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Central Scotland has been successful in replacing many of its traditional industries with a network of over 300 electronics manufacturers and suppliers creating the area popularly known as “Silicon Glen”. Silicon Glen appears to be a very suitable site for the implementation of just‐in‐time (JIT) production systems with both electronics manufacturers and suppliers concentrated in the same geographical area. Contrasts the theory and practice of JIT implementation in “Silicon Glen” and assesses its success in six companies currently operating JIT production systems. The main conclusion is that JIT has been implemented in a variety of forms, with companies selecting the aspects of JIT that are most suitable for their manufacturing process and competitive strategy. JIT is proving highly successful and is bringing substantial gains in quality and efficiency.

IT WAS THE then Duke of Gloucester who, observing the said Mr Gibbon (of Roman Empire fame) writing, said, to quote as accurately as my reference source will allow, ‘Another damned thick square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr Gibbon!’

AS THIS ISSUE OF NLW appears, the Library Association begins its Centenary Conference in London. I am delighted to have been invited to attend the inaugural session on October 4, and I shall do so full of goodwill towards the association and the profession, both for the short term of this conference and for the outset of the new century in British library affairs. Mind you, and present gravity apart, I expect we shall still get plenty of fun out of the la before its bicentenary turns up.

On 22 October 1988 the lager louts of Reading stayed nervously indoors. The CLW “class of ‘68” was in town.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of a refugee family navigating complex disability and restrictive practice service systems. Living with disability, or caring for someone with disability can compound the disadvantage and marginalisation already experienced by refugees. The nexus between disability and refugee status, particularly intellectual disability and restrictive practices, has received little scholarly attention and almost nothing is known of people’s experiences in this situation.

Thematic analysis of a case study is used to illustrate the experiences of a refugee family in this situation. The case study presented was part of a larger ethnographic study exploring the experiences of people of refugee background living with disability.

There were numerous barriers to accessing appropriate services. The family experienced high levels of stress simultaneously navigating the resettlement process and the disability service system. They were poorly informed and disempowered regarding the care of their loved one and the use of restrictive practices. Experiences in the country of origin, employment responsibilities, and unfamiliarity with the service system were key factors in this family’s difficulty in safeguarding the rights of their family member with disability.

This case study examines the complexity experienced when disability intersects with refugee background. Areas for additional research and significant gaps in service provision are identified. The case study clearly demonstrates the importance of understanding people’s pre- and post-settlement experiences to inform policy and service provision.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of a dialogical approach, associated with the Russian literary critic and philosopher Bakhtin, in understanding the portrayal of managerial identity in management narratives. In particular, it applies these ideas critically to understand how managers' identities are partly shaped by the dominant discourse or idea about what a manager should “be.”

The paper draws on three written narratives of managers. It applies a dialogical approach to consider how they position themselves interactionally in the narratives in such a way as to highlight a managerial identity based on being “enterprising” and “for change,” while simultaneously voicing alternative identities negatively. The use of the written narratives of managers and the application of a dialogical approach is an important contribution to the literature.

The findings suggest that managers, when reflecting on organizational events through narrative, assume a managerial identity that reflects current dominant discourse about what a manager should “be.” In doing so they reject other possible discourses that offer alternatives, not only to managerial “being,” but also to what management and organizations might reflect and represent. The paper also, however, recognizes that some managers reject this identity and its implications for organizational activity.

The paper suggests that managerial identity is partly a product of a dominant discursive/ideological formation rather than individual choice. Although managers may reject this interpellation creating an alternative is constrained by the regime of truth that prevails about what management is at any given time. The approach might be considered overly deterministic in its view of managerial identity.

The paper extends the understanding of managerial identity and how it is portrayed through narrative by using a dialogical approach to interpretation.

The Hybrid Library of the Future (HyLiFe) project was funded by the Joint Information Services Council (JISC) for higher education in the UK and it focused on the users of the hybrid library. This article outlines the user‐centred approach used in evaluating the project. While the evaluation of HyLiFe diverged from much standard practice in performance measurement, the work of researchers into performance measures for the electronic library proved invaluable to the HyLiFe evaluation officer.