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This paper summarizes two exploratory case studies of teachers' perceptions about their receptivity to evaluation and about possible determinants of this receptivity. The first study explores relationships of receptivity to teacher controllability of evaluated behaviors. It surveys perceptions of elementary school teachers and suggests the existence of a strong positive relationship in activities associated with motivating students. The study also offers a discussion of the significance of controllability as a possible determinant of receptivity. The second study extends the investigation of the relationship between receptivity and controllability. It surveys perceptions of secondary school teachers. Specifically, it explores relationships between receptivity and controllability over two kinds of decision: those associated with teaching activities and those associated with evaluation of these activities. The study also explores the effect on the above relationships of trust and confidence which teachers have in the expertise of their evaluators. The former two relationships are found to be positive. The first, but not the second, is found to be affected by trust and confidence. Selected implications of the findings are offered.

A SPLENDID conference, I thought. True, there were those who complained, those who thought some of the papers were elementary and those who thought that we had come a long way to learn very little. I don't agree at all. Some of the papers did, I admit, deal with basic considerations but it does nothing but good to re‐examine the framework of our services from time to time. In any case other papers were erudite, and for the first time I have seen an audience of librarians and authority members stunned, almost, into silence.

THE L.A. Conference can be said to have finished off the summer, albeit somewhat ingloriously. Frankly it was not a very inspiring affair. However the papers and atmosphere are well described in this number by Mr. Jack Dove and in this column we will confine ourself to that excitement‐packed Annual General Meeting which now probably holds the world record for the shortest A.G.M. of a serious professional institution. The opportunity to express an opinion or ask a question on any aspect of the affairs of the library profession comes only once a year, but the only persons who spoke at the Annual General Meeting were the Chairman, the proposer of the Hon. Auditors, the Mayor of somewhere inviting the Association to hold the Conference there next year and a mover of a vote of thanks to something or other. It makes you wonder. After all the past year has not been entirely without interest to librarians. There are some, we know, who are heartily sick of the sound of the word Roberts but is there no one sufficiently moved to express an opinion on the recommendations contained in the report of the Roberts Committee? It is simply astounding that there was not one motion on the agenda on any aspect of that report. At the time that the agenda was prepared, it was not known that there would be a general election immediately after the conference but surely it is important that the profession as a whole should manifest its view of the recommendations of the committee so that the government could prepare legislation which would have our support. Only one of the major political parties has announced in its manifesto to the electorate that legislation will be introduced in a new Parliament to improve the public library service but of course no details of its proposals have been given. We must know that there is no end to the possible stupidities which could be incorporated into an Act—unless all the bodies concerned impress on the Minister the confirmed opinion of their members. The Association of Municipal Corporations and the County Councils Association have not been slow in making their views known. The Library Association Council presented evidence to the Committee which enjoyed (sic) the support of the membership but it cannot be said that the recommendations have the same support. But does anybody care? Apparently not. We shall grumble when new legislation is presented and then spend the rest of our lives blaming “them”. Is it any wonder that in the words of a London Town Clerk, “librarianship is a depressed profession”? Which leads us nicely to that other apparently unimportant event of the past year.

THE new library building has been open for six months now. It is pleasantly situated in an area of new buildings, and occupies a prominent island site just on the edge of the shopping centre. The old library was in the middle of a shopping area, and it has been interesting to note that our removal from that site has had a more considerable effect on the traffic pattern than one would have thought.

THE greatly increased interest in historical studies since the second world war has been, I hope, a welcome challenge to librarians, but it has been very difficult to meet it. That the librarians of our new universities should have had little research material to offer was only to be expected. Unfortunately, research scholars have discovered that our older libraries were also deficient, that source materials had either not been purchased, in the years when they were readily available, or had been acquired only to be discarded at a later date. Recently, therefore, both old libraries and new have found themselves in competition for a small and dwindling supply of out‐of‐print publications.

I'VE said it before, and I'll say it again: Eastbourne is an excellent place for a conference, and I set out for it after five years' absence with the hope that its handsome and genial presence would produce something better than the mixture of ordinary, obvious and sometimes inaudible papers that have been a constituent of more than one intervening conference. That towns can affect such occasions is no doubt a farfetched conceit, but they certainly affect me; as soon as I arrived the environmental magic worked, and old friends and new faces were seen in the golden light of perfect autumn weather.

AUSTRALIA, waste deserts where emus and kangaroos still have first claim on the land; desolation; drought; ingenious methods of irrigation; lone eucalyptus trees like grey‐green balls, thinly spread over the yellow, dry grass‐land; arid savannas; magic scenery; fertile plains where beef cattle and sheep graze; golden glittering citrus orchards; blue plastic‐covered bunches heavily creaking in the banana patches on sun‐drenched eastern slopes; twittering creeks at which soft‐haired Jersey calves sip the water; thick impenetrable, subtropical rain‐forest with a wild beauty; ravines; trees which seem to grow into the sky; flowers, flowers, flowers; and birds in sparkling colours. Yes, those are some memory images.

This research models the interrelationship of service quality (SQ) for core and peripheral service, perceived value and satisfaction to establish a system of relationship that predicts repurchase intention (RI) in a performing arts context. Business researchers in services understand that organizations must base success on consumer retention. With increased competition and dwindling funding, the performing arts have more constraints in managing and designing customer retention programs. Knowledge of the predictors of customer judgments in re‐purchase intention is undeveloped in the performing arts sector positioning both academic and practical research as warranted. This paper aims to fill this gap.

A survey instrument customized to the performing arts was administered to a sample of 273 past and present performing arts audience members and examined using structural equation modeling.

Results indicate that customers determine their re‐purchase intention based on both core and peripheral SQ, mediated by perceived value and customer satisfaction. There was no direct or significant relationships found for SQ of core and peripheral services and perceived value to RI.

This work supports the need for strategic consideration of both peripheral service aspects and core show quality in service design and delivery in order to maximize perceived value, satisfaction and repurchase intent. Findings suggest a balanced approach to the “act” (core) and the activities required to take it to the market (peripheral) is required.

This is the first known paper presenting this system of relationships and the first to test this system of relationships in the performing arts context.