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Published statistics about the size of the market for online services are rarely presented with any provenance and are frequently full of errors. The statistics used in preparing this paper present a partial view, that of online supply services to the United Kingdom. From July 1987 to December 1988 the authors monitored the expenditure on online services of representative panels of users in universities, polytechnics and public libraries, chosen because it was felt that public‐funded bodies would be more amenable to supplying usage data than private sector organisations in industry and commerce. The authors intend, in future investigations, to include this larger, more high‐spending sector.

The recent Eusidic initiative to produce a Guideline on Billing Practice for Online Services reflects existing variations in the characteristics and adequacy of online service invoices. This review of the current situation, with particular regard to invoice content and method of presentation, illustrates the need for improved standards of billing; as displays of numeric data, invoices are far from being equally informative.

The financial aspects of online services are becoming increasingly important; with pricing debates occurring at two levels: that of the intermediary and that of the online host. Information on spending patterns can provide a useful contribution at either level; this is illustrated by recently‐obtained data concerning the expenditure of selected groups of UK online‐using institutions. Figures for the amounts spent by public and academic libraries reflect their role as intermediaries, conducting client‐specific searches. These are generally priced in relation to expenditure, as libraries attempt to recover at least some of their costs. As regards the hosts, there is a need for more detailed research into the possible effects of price variations upon demand. This is an area in which figures for spending could prove extremely valuable, if used, on a long‐term basis, to investigate the interaction between price changes and expenditure trends.

Future historians, using the documentary evidence remaining, might well be excused for believing that online searching was a major activity in libraries and information services in the 1970s and 80s. The publication of several professional journals and the proceedings of regular, well‐attended conferences entirely devoted to the topic would suggest such a conclusion. In reality, the growth of online use in the publicly‐funded sector has been small, as can be judged by the relatively low levels of expenditure involved. For public libraries it has been estimated that spending on online services has been of the order of 0.1% of the total budgets. The average online expenditure of British universities has been about what it costs to employ one member of secretarial staff each.

In 2020, mining activity by Rio Tinto destroyed rock caves in Western Australia's Juukan Gorge that are considered sacred sites by the First Nation Peoples of that area, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Peoples. This paper examines the public response to the damage caused at this culturally sensitive site and identifies cultural heritage protection strategies that emerged in the aftermath of this catastrophic event.

This research applies a qualitative case study method and analysis of open-sourced official policy documents, media reports and published institutional statements.

The research identified specific cultural heritage protection strategies, including stakeholder-driven advocacy and shared values approach to business practices to help foster a greater appreciation of the connections between people, objects and lands. Whilst the mining activities were considered lawful, significant gaps in the legislation to protect heritage sites were also exposed.

Using a recent case that occurred in 2020, this paper unpacks how the motivations for accessing minerals can override cultural sensibilities and legal/ethical frameworks established to protect cultural heritage. This paper brings to light the liabilities associated with the mining industry when operating in a culturally significant environment where appropriate due diligence to manage cultural heritage is not thoroughly applied. The paper highlights the role the community can play in demanding improved corporate social responsibility which can, in turn, act as a strategy for cultural heritage protection.

The purpose of this study is to understand the potential of serious gaming as an imaginative and creative method to collect data in disaster studies that address key concerns such as extractive research, power inequalities, and bridging the theory-practice gap in exploring post-disaster recovery.

Novel serious gaming approach deployed to connect theory-practice by identifying and co-analysing post-disaster recovery gaps in a workshop setting.

The serious game has value in bridging theory-practice divides, identifying and exploring gaps/solutions in post-flood recovery, and serving as a novel social science research approach for disaster studies.

Outlining a dialogic approach to knowledge construction between academics, practitioners, policymakers and community voices on post-disaster recovery.

Fostering collaboration and knowledge construction on post-disaster recovery gaps across stakeholders is valuable in improving disaster resilience strategies that benefit communities affected by disasters.

The paper proposes a creative and co-developed serious game method of data collection for disaster studies.

This paper aims to describe the development and evaluation of integrated intensive support service (ISS) for adults with learning disabilities who have complex needs and are at risk of admission to an inpatient unit.

Existing services were remodelled. The service explored external service models and established an integrated ISS comprising intensive community support and intensive support beds.

Data indicates that the majority of people referred to the service avoid both admission to an inpatient unit and placement breakdown. Most people admitted to the inpatient unit are not known to community services. Length of stay has significantly reduced.

Other services can use the information to remodel how to provide intensive support and avoid admission to an inpatient unit.

It demonstrates how remodelling can drive improvements to reduce placement breakdown and risk of admission.

SEPTEMBER this year will be unique in the history of the librarian in England in that for the first time in nearly sixty years the annual conference of the Library Association has already become a memory only. There are those who profess to believe that the conference should be restored to the autumn months. It may be suggested on the other hand that the attendance at Margate lent no assistance to that point of view; indeed, the Margate conference was one of the most pleasant, one of the most successful, of which we have record. Nevertheless, if it can be proved that any large body of librarians was unable to be present owing to the change of month, it appears to us that the matter should be considered sympathetically. Although no one holds any longer the view that one week's attendance at a conference will teach more than many months' study in hermit‐like seclusion—the words and sentiments are those of James Duff Brown—because to‐day there is much more intimate communication between librarians than there was when that sentiment was expressed, there is enormous value, and the adjective is not an exaggeration, in one large meeting of librarians in body in the year. It is an event to which every young librarian looks forward as the privilege to be his when he reaches a high enough position in the service; attendance is a privilege that no librarian anywhere would forego. And this, in spite of the fact that there is usually a grumble because the day is so full of meetings that there is very little chance of such recreation as a seaside, or indeed any other, place visited, usually provides for the delegates.

Drawing on “Strategic Alliance” literature and qualitative research methods, the purpose of this study is to examine the initiation and operations phases of the relationship between Australian litigation funders and class law firms. The initiation phase examines factors such as complementarity between needs and assets compatibility between the funder and the class law firm goals of the alliance trust and alliance structure. The operations phase considers factors such as governance, communication and risk management and accountability. Because of its focus on the fairness of settlement, case law provides limited understanding of the drivers of the class law firm and funder relationship. An “inside look” of how the funder-law firm is initiated and made operational provides a more accurate picture and has important implications for the management of the ethical issues that arise during the course of that relationship.

This paper is a content analysis and contains qualitative interviews.

The strategic alliance between class law firms and litigation funders has evolved within an institutional climate that has acknowledged the benefits that the alliance can bring to the conduct of class actions. That same institutional environment has led to an alliance which is informal and transactionally oriented, where each of the parties maintains a demarcation in function. Although they share aspects of the strategic management of class actions, funders continue to be diligent monitors of class law firms, and class law firms continue to advance the legal rights of class members.

It is observed that the size of the sample is small driven by a number of market participants.

The paper confirms that the litigation funder–law firm strategic alliance works well as a result of institutional constraints.

Each of the alliance partners was keen to ensure that neither they nor their partner acted in a way which might attract judicial disapproval. Each also believed that they played a positive role in promoting class member interests, albeit that their primary motivation was to earn fees or a commission. The success of the alliance between class law firms and litigation funders has substantially improved access to justice in Australia for small claims holders.

The paper provides insight into a strategic alliance which is formed primarily for the benefit of third parties. This is one of the first papers to consider the litigation funder–law firm relationship through the lens of strategic alliance literature.