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Increasing attention has been given over the last decade to the topic of health care information for patients and the public. This is called consumer health information and it encompasses information about health and illness at a lay level; information about health care services available from the statutory and voluntary sectors; and information about choices in treatment and care. This is not a uniquely modern phenomenon. A study of self care and early lay medical publishing shows a robust and continuing tradition of people looking after themselves, without recourse to health professionals and with advice from various vernacular sources. However it is only since the 1970s that libraries and information services have developed to provide ready access for the public to consumer health information. The first consumer health information (CHI) services were established in the United States. By the late 1970s the first uk services had been established in Stevenage and Southampton. For most of the 1980s these were the only well developed CHI services in the UK library world, with most health information reaching consumers through a variety of non‐library advice agencies. The last two or three years have seen a flowering of CHI services, with the encouragement of official policies on consumer choice and quality assurance. There have been advances in the bibliographic control of the subject with the availability of new CHI databases. This emerging information specialism is now reaching maturity with a new concern with quality of service.

This paper provides an overview of the range and development of health informatics, with examples from the literature world wide covering the types of information involved, the areas of application, the impact of evidence based medicine and other professional issues, integrated information systems, and the needs of the public, patients and their carers. While medical informatics certainly comprises a major part of health informatics it is not the main focus of this paper. Medical informatics is the older term and involves the use of information technology and computing specifically for medical science research, and the diagnosis and treatment of disease involving, for example, X‐rays, imaging, resonance, and magnetic scanning techniques. Rather, the scope of this review is the literature relating to the wider concept of the management of information through the interdisciplinary application of information science and technology for the benefit of patients, scientists, managers, staff, and carers involved in the whole range of healthcare activity.

Though I have had little contact with the medical library profession, I do know that your group (Medical, Health and Welfare Libraries) is highly active and highly thought of throughout the profession. From my point of view, however, the grouping of three really quite different professional sub‐groups under one banner presents a number of problems. If I'm to talk about marketing then I've got to take some note of the markets served by these three groups. Since the markets served by these groups are quite different from one another I can either attempt to say something which applies equally to all three, thereby missing some of the key differences, or I can attempt to touch individually on the problems and peculiarities of each sector in turn, but without going into sufficient detail to avoid generalities. As a group you are serving three very distinct user populations: medical professionals with highly frequent, demanding and specific information needs, a captive, if floating, patient population whose needs are less specific, more diffuse and less clearly defined and a broad base of administrators and planners. (See Fig. 1 below). This trichotomy is, of course, a gross oversimplification on a number of levels, but I mention it merely to show what I mean when I say that as a group you are aiming to serve a number of distinct markets. Keith Morton has referred to the National Health Service as an information market and I should like to quote what he had to say, since it confirms my first impressions as an outsider looking in.

TOP TITLES, measured by the number of loans from Dumbarton District Libraries last year, were newish books by the following ten authors: Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer, Catherine Cookson, Virginia Andrews, Danielle Steel, C McCullough, Susan Howatch, Desmond Bagley, Belva Plain, Douglas Reeman. (How can anyone be willing to go through life called ‘Belva Plain’?) The most popular non‐fiction writer was James Herriot, and for children (can you guess?), Enid Blyton.

Looks at the environmental movement′s attitude to information provision in the context of other sources of environmental information. Reports on new initiatives in the provision of computerised systems for environmental organisations and on environmental information centres. Concludes that there is a need for research into who can provide information and the establishment of a better system for delivery of information than exists at the present time.

Library of Congress update The Urgent Supplemental Appropriations Bill for FY 1986 signed into law in July by Ronald Reagan contained an appropriation of $867 000 for the Library of Congress. This means that the general reading room is able to restore evening and weekend hours. The ten “Books Not Bombs” people who first protested the closure spent several weeks in July in a courtroom trial, where testimony was given by the Librarian of Congress and other officials. Since the “freedom readers”; as they are called in a newspaper article, face jail and/or a fine, perhaps appreciative scholars and researchers should start a fund to help defray the costs of their protest.

Since the early 70's, library authorities have been keen to make their services more accessible to non‐traditional users. The list of target groups for attention appears endless but roughly follows most authorities' equal opportunity statements which inlcude: black/ethnic minorities; gay men and lesbians; and the disabled. As this feature is concerned with the race dimension, I'd like to focus on service provision for black/ethnic minorities.

This paper aims to describe how the experience feedback (EF) from building projects contributes to product platform development in house-building companies. House-building companies seek improvements to decrease costs, improve flow and decrease variability. Industrialised concepts using predefinitions in product platforms have provided a way of storing and reusing knowledge in project-based house-building organisations. However, the innovation in platforms is mainly incremental and based on EF from implementations in projects.

Qualitative data were gathered via interviews, archival studies and observations, and analysed to identify the underlying structures used to manage the incorporation of EF during platform development. Four different EF channels were studied at one Scandinavian house-builder. The data are explained using an analytical framework based on diffusion of innovation, product platforms and EF.

EF is distributed over the value chain to improve the platform over time. By using multiple channels with differing contents, it is possible to balance client demands and variation with production efficiency. Platform development using feedback channels provides opportunities for double-loop learning. Operative work on projects and the strategic decisions made by developers continuously improve the platform through a combination of knowledge pull and push.

A combination of different EF channels and strategies for developing knowledge pull are shown to be essential for the incremental development of product platforms in project-based house-building organisations. The development of product platforms requires a shift away from the construction industry’s dominant project focus towards a more product-oriented view of house-building. Integrating the design phase with the supply chain enables variety but also creates a need for continuous platform development.