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A key development in early adolescence is the active construction of individual identity; for autistic young people, integrating the idea of “being autistic” forms part of this process. The purpose of this paper is to explore identity development from a contextualist perspective, foregrounding young people’s experiences within mainstream educational settings.

A longitudinal, qualitative methodology was used: semi-structured interviews were conducted annually with 14 autistic young people, their parents and teachers between school years 6 and 9.

Young people felt different from their neurotypical peers and their acceptance of their diagnosis changed over time as they managed their developing personal and public identities. In pursuit of being treated “normally,” many camouflaged their differences at school, which sometimes involved opting out of school-based support. Adults described their own understandings of autism and discussed the responses of others in the school environment to autistic differences.

The influence of sociocultural discourses of autism on young people’s identity development is discussed and implications for both school based and post-diagnostic support for young people and their families explored.

We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special article, “Libraries in Birmingham,” by Mr. Walter Powell, Chief Librarian of Birmingham Public Libraries. He has endeavoured to combine in it the subject of Special Library collections, and libraries other than the Municipal Libraries in the City. Another article entitled “Some Memories of Birmingham” is by Mr. Richard W. Mould, Chief Librarian and Curator of Southwark Public Libraries and Cuming Museum. We understand that a very full programme has been arranged for the Conference, and we have already published such details as are now available in our July number.

THIS number will appear at the beginning of the Leeds Conference. Although there is no evidence that the attendance will surpass the record attendance registered at the Birmingham Conference, there is every reason to believe that the attendance at Leeds will be very large. The year is one of importance in the history of the city, for it has marked the 300th anniversary of its charter. We hope that some of the festival spirit will survive into the week of the Conference. As a contributor has suggested on another page, we hope that all librarians who attend will do so with the determination to make the Conference one of the friendliest possible character. It has occasionally been pointed out that as the Association grows older it is liable to become more stilted and formal; that institutions and people become standardized and less dynamic. This, if it were true, would be a great pity.

Information disclosure requirements are a relatively common feature of consumer protection regimes generally. In the case of retail investment products such requirements have been in place since the late 1980s. Now the European Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive will impose a similar disclosure regime wherever a contract is concluded at a distance. But, despite the popularity of disclosure regimes with policy makers, the available evidence suggests that such regimes may not be particularly effective. The purpose of this paper is to discuss first, the extent to which disclosure regimes are underpinned by a solid understanding of consumer decision‐making behaviour, and secondly, the implications the development of the internet as a delivery channel for retail investment products might have for their effectiveness. The paper concludes that, despite the indeterminacy of consumer decision‐making research such that it fails to provide a ready model on which to (re)design disclosure regimes, the development of the internet as a delivery channel both compounds the challenges for the regulator in devising an effective disclosure regime, but also provides the regulator with an opportunity to explore the potential to deliver interactive capabilities which would enhance the potential to better influence consumer decision making. As such, the paper should be of interest to regulators, the industry (which has expressed doubts about the cost‐effectiveness of such regimes) as well as academics interested in regulatory policy.

This paper aims to use embodied theory to analyze consumer experience in a retail brandscape, Hollister Co. By taking a holistic, embodied approach, this study reveals how individual consumers interact with such retail environments in corporeal, instinctive and sensual ways.

The primary source of data was 97 subjective personal introspective accounts undertaken with the target age group for the store. These were supplemented with in-depth interviews with consumers, managers and employees of Hollister.

The authors offer a conceptualization of consumers’ embodied experience, which they term The Immersive Somascape Experience. This identifies four key touch points that evoke the Hollister store experience – each of which reveals how the body is affected by particular relational and material specificities. These are sensory activation, brand materialities, corporeal relationality and (dis)orientation. These may lead to consumer emplacement.

The authors propose that taking an “intelligible embodiment” approach to consumer experiences in retail contexts provides a deeper, more holistic understanding of the embodied processes involved. They also suggest that more anthropological, body-grounded studies are needed for the unique insights they provide. Finally, they note that there is growing consumer demand for experiences, which, they argue, points to the need for more research from an embodied experience perspective in our field.

The study reveals the perils and pitfalls of adopting a sensory marketing perspective. It also offers insights into how the body leads in retail brandscapes, addressing a lack in such approaches in the current retailing literature and suggesting that embodied, experiential aspects of branding are increasingly pertinent in retailing in light of the continued growth of on-line shopping.

Overall, the study shows how an embodied approach challenges the dominance of mind and representation over body and materiality, suggesting an “intelligible embodiment” lens offers unique insights into consumers’ embodied experiences in retail environments.

This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in family business operations and dynamics. This approach will complement the agency and resource-based view theoretical bases that dominate family business research (Chrisman et al., 2009) and further contribute to extending gender theories.

Acknowledging that gender is socially constructed, this editorial discusses the interface between gendered processes and family business within entrepreneurship research.

Despite a growing interest in gender and family business, there is limited literature that explores gender theory within family business research. A gender theory approach embracing family business research contributes to a needed theoretical deconstruction of existing perspectives on the operations, sustainability and succession of family businesses in the twenty-first century.

This editorial makes a contribution to extant scholarship by extending gender theories through an exploration of the gendered processes in family business research.

Many changes in food consumption trends have taken place in the UK over the last decade. A prime consideration has been the relationship between diet and health, with more consumers than ever expressing an interest in the nutritional profile of foods and the effects of various methods of food preparation and processing. The changes in household composition are also noted.

In this second part of the report on Printed Circuit World Convention IV held at the Tokyo Prince Hotel, Tokyo, from 3–5 June 1987, a general synopsis of the content of the papers presented in the eighteen technical sessions will be given. As three sessions were run in parallel throughout the 2½‐day conference, and therefore not all presentations were heard by those reporting on the technical programme, a number of them have been briefly summarised from the Convention Proceedings.

This paper presents findings from a project that aimed to support social work managers to observe, evaluate and give feedback on social work practice skills.

An embedded team of researchers observed over 300 meetings between parents and social workers and gave feedback based on an established research instrument that facilitated quantitative coding of individual skills such as empathy and purposefulness. Then managers took on this task to sustain ongoing feedback on practice skills beyond the timescale of the project.

A practice tool was successfully developed to take the place of the research instrument and aid managers in these observations, and it was implemented across a range of social work settings. The tool was used in a variety of ways by different managers which highlighted a range of views on what constitutes good practice. This raises questions about how far authorities can (or should) expect to achieve a consensus about the type of practice they want to deliver.

The value of this project is primarily pragmatic, in that it shows the potential for using research to develop practice tools collaboratively. However, in doing so, it brings into focus key questions around the nature of good practice.

This paper presents a practice tool, based on an established research instrument that was co-developed with senior managers. It is an aid for observation that practitioners and managers can use to support practice development.

Few research studies have worked so closely with practice managers to develop a tool that can be used to support practice. The paper also highlights the crucial and neglected role of observation in practice development.