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The purpose of this paper is to determine the presence of palm oil in food products on sale, and to study and compare consumers’ opinions about this oil type in Spain (importing country) and Peru (producing country).

Recent news published in both countries, which could influence consumer perceptions, were analysed. A study on the labelling of foodstuffs in Spain was carried out, as was a survey with Spanish and Peruvian consumers.

Palm oil was found in a large number of products and in a wide range of foods, especially those from the bakery sector. The percentages of saturated fats varied substantially within the same product type. Spanish consumers showed much more interest in the labelling and information on nutritional properties, especially energy values, saturated fats and sugars, while Peruvians focused more on energy values, and protein, vitamin and mineral contents. In Spain, palm oil was considered the worst quality fat/oil and had a clearly negative effect on both health and the environment. In Peru, palm oil was neither perceived by the majority of respondents as low quality oil nor associated with negative health effects. However, they were aware of the environmental problems that could result from its production.

These results confirm that the food industry should make efforts to reduce or replace palm oil in foods, mainly in Spain, as most consumers believe that palm oil negatively affects their health and the environment.

The purpose of the current paper is to develop and validate a scale for measuring and managing the acquisition of competences provided by higher education studies.

A representative sample of Spanish graduates was obtained in the framework of the REFLEX project. In this questionnaire, a battery of 19 self-assessed items was used to measure the contribution of universities to the acquisition of generic competences. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed.

The main competences acquired in higher education according to Spanish graduates can be grouped as follows: innovation, interpersonal, knowledge management, communication, organisational and professional development. Results indicated excellent fit indexes of this six-factor model to data.

This scale may be particularly useful to understand the process of transition of higher education systems according to Bologna principles. It also represents a significant contribution to the existing research in competency-based education.

This paper may help higher education institutions to identify improvement areas in their study programmes. Besides, the proposed scale may offer crucial information in the determination of which Bologna principles have been successfully implemented.

Organisations may use these findings to design formal or informal training for new graduates hired by the organisation.

Despite the recent increasing research in the field of competency-based learning and competences required in graduates’ workplaces, this is the first paper that aims to present a validated scale designed to measure graduate self-assessed competences.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the status of the implementation of ISO 22000 in the food industry in Spain. The study identifies the main difficulties faced by firms during the adoption process, the benefits obtained, and the most influential benefits on firms overall satisfaction with ISO 22000.

A questionnaire was developed to identify the difficulties and benefits for ISO 22000 implementation. Data were collected among 189 Spanish certified firms. Factor analysis and multiple linear regression were used.

ISO 22000 is used by firms operating in all links of the food chain (FC). Size of the firm is not a factor that determines its implementation. Exporter firms are more attracted to ISO 22000 certification. All sample firms experienced difficulties throughout the implementation process, being those related with time and money the most relevant. The benefits which most contributed to the firms’ satisfaction were internal in nature, in particular, those related to improved efficiency and food safety.

Despite the many difficulties, both material and organizational, that sample firms experienced in implementing ISO 22000, and the complexity of the standard, the overall satisfaction is high.

The sample analyzed comprised certified firms, including representatives of all links in the FC from farm to table. Prior research specifically aimed at analyzing ISO 22000 implementation and its benefits is very scarce.

Avant‐propos sous les auspices de l'Institut international de Coopération intellectuelle, paraissait en 1934 le t. I, consacré à l'Europe, du Guide international des Archives. Le questionnaire envoyé à tous les États européens comportait sous les points 4 et 6 les questions suivantes: ‘Existe‐t‐il un guide général pour les diverses catégories d'Archives ou des guides particuliers pour l'une ou l'autre d'entre elles?’ et ‘Existe‐t‐il des catalogues imprimés, des publications tant officielles que privées, susceptibles de constituer un instrument complet de référence pour tout ou partie importante des fonds d'archives?’ Les réponses des divers pays à ces questions, malgré leur caractère très inégal, ont fait du Guide international un bon instrument d'information générale sur les Archives. Malheureusement les circonstances ont empêché la publication du volume consacré aux États non européens, tandis que le temps qui s'écoulait tendait à rendre périmés les renseignements fournis sur les Archives européennes.

EVERYONE interested in the British library movement will learn with sorrow and regret that one of its greatest friends and strongest champions has passed away, in the person of Thomas Greenwood, the kind‐hearted and generous advocate of libraries, who won the respect and regard of every English libiarian. From one of his own periodicals the following particulars are abstracted:—

IN a preface of Smiles' you will find the statement: “Without exaggerating the importance of this class of biography, it may at least be averred that it has not yet received its due share of attention.” The truth of this statement holds good to‐day. That our national industries lie at the root of national progress is recognized by library authorities, inasmuch as efforts are continually made to bring into prominence books on the useful and industrial arts, without, however, bringing under public notice biographies bearing very closely on the history and development of certain British trades and industries. There may be a feeling that this “class” falls under the head of “lives of very great inherent importance indeed, but which appeal to comparatively small circles of readers, from the large demand they make upon the possession of special culture or knowledge.” In point of fact, accounts of industrial processes (be they ever so clearly written) have little fascination for the general reader, but the lives of men who have created or developed those industries seldom lack incident and romance, and thereby appeal to the popular mind. On the ground of its democratic character, industrial biography deserves the librarian's attention —life‐records in most cases of men “ignorant of letters; without art; without eloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage to perform that which they lacked language to express.”

[There are thousands of lists of books on special subjects, and nothing more is attempted here than to indicate the most useful. For other lists and bibliographies, reference must be made to the works in Section I. The catalogues of special libraries and the numerous lists of books on special subjects contributed to professional magazines must also be sought for there.]

ATTENTION has been repeatedly drawn to certain drawbacks in the library profession which tend to hinder progress in many ways, and recently some discussion has taken place concerning the long hours and short pay of library assistants. Some years ago there appeared, we believe, in one of Mr. Greenwood's valuable Library Year Books, an analysis of the hours of work in a large number of British Municipal Libraries, and it was made plain from this that a majority of assistants had to work considerably more than forty‐eight hours weekly. Conditions may have changed since then, although it is open to doubt, but the fact remains that too many assistants, and a considerable number of librarians in small places, are now working so long, and in such broken spells, as to preclude any possibility of attaining self‐culture or reasonable recreation. The case of the small town librarian is particularly distressing. In some instances he is a man who has been well‐trained in a large town library, and inspired by a mistaken ambition, elects to attain a position of independence by accepting the chief librarianship in a library of which he afterwards finds himself the sole officer. He is responsible for the cleaning, as well as the ordinary work of a librarian, and his efforts to convert a miserable library rate of a few pounds into an engine of immense efficiency (as expected by the local authority) are enough to make the financial operations of even an American millionaire seem petty in comparison. We have had several cases like this brought to notice within a few weeks, and they give added point to any plea for reform which may be advanced. One young man, well‐educated and well‐trained, undertook the charge of a small municipal library, chiefly because it happened to be near London, and he wished to be in touch with that great and attractive centre. He very soon discovered that the hours of the library were so arranged as to occupy his whole time and keep him employed all day, from 9 a.m. or earlier, till 10 p.m., with two short breaks which did not suffice for a visit to London. On Sunday he was too tired to think of London, apart from which, the institutions which interested him were closed, so that it is possible this librarian has not yet seen the longed‐for London of his cherished anticipations ! There are cases like this in the smaller libraries all over the country, where one official has to perform all the work in an unlimited number of hours. If, as is done in some places, the hours of opening are greatly curtailed in order to give the librarian his deserved and well‐earned rest, then the public suffer. On the other hand, a library administered by a single officer and kept open from nine to ten hours daily, is rather of the nature of a slave‐compound, in which an official is kept prisoner in the interests of the omnipotent ratepayer. Wherever small staffs are kept, there exists this tendency towards long hours, and a consequent eterioration in the efficiency and educational qualifications of assistants. A standing complaint among those who are engaged in the educational work of the Library Association is that so many candidates are deficient in the most elementary subjects, such as composition, spelling and arithmetic. This is undoubtedly caused by the employment of imperfectly educated assistants, who are afterwards tied so fast to their library duties that they are unable to find any time for study and reading. In libraries where small staffs and long hours of opening are found together, it is almost certain that the work‐hours of the assistants will be excessive, and the efficiency of the service impaired.