Forecasting for the future is fun and when I started in education in the sixties my guesses were fairly accurate. So few new materials and methods of presentation were being…
Abstract
Forecasting for the future is fun and when I started in education in the sixties my guesses were fairly accurate. So few new materials and methods of presentation were being produced that more of what we had was the likely future. Now, however, the situation is very different. Change is the watchword that we all carry around, some with considerable apprehension. Over the last few years many new options have opened up for education and there is no likelihood that this will do anything but continue. Forecasting the future is still fun, but the chances of successful guesses are much lower. It is only the brave man who tries, but I have been asked to be brave — so here goes.
ERIC CAVE, ALAN DAY, WH SNAPE, JACK DOVE, KR TOMLINSON, PETER POCKLINGTON and PETER PLIMSOLL
THE RECENT DECLINE in issues has been noticed fairly generally over the country; many librarians have been considerably concerned about it, and your April comments in ‘Off the…
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THE RECENT DECLINE in issues has been noticed fairly generally over the country; many librarians have been considerably concerned about it, and your April comments in ‘Off the cuff’ are relevant. I have not felt concerned to a great degree, though previously I had enjoyed seeing constantly increased use of the city libraries service in my 20 years in Cambridge. The final figures for 1972/73 together with comparisons for the previous year are as follows:
The academic library clings to its etymological roots; even a term such as “alternative materials” connotes print. Still, because of the recognition of recreational or…
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The academic library clings to its etymological roots; even a term such as “alternative materials” connotes print. Still, because of the recognition of recreational or instructional values, some audiovisual (AV) formats—traditionally, the sight‐sound media of film, recordings, and graphics— have become accepted (if not wholly embraced) in academic collections. Whether these nonprint materials are bibliographically and physically accessible is problematical: AV is often purchased from different budgets, housed separately, and indexed by a system different from that for the print collection. Nonprint also includes three‐dimensional objects (3D), materials equally useful as supplements to the printed page: a model, a simulation, the “real thing” itself. The literature indicates these materials are increasingly important in school and public library collections. We ask then, should objects be part of academic library collections, and what is the present status of these materials in academic libraries?
I am not sure whether I was asked to give this paper as an innovator, a researcher and developer, or a user. If I claim to have some elements of all three, this presumably…
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I am not sure whether I was asked to give this paper as an innovator, a researcher and developer, or a user. If I claim to have some elements of all three, this presumably exonerates me from having to be expert at any one of them. I should perhaps say that I see all three as closely interlinked: for me, at any rate, all worthwhile library and information research has arisen out of strictly practical problems, which present knowledge is inadequate to solve; and these problems occur to one as a librarian trying to give an adequate service within various economic, social and political constraints—the definition of an adequate service being arrived at by seeing the library through the consumer's eyes, and by using it oneself as a consumer.
At the recent conference of the British Medical Association, Dr. Langdon‐Down, of South Middlesex, submitted the report of the Ethical Committee on behalf of the Council, upon the…
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At the recent conference of the British Medical Association, Dr. Langdon‐Down, of South Middlesex, submitted the report of the Ethical Committee on behalf of the Council, upon the ethics of indirect advertising by the medical profession. The report mentioned a number of restrictions which it was thought advisable to impose as regards advertising by members of the profession. It was stated that in discussions in the Press on matters of public importance relating to the medical questions it was not necessary that the names of the medical writers or informants should be given. The newspapers, it was contended, could give the necessary assurance to their readers as to the professional standing of the authority quoted without mentioning names.—Dr. Fothergill moved that certain recommendations in the report be referred back for reconsideration, including that which related to medical men not attaching their signatures to letters and communications they sent to the Press on medical subjects. On that latter point he suggested that before the report was issued the council should approach the Press Association to get their views on the question. What the Press required was not the advertising of an inferior practitioner. What they desired was to get an adequate medical opinion. The Press said: “If you allow a doctor to go to the Church Congress and talk openly there of birth control, should you not allow that same doctor to put into the public Press a letter over his signature?”—Dr. Lyndon hoped the representative body would not be led away by Dr. Fothergill. The question of having a conference with the Press was brought before the council, who were all against it.—Sir Jenner Verrall said he did not think what was suggested would be a substitute for the indirect advertising complained of.—Dr. Bishop Harman expressed agreement with the contention that it was the name that really mattered in these contributions to the Press. An eminent medical man wrote to The Times a brilliant letter on an important medical subject, and signed himself “Veritas.” It never caused a ripple on the water. They thought it was a gas mantle or something, and there was no punch behind it. Three things mattered—what you say, how it is said, and who says it, and the last is the only thing that really matters.—The report was adopted with the exception of that part relating to medical men's names being attached to letters and communications sent to the Press. That section of the report was referred back for consideration, with the object of seeing how far it was possible to depart from anonymity.
Elaine Enarson and Lourdes Meyreles
This article provides an introduction and assessment of the English and Spanish literatures on gender relations in disaster contexts. We analyze regional patterns of differences…
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This article provides an introduction and assessment of the English and Spanish literatures on gender relations in disaster contexts. We analyze regional patterns of differences and similarities in women’s disaster experiences and the differing research questions raised by these patterns in the scholarly and practice‐based literature. The analysis supports the claim that how gender is theorized makes a difference in public policy and practical approaches to disaster risk management. We propose new directions in the field of disaster social science and contribute a current bibliography in the emerging gender and disaster field.
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It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to…
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It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.
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In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics…
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In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics, problems and achievements particular to the documentation and handling of non‐book materials (NBM) in many types of libraries. The materials are briefly described and considerations of selection, acquisition, organization, storage and in particular bibliographic control are dealt with in some detail. Other areas of concern to the librarian dealing with media resources, including the organization and training of staff, planning, equipment, exploitation and copyright, are also discussed. The past decade has seen the widespread introduction of NBM into libraries as additional or alternative sources of information. Librarians have been given an opportunity to rethink many basic principles and adapt existing practice to encompass the new materials. The survey reflects the achievements and some of the failures or problems remaining to be solved in this rapidly expanding area of library work.
Richard Berthoud and Lina Cardona Sosa
There has been much commentary on the consequences of a recession on the incomes of households. This short chapter aims to contribute to the debate about the current recession by…
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There has been much commentary on the consequences of a recession on the incomes of households. This short chapter aims to contribute to the debate about the current recession by analysing the impact of the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s on non-employment patterns among people in the main range of working ages in Great Britain. The hypothesis is that the effects observed in earlier business cycles are likely to be repeated now. The chapter uses a series of General Household Surveys over a 32-year period, to show, first, the impact of cyclical factors on overall patterns of non-employment (including mothers and disabled people, as well as the unemployed), and second, which social groups are most affected. A key question is whether types of people who are already disadvantaged are especially sensitive to a downturn. Recent data can be used to test how far the experience of previous business cycles is being repeated in the current recession.