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A flood disaster at the University of Port Harcourt Library, Nigeria, is reported. The rescue action taken to salvage water damaged materials is described. The problems encountered during the rescue operations are highlighted and the need to prepare disaster rescue plans and make library staff aware of rescue options available is emphasised.

The problems are described which confront experienced library assistants in seeking improved status and promotion, since they have no formal library school training and often have financial or family obstacles to full‐time study. A new sandwich course at the University of Port Harcourt is examined and the initial reactions of students and teachers discussed.

A total of 4,012 citations in 70 postgraduate dissertations in education submitted to the Delta State University Library between 1992 and 2002 were studied. Most post graduate students in education used more textbooks (60.3 per cent), than other forms of library materials. Four of the top ranked journals, including the most popularly used – the West African Journal of Education (WAJE) – are available in the library. A total of 12 (66.7 per cent) of the 18 most popularly used journals are US publications, thus creating the need for Delta State University Library to improve on its local journal collection. Of the 18 most cited journals, six (33.3 per cent) ranked among the list of significant journals in the field of education.

Investigations of urban public services remain confined to western settings while research on urban public services in non-western cities focuses mainly on the availability and delivery of basic services. Using the case study of Calcutta, this study is an empirical investigation of the evolution, spatial distribution, and changes in spatial patterns of public libraries for the period 1850–1991. It seeks to demonstrate the provision and accessibility to public libraries at the intraurban scale thereby extending research of urban service delivery to a non-western city. Within the context of urban service delivery – who benefits and why, the location of libraries in three time periods are analyzed. The study finds that the urban morphology of the colonial city continues to exert a strong influence on the growth and spatial distribution of public libraries. Empirical evidence suggests that there is no locational bias based on physical accessibility in the distribution of public libraries. No progressive or regressive spatial arrangement based on socioeconomic variables is indicated.

The problems caused by under‐funding of library services in Nigerian institutions of higher education are outlined. A survey is reported of undergraduates′ experiences in searching for information. The range of other sources used by students for information due to their inability to find necessary materials in the library is indicated. Also surveyed is how useful the available information has been to undergraduates. The effect of lack of finance on research efforts, particularly inter‐library loans, is also reported.

Library practicum is a supervised, hands‐on practice in various library functions. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of library practicum in learning various professional skills through the perception of library information science (LIS) graduates.

Since this is a case study, multiple data collection techniques, i.e. a questionnaire survey (having both closed and open ended questions), and discussions with senior faculty members and observation (as a participant observer) are used to probe the real status. LIS graduates of PU sessions 2002‐2006 are identified as the population. The total number of the population is 367 and targeted sample is 118 graduates. Snowball sampling technique is used to reach them.

The findings reveal that well designed and well managed practicum plays a vital role in improving professional skills. Insufficient practicum duration, communication gap among three parties (students, external and internal supervisor), loose supervision and lack of focus on professional skills are the problems reported by LIS graduates.

As a study of the practical elements of studying library science, the paper should be of interest to practitioners.

This paper is the only evaluation of library practicum in Pakistan. The findings will be helpful in designing better and more effective library practicum programs in Pakistan as well as in other developing countries.

Describes various types of university library exhibitions, lists their objectives and highlights their role as a publicity strategy. Presents the results of a study of exhibitions mounted at Abubaker Tafawa Balewa University, in Nigeria, from 1990‐1993. Finds that anniversary events are the most frequent subject for exhibitions, followed by those for the promotion of library services. Offers a number of recommendations for successful exhibitions, which can be used as an influential public relations strategy for the promotion of the library’s services.

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the question of whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be used as a link of trust between business and society, and which role CSR plays in recovering distrust in businesses. It uses a mixed methods study of processes of moving businesses within the Danish water sector from a general trust-breakdown to trust recovery from 2003 to 2013.

Trust recovery is found to depend on stakeholders’ mutual engagement with each other and their willingness to share knowledge and learn from each other’s professional and institutional cultures and languages. An alignment of vocabularies of motives between regulation and voluntary CSR is found to be useful for building trust between conflicting parties. Furthermore the findings shows that the more stakeholders’ languages, motives and logics can coexist, the more trust can be recovered.

The research is limited by a study of one business sector in one country and the findings have implications greater than the local contexts of which it is researched, because it is usable in other sectors that suffer from severe trust-breakdowns such as government systems in both the public and private sectors.

This chapter suggests a theoretical extension of Bogenschneider and Corbett’s (2010) Community Dissonance Theory to embrace multiple stakeholders each having their own complex and unique culture and communication modus based on their institutional, professional or individual comprehensive language universes. This includes knowledge-sharing and educative diffusion of the stakeholders’ language universes’ vocabularies including its important nouns, verbs, terminologies, semantics, taxonomies and axioms as well as the stakeholders’ motives and logics implemented into these universes.

Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sectors have a strong influence on the Egyptian economy. Yet, effective formulation of integrated cluster along the value chain can lead MSMEs to become international actors in export-oriented activities. An Agro-Industrial Park is an integrated cluster taking into consideration synergetic agglomeration of agribusiness MSMEs assisting in decreasing deprivation of rural territories. This research aims to present the needs of agriculture MSMEs in Egypt, to describe challenges faced by this specific sector, and to set guidelines for a business model integrating small farmers and producers into an integrated agribusiness cluster. The researcher followed purposive/nonprobability sampling technique of 100 MSMEs research participants. A combination of questionnaires and open-ended interviews were the research instruments of choice along with secondary data. This research focused on agribusiness only and specifically MSMEs in Egypt. There is no agribusiness-integrated cluster in Egypt, even though the agricultural land increased significantly in the past 5 years, leading us to believe that it is imperative to develop agribusiness-integrated clusters in the coming few years.