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Expert systems are frequently mentioned in business circles these days. They have the potential to assist greatly in the dissemination of scarce or complex expertise. But although they can be immensely valuable if properly understood, developed and used, they can also be a waste of resources. Aimed at managers who feel the need to know more about expert systems, but who are not themselves computing specialists, what an expert system is and is not is explained. The types of application for which it is suitable, and who is most likely to find the time, trouble and expense of creating one that is most worthwhile is discussed. Different types of expert system are explained, and the means and merits of prototyping are outlined. In order to have a successful expert system, certain essentials are required: a subject area which can be suitably defined; an expert who can provide the knowledge; users who know what they want and how they want to use it; a knowledge engineer who can translate the expertise into facts and rules for the system. A short but useful glossary of technical terms which may be encountered in the world of expert systems is included.

Brian Hinton's article on librarian poets (“Librarians as unacknowledged legislators”, NLW March 1987) reminded us just how many librarians have been poets in our day and how many still are. Is this yet another aspect of the much publicised “poetry boom”, and how far is this “poetry boom” in fact a public relations exercise? Are more people reading, writing, buying contemporary poetry now? I shall take a look at these questions, focusing on manifestations of poetry activity today, and summing up with ways in which libraries, and especially public libraries, can gain from involvement with the “poetry boom”.

This paper aims to details how e‐learning is being used to impart training at two UK media companies.

The paper explains the reasons for the two sets of training, the form they took and the results they have achieved.

The paper describes how e‐learning has helped to train casual and geographically dispersed workers in health and safety matters at Global Radio, and how e‐learning is being used to impart information‐technology and “soft” skills at Trinity Mirror.

The paper explains how e‐learning can be cheaper and, in some cases, more effective than classroom‐based learning.

The paper highlights how e‐learning, combined with a learning‐management system, enables an employer to demonstrate that it is complying with all the law's health and safety requirements.

The paper concentrates on the strengths of e‐learning but fails to mention some of the drawbacks.

I ATTENDED the Famous Extra‐ordinary General Meeting of the la on January 6 as an ‘observer’ (which is all they would allow, shoving me in the back row next to Charles Ellis, to whom I made indecorous remarks as the proceedings unfolded). Few of the speeches bore much relationship to the motions and amendments under debate, the prize for irrelevance going to a smarmy young woman who droned on interminably about the unfairness of not doubling staff pay‐packets every five weeks or so; but this didn't much matter, as the audience had clearly arrived with the intention of passing the motion calling for more information about the financial crisis, and chucking out the ones aimed at personalities.

IT REALLY IS very hard to have one's kindliest intentions kicked back into one's teeth.

Describes the process and outputs of the findings to date in a research project to determine quality in academic business journal publishing, sponsored by a major academic publishing house. Describes the refereeing/review process for journal articles, a study of quality indicators in established “academic” journals, and the same in “practitioner” journals. Draws conclusions for quality improvement in the journals surveyed based on the findings. Draws conclusions for other researchers and publishers.

Describes the efforts of the owner/directors of a private limited company to put into place a succession strategy. Considers three major themes: second generation entrepreneurs/management succession; action learning as a human resource development strategy and philosophy; and the learning organization. Concludes that people (and organizations) “learn” best from the priorities of the business, once they have been identified, and that organizational learning is really based on institutionalization of what has been learned – requisite learning.

This paper reports on how a lecturer in business collaborated within a multidisciplinary study which focused on developing an “intercultural dimension” in teaching and learning in the disciplines in higher education. The case illustrates how, if the intercultural dimension of internationalisation is to be realised in teaching and learning, experts with specific disciplinary knowledge and those with intercultural expertise need to collaborate from the outset to develop a point for point understanding of the implications of internationalisation for the specific discipline. Moreover, it is argued, internationalisation of the discipline is not only an outcome of this process, but the process itself involves transformations which exemplify the development of intercultural awareness.

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the relationship between self-reported levels of acute stress, perceived social support and interactions with robot animals in an academic library. The authors hypothesized that (1) participants would report lower stress and higher positive affect after their interaction with a robot support animal and (2) perceived supportiveness of the robot support animal would positively predict the amount of stress reduction the participants reported.

The authors hosted a robot petting zoo in the main library at a mid-sized Midwestern university during finals week. Participants were asked to rate their stress level prior to interacting with the robot pets (T1) and then after their interaction they were asked about their current stress level and the perceived supportiveness of the robot animal (T2). Data were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for the pretest and post-test scores.

The results showed a significant decrease in acute stress between T1 to T2, as well as a significant increase in happiness and relaxation. Participants reported feeling less bored and less tired after their interactions with the robot support animals. The findings also reveal that the degree to which individuals experienced a reduction in stress was influenced by their perceptions of the robot animal's supportiveness. Libraries could consider using robot pet therapy.

This study reveals the benefit of robot support animals to reduce stress and increase happiness of those experiencing acute stress in a library setting. The authors also introduce the concept of socially supportive contact as a type of unidirectional social support.