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NOT for a long time have books and libraries featured in the correspondence columns of The Times and other newspapers as regularly as they have in 1960. Earlier in the year Sir Alan Herbert's lending rights' scheme had a good run, and we have clearly not yet heard the last of it. Indeed, a Private Member's bill on the subject is to have its second reading in Parliament on December 9th. More recently, the Herbert proposals have had a by‐product in the shape of bound paperbacks, and a correspondence ensued which culminated in Sir Allen Lane's fifth‐of‐November firework banning hard‐covered Penguins for library use.

President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton presidency, systematically have sought to undermine this president with the goal of bringing down his presidency and running him out of office; and that they have sought non‐electoral means to remove him from office, including Travelgate, the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the Filegate controversy, and the Monica Lewinsky matter. This bibliography identifies these and other means by presenting citations about these individuals and organizations that have opposed Clinton. The bibliography is divided into five sections: General; “The conspiracy stream of conspiracy commerce”, a White House‐produced “report” presenting its view of a right‐wing conspiracy against the Clinton presidency; Funding; Conservative organizations; and Publishing/media. Many of the annotations note the links among these key players.

Arnold Arons, along with Robert Karplus, can fairly be called one of the founding fathers of U.S. Physics Education Research and a pioneer of inquiry methods of education. The instructional methods advocated by Arons were influenced by the work of Socrates, Plato, Montaigne, Rousseau, Dewey, Whitehead, and Piaget, but are primarily derived from Arons’ epic half century effort to improve introductory science teaching by shutting up and listening carefully to students’ responses to probing Socratic questions on physics, science, and ways of thinking. Arons emphasized: (1) conceptual understanding, (2) operative knowledge, (3) interactive engagement, (4) Socratic dialogue, (5) attention to cognitive development, (6) attention to preconceptions of beginning students, (7) operational definitions, (8) reduction of volume and pace of standard introductory courses, (9) idea first, name afterward, (10) importance of a course “story line,” and (11) science as a liberal art. Most of these are attributes of enlightened inquiry-based learning as described in Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning (NRC, 2000).

This paper is an appraisal of the current word processing scene as it could apply to librarians and information workers. Some of the problems that are arising due to the introduction or proposed introduction of new technology are described and the concept of evolution rather than revolution is strongly proposed. A description of the systems available and the applications which could be of use to the profession are highlighted. The problems of acquiring equipment and, particularly, the choice some people are having to make between word processors and microcomputers is covered in some detail.

Everyone here tonight must be aware by now that we have entered a new, technological era—in fact, a second industrial revolution. If you are not aware of the new developments taking place you are either blind, deaf—or, even worse,—either not interested or of the opinion that it does not affect you personally. Either of the latter points can be fatal! Anyone who feels that they are not involved is going to become the Twentieth Century equivalent of the Dodo and anyone who is not interested in new technology is not, in my view, worthy of being called a professional—whatever his profession may be!

In the March 1983 issue of the Moral Majority Report, Jerry Falwell, one of the leaders of the new right movement, leveled a very serious charge at librarians: they are failing to include “conservative” materials in their collections. According to him,

The ‘Office of the Future’, ‘Office Technology’, ‘Word Processing’, ‘Electronic Mail’, ‘Electronic Communications’, ‘Convergence’, ‘Information Management’. These are all terms included in the current list of buzz words used to describe current activities in the office technology area. Open the pages of almost any journal or periodical today and you will probably find an article or some reference to one or more of the above subjects. Long, detailed and highly technical theses are appearing on new techniques to automate and revolutionize the office environment. Facts and figures are quoted ad nauseam on the high current cost of writing a letter, filing letters, memos, reports and documents, trying to communicate with someone by telephone or other telecommunication means and, most significant of all, the high cost of people undertaking these never‐ending tasks. The high level of investment in factories and plants and the ever‐increasing fight to improve productivity by automating the dull, routine jobs are usually quoted and compared with the extremely low investment in improving and automating the equally tedious routine jobs in the office environment; the investment in the factory is quoted as being ten times greater per employee than in the office. This, however, is changing rapidly and investment on a large scale is already taking place in many areas as present‐day inflation bites hard, forcing many companies and organizations to take a much closer look at their office operations.

Market analysis has established its usefulness in many businesses and represents a major advance in marketing methodology. Computer power generates an information system of enormous importance to the marketer. Market analysis unifies and integrates marketing activity in a way that has previously proved elusive.

The annual report of the Ministry of Health for the year ended March 31st last states that, during that period, 120,617 samples were analysed under the Acts. This is the largest number ever recorded. A total of 7,044 samples were reported as adulterated or not up to standard, or 5.8 per cent., compared with 6.5 per cent. for the previous year. Of 62,507 samples of milk, 4,625 or 7.4 per cent. were not up to standard or adulterated. Eighty samples were contaminated by dirt, against 131 the previous year. Colouring matter was detected in 41 samples, one of which also contained 50 per cent. of added water. One sample of dried milk consisted of soya bean, cane sugar, milk sugar, and a vegetable oil. Eighty‐two of the butter samples consisted wholly or partly of foreign fats. One case was found of a grocer selling unlabelled margarine as “butter mixture.” When a purchaser complained of gritty bread, it was found to contain 0.12 per cent. of sand, thought to have been due to mill sweepings having been introduced into the flour. Custard powders were adulterated by the presence of acid dyes, while egg powders were found to contain no eggs. One egg powder sample consisted of 63 per cent. of flour, 20.6 per cent. of bicarbonate of soda, and 16.4 per cent. of tartaric acid, with a trace of colouring matter. Foreign fats, cornflour, or other starch, traces of lead, and oxide of iron were found in samples of chocolate. One case was reported of the use in chocolate rock of commercial burnt sienna containing an excessive quantity of arsenic. A number of samples of sponge cakes were found to contain boric acid, and traces of this preservative were also detected in samples of other foods, including ice‐cream, sponge sandwich, meat pie, fish paste, potted shrimps, and sausages. Powdered talc in small quantities still continues to be introduced into rice, and three cases are reported in which an article sold as sago was found on examination to be tapioca. Seven hundred and seventy‐three samples of sausages were examined, and 18.5 per cent. were found to be adulterated by the addition of preservative (usually boric acid). A consignment of tea containing iron filings was seized and destroyed. Eight grains of iron filings to the pound and 12 per cent. of dust were found in another lot of tea, while in a third sample the tea dust contained 8 per cent. of mineral matter. Adulterated samples of ground ginger and ground cinnamon were found to contain mineral matter, petroleum products were found in turpentine, and traces of lead and cornflour in cream of tartar.