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The purpose of this paper is to ascertain which employees choose to access occupational health checks (OHCs), their perceptions of the usefulness of information received and whether they choose to act on tailored advice provided.

In total, 253 hospital employees attended workplace OHC then completed online questionnaire survey.

Participants included new cases (80 per cent) and those who had accessed the service previously (20 per cent), all age categories (23-69 years) and all occupational groups, although the vast majority were in office-based sedentary job roles, nursing or allied health professions (AHP) (78.3 per cent). Almost half were overweight or obese (46.7 per cent); many reported existing health problems or family history of chronic disease. Participants perceived OHC s to be convenient, informative and useful for raising their awareness of health issues, reassurance and monitoring, early identification of potential health problems and signposting to appropriate services. Participants reported post-check dietary changes (41 per cent) and increases in physical activity (30 per cent); smokers reported quitting or cutting down (44 per cent) and those exceeding alcohol limits reported cutting frequency or units of consumption (48 per cent). More than half those advised to visit their GP complied (53 per cent).

Future studies should investigate the efficacy of OHCs and whether reported lifestyle changes are sustained in the long-term.

General health checks can be feasibly delivered in a multi-site hospital workplace setting with diverse appeal. Provision of tailored health information can help to raise health awareness and motivate health behaviour change or maintenance amongst hospital employees, including those reporting risk factors for chronic disease. Employees value the investment of healthcare organisations in the health and wellbeing of their workforce.

A memorandum on the Nutritive Value of Milk by the Advisory Committee on Nutrition appointed by the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland has now been published with a prefatory note by Sir Kingsley Wood and Sir Godfrey Collins. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee is Lord Luke, and the members include Professor Cathcart, Sir F. Gowland Hopkins, Professor Mellanby and Sir John Boyd Orr. Its terms of reference are “To inquire into the facts, quantitative and qualitative, in relation to the diet of the people and to report as to any changes herein which appear desirable in the light of modern advances in the knowledge of nutrition.” The memorandum explains the high value of milk as an article of food. Analysis of its composition shows that milk contains protein of high nutritive value, energy‐giving nutrients, the known essential vitamins and many mineral elements and apart from its chemical composition it derived value from other properties such as easy digestibility. Many investigations have been made which justify the belief that the general health of the community, and especially of children, would be improved, and the incidence of disease, including rickets, diminished, if the present consumption of liquid milk, averaging about 0.4 pint per head per day, could be increased to about a pint. Milk has few disadvantages as an article of diet. For infants, after breast‐feeding has ceased, it should form the bulk of the diet, with any necessary supplements to furnish iron and vitamins C and D. After infancy milk is not a complete food but a very important item in diet, particularly for children, who should be given one to two pints a day, and for expectant and nursing mothers, for whom about two pints a day are desirable. Other adults, who need milk especially for the sake of its calcium and animal protein, should have at least half a pint a day. Milk is unfortunately liable to contamination by disease‐producing bacteria and its heating by suitable methods such as pasteurisation has important advantages in making it safe for human consumption from this point of view. Moreover, when milk is treated by heat, little significant change is known to occur in its nutritive properties, and such deficiencies as may be caused can readily be made good. It is therefore reasonable to assume that raw milk incorporated in other cooked articles of diet, such as bread and puddings, retains most of its nutritional properties. The report also calls attention to the degrees of nutritive value possessed by various milk products, especially separated milk. The memorandum is entitled “The Nutritive Value of Milk” and can be obtained (price 3d.) direct from H.M. Stationery Office or through any bookseller.

DEAR SIR,—Failing being able to provide a really well equipped Reference Library, does it not seem a pity to waste the few funds at the disposal of the average public librarian in a desperate attempt to provide a collection of local books, with the forlorn hope of stimulating interest in the department, or in buying a handful of standard reference works for the benefit of those “serious” readers who frequent the library?

ALTHOUGH newspapers and periodicals contain a good deal that can hardly be classed as literature, their low cost brings them within the reach of almost everyone, and newsrooms have proved the most popular department of public libraries. They therefore should receive the careful consideration of the librarian in the method of their display.

The tragedy of the War has come very close to librarians in the death of Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone, M.P., from wounds received in action in Flanders on April 14th. About two years ago he became interested in the new Libraries Bill, and took charge of it in the House of Commons. He worked assiduously, and his historic name, and his genial, unaffected manner won over men on all sides of the House, insomuch that the backers of the Bill included members of every political complexion. War has intervened, and prevented the Bill's progress, and now our Parliamentary leader has given his life for a greater cause. Regret for his loss is widespread throughout the country, and no one will feel it more keenly than librarians.

Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.

The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.

The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.

This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.

The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought within measurable distance the Regulations which were, in any case, promised for1975. The Group consider that the extension of voluntary open date marking systems will not be sufficiently rapid (or sufficiently comprehensive) to avoid the need or justify the delay in introducing legislation.

This paper aims to examine the practice of teamwork in an under‐researched, yet growing industrial setting.

Longitudinal ethnographic‐styled methods of data collection were used and data was examined using the Team Dimensions Model.

The findings suggest the Team Dimensions Model, with the addition of a customer service perspective, is of use for identifying managerial objectives and organisational outcomes of teamwork. However, this does not suggest that teamworking is easy to implement in the hospitality setting.

The findings were obtained using unobtrusive participatory and observational methods and based on a single company.

The paper allows management practitioners to reflect on realities of implementing teamworking under a corporate customer service initiative.

The paper takes an existing theory on teamworking and develops the theory in an under‐researched and growing industrial sector.

NEITHER the Dictionary nor the Classified forms of catalogues embodies the whole of the requirements which go towards the making of the ideal catalogue. It has been said that the ideal can be achieved only by the full provision of both varieties, but while this may be true of the card catalogue, as far as the printed one is concerned, there are serious drawbacks to combining the two forms. It would necessitate so many entries for each book that the alphabetical order would be destroyed, the size would be inconvenient to borrowers who wished to carry it to and from the library, and the cost of production would be such as few public libraries could afford. The Brooklyn Library analytical and classed catalogue of authors, titles, subjects, and classes suffers from all the drawbacks just mentioned simply on account of violating Cutter's rule whereby books are entered under their specific subjects. In this complete and remarkable work of over 1,000 pages, books will be found entered under important general headings like Mathematics, Engineering, and so on, the special subjects being arranged in a classified order, in addition to being entered in their alphabetical progression.

One of the indirect ways in which the condition of the people may be improved lies in the hands of librarians in arrangements that may be made for the use of the buildings at their disposal. If the sale of alcohol is to be prohibited or curtailed, large numbers of our working classes will lose their meeting‐place or club, and while the public libraries, as at present constituted, are not in a position to fill the gap, a good deal might be done by way of providing for the possibility of foregathering, for a “feast of reason and a flow of soul,” without the sense of a stern authority always calling attention to the rules and regulations for silence and strict decorum. Really practical suggestions to this end would be of really valuable service now and indeed for all time.