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Describes programmes of development centres for both sales staff and sales managers within a large organization, which enabled the identification of high potential, based on objective criteria.

The purpose of this paper is to explore aural representation of the countryside and English rurality through the contemporary cultural product of folk song.

A textual analysis was undertaken of the sleeve notes and lyrics of Steve Knightley, songwriter and founder member of the folk/roots band Show of Hands.

The concept of the rural idyll is thoroughly debunked in the majority of these lyrics. Many songs make specific reference to place, and these, in the main, focus on the historical and contemporary hardships of living in rural England, in many cases also making explicit reference to the historical or contemporary social issues deemed by the lyricist to be at the root of the problems faced by people living in English rural communities.

This paper analyses data obtained in lyrics of only one songwriter within only one music genre, but the artist is one of the most respected within the contemporary folk genre, and Show of Hands have won a number of prestigious nationally recognised folk awards.

The extant literature contains little concerning aural representations of place identities through song. The contribution this paper makes is therefore in presenting a conceptual framework that shows how folk song, as a contemporary cultural product contributes to the construction and communication of rural place identities.

As the municipal year ends this month, the public librarian will lightly (or otherwise) turn to thoughts of annual reports. Year by year the problem before him is to justify his ways to men, by producing a document which in the first place is attractive and in the second, third, and as many other places as possible, is true, logical, readable. It is no easy task, especially for those who are new to the experiment or who have made it for so many years that ideas do not come freely ; for, after all, the annual report is a question of ideas. If our minds are of pedestrian, unoriginal—or perhaps infertile is a better word, as originality is as rare as a new planet— type, we shall copy one of the received models, and will be well advised to do so. That is to say, we shall give a brief narrative of what we think are the outstanding events of the year with suitable acknowledgments to committee and staff, and add such statistical tables as will prove the position. These last are always to be summarised in the form prescribed by the Library Association ; the omission of such summary is inexcusable in the modern librarian.

LIBRARIES in War have, alas, been too often the theme of this and other library magazines owing to the times in which men and women of middle age have had to live. To‐day, even younger ones can see some reflection of the atmosphere, because they have been brought up in a pervading spirit of threats and preparations; insomuch—and this is the tragedy of i t—they ask “What is the good of preparing for life in this world when we are likely to be bombed out of it at any moment?” There is much good, because, even if the ultimate tragedy came, England and the majority of us would survive; and the world must go on. It is a descent from this perhaps grand attitude to the thought that less money may be available for libraries for the time being. We know that rates are rising in many places, owing to unemployment relief needs and A.R.P. demands, but there is the consolation that last year many new libraries were opened. It may be a result of the truth that never are libraries more needed than in hours of stress.

ON December 6th Mr. Salter Davies was installed President of the Library Association at Chaucer House in succession to Mr. S. A. Pitt. A word first should be said about the Presidency of Mr. Pitt. It has been carried on under handicaps that would have deterred most men in such a post. A severe illness, successfully encountered and gallantly overcome, has been the main personal feature for Mr. Pitt of what should have been the most distinguisned year of a quite eminent library career. We had looked forward to very active work from him during his Presidency, and so far as circumstances permitted, he fulfilled all the obligations laid upon him completely. We can thank him more warmly, if not more sincerely, than perhaps would ordinarily be the case, because of the difficulties he has victoriously surmounted. With newly established health, we wish for him a continuance of the great work he has done for librarianship not only in Glasgow but in the Library Association and in the world of libraries generally.

A PUBLICATION which is an event of much importance is the list of books suitable for British Public Libraries which, under the title Interpreting the United States, has just been issued from the National Central Library. Our readers will no doubt have received copies of it by this time, because the obvious intention of the Ministry of Information, which fathers it and the Carnegie Trustees who paid for it, is that it should have definite beneficial influence in all parts of these islands. The actual choice of books has been made for “the light their authors cast on the history, institutions and foibles that seem peculiarly American,” by the A.L.A. using a group of representative librarians whose choice has been submitted to some twenty literary critics and professors and to the comment of some European refugees now in the United States. A feature of the list is that arrangements have been made to overcome the great difficulty the shipping position imposes on the importing of American books. The books can actually be obtained, some from the National Central Library and the others from English booksellers. It therefore becomes possible for any library to acquire the reasonably authentic collection, long desired, of books that are really representative of the great other half of the English‐speaking family. Among the six hundred books are, fortunately, many which are already on the shelves of any well‐selected library. Books of all prices are included, among them some rather expensive ones, but the average cost per volume is about twelve shillings. Of the importance of bringing the truth about America to our people no librarian needs to be persuaded and we are sure that the welcome we extend to this list will be echoed everywhere.

The use of accounting to help apply the principles of scientific management to business affairs is associated with the adoption of standard costing and budgetary control. This first British industry‐based study of the implementation of these calculative techniques makes use of the case study research tool to interrogate archival data relating to leading iron and steel companies. We demonstrate the adoption of standard costing and budgetary control early on (during the inter‐war period) by a single economic unit, United Steel Companies Ltd, where innovation is attributed to the engineering and scientific background and US experiences of key personnel. Elsewhere, significant management accounting change occurred only with the collapse in iron and steel corporate profitability that began to become apparent in the late 1950s. The process of accounting change is addressed and the significance for our study of the notions of evolution and historical discontinuity is examined. The paper is contextualised through an assessment of initiatives from industry‐based regulatory bodies and consideration of the economic circumstances and business conditions within which management accounting practices were the subject of radical revision.

Universities are social and economic instruments for investment in man and thereby for the development of human resources at the highest level. This is truer in the case of developing countries where science and technology have not yet extended their beneficial aspects to whole spheres of social life. While preserving culture and heritage, universities are the most powerful institutions for social change and innovation. At the same time, universities and colleges themselves are subject to changes and need to adapt to these.