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It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

AT the very outset of this paper it is necessary to make clear that it is not an attempt to compile an exhaustive bibliography of literature relating to special librarianship. Neither space nor time permit this. In fact, the references given can only claim to be a sample of the wealth of material on the subject and this paper is submitted in the hope that it will stimulate others to more scholarly efforts. Reference numbers throughout this paper refer to items in the ‘Select list of references to the literature of special librarianship’, section 2 onwards.

THE Fifty‐First Conference of the Library Association takes place in the most modern type of British town. Blackpool is a typical growth of the past fifty years or so, rising from the greater value placed upon the recreations of the people in recent decades. It has the name of the pleasure city of the north, a huge caravansary into which the large industrial cities empty themselves at the holiday seasons. But Blackpool is more than that; it is a town with a vibrating local life of its own; it has its intellectual side even if the casual visitor does not always see it as readily as he does the attractions of the front. A week can be spent profitably there even by the mere intellectualist.

A primitive form of marine insurance existed in very early times in what are known as contracts of bottomry or respondentia. This was an arrangement by which the owners of ships borrowed money at a high rate of interest and did not repay the loan if the ship was lost. This was also extended to other property, so that a rudimentary form of burglary insurance can be traced in the distant past. Loans of this kind were transacted in ancient Babylon, as is shown in the Code of Hammurabi, c. 2025 B.C. Contracts of bottomry were prohibited by a decree of Pope Gregory IX in 1234 on the grounds that they were usurious, and some authorities think that it was at this point that insurance in its true sense developed. In 1310 there existed at Bruges a ‘Chamber of Assurances’ for the insurance of merchandise against marine and other risks.

Thisissue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Learnington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.

This issue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.

An informal discussion on ‘Research into the dissemination and utilization of information’ took place at the Aslib 24th Annual Conference. The discussion was opened by Dr. D. J. Urquhart and a high percentage of those present joined in.

Dear Madam, After having read Mr Negus's highly entertaining and informative paper on the juggling of edge‐punched cards, I cannot help wondering if, in changing to multiple‐entry subject card index, he still has not backed the right horse. Could not the ASM Metallurgical classification be put straight on to Peek‐a‐boo cards and used as a co‐ordinate index? This would be a less sophisticated form of ASTIA's automated retrieval system where document numbers are put on to magnetic tape instead of being punched on cards. Bill Barden, in conversation at the Aslib Aeronautics Group Conference in July [1961], expressed the view that a Peek‐a‐boo co‐ordinate index was extremely efficient for document collections of 100,000 or less, and that computer scanning was only a logical extension of a highly selective retrieval technique.