rise of a national centralized lending service to science and technology. Expansion of library services in the academic and public sectors in the second phase gives rise to co‐operative schemes including interlending to meet specific needs. The successful and progressive development of the NLLST influences traditional interlending modes and the period closes with a rationalization of the national library structure and of the public library system for the next phase of development. This takes place against growing economic restraints and is one of integration and extension of the centralized lending services of the British Library Lending Division and a reassessment of regional connections. The innovative force of computerization is taken up at regional level by LASER and nationally by the British Library Lending Division. Such developments are intrinsic to the considerations of the LISC report Working together. This will form the basis of an evolutionary approach to national co‐ordination and co‐operation in which interlending is fundamental to an access strategy of library and information services.

This study reports the results of a survey of teaching staff in the UK and China and two cohorts of Chinese students. We explored perceptions of a Transnational Education (TNE) course taught by UK teachers at a Chinese university to ascertain similarities and differences in perceptions and to help inform future TNE design and provision.

Teachers in the UK (N = 10) and Chinese University (N = 20) and two cohorts of Chinese students (N = 102) completed questionnaires about their perceptions of the collaboration, including why they thought the university had developed the course and the benefits and risks of the course. They were also asked why they personally or why they thought the students had enrolled in the course. Questions were a mix of forced choice and open response formats.

Prior to the course commencing, differences were identified between UK and Chinese teachers in their perception of the risks and benefits of the course and the challenges students might face. Differences were also seen in teachers' and students' views about why students enrolled and their expectations about the course. The TNE is no longer running and many of the reasons for this were identified by our participants before the course had begun.

This suggests the importance of engaging with various stakeholders in the setup of TNE to ensure a close match between staff, student and institutional expectations of the course. This is likely to increase the likelihood of success of such programmes.

During the period 1979–1982, Hertfordshire Library Service will install an integrated circulation control and catalogue maintenance system. This paper discusses aspects of the system design deriving from policy decisions concerning limited management change, the careful allocation of resources and the need for improved reader services. This involves the development of co‐operative cataloguing, new systems of reservations control and the development of an on‐line catalogue. Microprocessor sub‐systems will be used to ensure a high degree of reliability, and the attempt to balance hardware costs against a degree of robustness is described. The paper also sets out a statistical model for estimating real‐time system loading deriving from queuing theory and the response characteristics of the machine system. 8 Refs.