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The secondary services have long been recognized as a vital link in the information transfer chain [Figure 1] that serves to diffuse knowledge from the scholar/ researcher to an increasingly broad and heterogenous group of users. The impact of the ‘information explosion’ at the front end of the chain has dominated discussions on the future of secondary services over the past twenty years, but more recently attention has been focused at the other end of the information transfer chain as new forces for change emerged.

The National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS) is a non‐profit, private organization with a membership of approximately 47 organizations. Most of these are abstracting and indexing (A&I) services, also called secondary services, which provide bibliographic aids in the form of references, subject terms, and brief descriptions in order to identify, locate, and obtain access to published or unpublished documents or non‐bibliographic sources.

Engineering Information, Inc. (Ei) was established in 1884 and remained a relatively traditional print‐based abstracting and indexing (A&I) service for over half a century. Together with many other A&I services, Ei began to develop digital versions of its print products in the early 1960s and today finds that the use of the digital versions has begun to outstrip use of the print versions. Faced with rapidly advancing information technology, increasingly sophisticated and demanding customers and an increasing variety and volume of engineering information files, formats and media, Ei perceives a need to grow beyond the role of the traditional secondary service. To continue in its mission as the world's primary transdisciplinary engineering information service and to satisfy the evolving needs of both traditional and new customers, Ei believes it must evolve into a new type of information service — a one‐stop ‘information supermarket.’

Jannik Davidsen, The State and University Library, Aarhus, Denmark, died suddenly on 28 November 1983, aged forty‐two years. Jannik Davidsen was educated as a geologist with special emphasis on applied geology, at the Universities in Copenhagen and Aarhus.

Knowledge Industry, ASIS team up to produce database user service. Knowledge Industry Publications Inc., and the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) have joined forces to create a four‐faceted Database User Service. The new service will provide an annual print directory, an online directory, a monthly newsletter, and a database hotline.

Report on the professional online database industry. CSP International have produced a report called, The Professional Online Database Industry which traces the industry's evolution and trends. “As society has become increasingly information‐oriented, businesses have been forced to rely on online databases for fast electronic retrieval of information,” notes Michael Tyler, President of CSP International. “The growth of the online database industry has been one of the most dramatic economic success stories of recent years, especially in light of the 1980–82 recession.

Three leading US information companies form new research firm. A new information company, the Amicus Research Group, Ltd., has been formed as a joint venture of Berul Associates, Ltd., of Rockville, Maryland; Cuadra Associates, Inc., of Santa Monica, California; and Peyton R. Neal & Associates, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia.

To examine gender and racial differences in known wrongful conviction cases.

Cases were identified for inclusion in this study through the use of established databases available electronically. Supplemental information was gathered through newspapers, magazines, and direct correspondence with individuals associated with the cases.

Of special significance was the role of witness error in wrongful convictions. Although more prominent in cases involving African American men, witness error was also problematic in murder and manslaughter cases involving African American women. Whereas white women were more likely to be included in wrongful convictions for murder and child abuse, African American women were more likely to be found in wrongful convictions for drugs and property and other offenses. Wrongfully convicted white women were 2.7 times more likely than their African American counterparts to be sentenced to life. Victim race appeared to play a role in a number of the wrongful convictions for both African American men and women.

This study expands our knowledge of known wrongful convictions among African Americans, a group that is disproportionately found in the criminal justice data.

The new Management Team which is to take the new‐style Aslib into the 80's and beyond, is taking shape.

A new research study from International Data Corporation, of Framingham, Massachusetts, considers some of the problems that may come in the wake of the business microcomputer boom. The report, entitled Personal/Desktop Computer Use in Large Organisations, foresees a market for micro‐computers greater in value than that of traditional mainframe/mini computers, implying that procurement expenditure for corporations could exceed that of the mainframe.