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On 1 February 1985 an invited audience of representatives from a wide variety of library and information organisations attended a seminar on software evaluation sponsored by the British Library and held at Information House, the headquarters of Aslib, the Association for Information Management.

This paper describes the progress of a British Library Research and Development Department (BLRDD) research project taking place in Aslib Research and Consultancy to investigate applications of local area networks (LANs) in special libraries and information services. The project started in October 1983 and is scheduled to last for two years.

This paper describes some of the findings of a research project (October 1983‐October 1985 funded by BLRDD), investigating the applications of local area networks (LANs) in special libraries and information units.

There are many services available to librarians and information workers who are considering the purchase of computer software to exploit the benefits of automation. In this paper I want to show how this information might be used in practice.

Vine is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is produced and substantially written by the Editor who is based at the Polytechnic of Central London and supported by a grant from the British Library Board and opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1984 to VINE is: £23 for UK subscribers, £26 to overseas subscribers (including airmail delivery). Second and subsequent copies to the same address are charged at £14 for UK and £16 for overseas. VINE is available on either paper or microfiche copy and all back issues are available on microfiche.

Library and Information Science Abstracts have successfully completed a pilot project, with SilverPlatter Information Limited, that has resulted in a one‐year file of Lisa for 1984 being recorded onto CD‐ROM (Compact Disk — Read Only Memory). Plans are now well under way for providing the complete Lisa database on CD‐ROM commercially by mid‐1986.

I will attempt (albeit briefly) to give an overview of the profession's formal involvement in data protection. My objectives will be threefold. Firstly, to sketch some of the background of the library and information profession's concern with data protection. Secondly, to indicate what is happening currently (and there is a great deal happening), and thirdly to outline how and where I see matters developing in the future. This particular gathering may well provide a useful input into this last area because it is really up to the individual members of the profession to indicate where the effort and development on this subject should be concentrated. Those close to the issue (too close it feels at times) have their own specialised view of things, but there is a danger that the general interests of the profession are not sufficiently regarded and pursued unless frequent soundings are taken.

21st-century libraries are a community hub, providing entertainment, learning, information sharing and idea incubation. A place for all, they can be a locus for activism and the civil society. In an era when UK public libraries are under threat, the interwoven stories of Ambridge promote those values. In the Big Society, volunteers were to fill the roles of library professionals. Ambridge too has its many volunteers yet recognises the rightful place of trained professionals.

The next Cranfield International Conference on Mechanised Information Transfer will be held next year, on 22–25 July 1986, at the Cranfield Institute of Technology, near Bedford, England. This will be the tenth Cranfield Conference and it is planned to mark the milestone appropriately.

1. The Managing Director of Diners Club International has sent a ‘personal invitation to join and to enjoy all the privileges of membership for six months, without obligation and save the £15 enrolment fee’ to: