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AS A RESULT of present economic problems in Britain and attendant cuts in spending, there is a need to achieve maximum cost‐effectiveness in all sectors of public spending including libraries. This article examines a simple method by which economies could be made in buying multiple copies of books. It is assumed that unless librarians have freedom to buy a single copy of any book they choose, they will not achieve the breadth and depth required of first‐class libraries, be they in the public sector or in academic institutions. Perhaps second copies need cause little concern, but a pilot survey of a polytechnic library revealed cases where as many as four, six or even eight copies of the same edition had been bought on one occasion before the effectiveness of a lesser purchase could have been evaluated.

In order to develop a range of positive policies to support and promote equal opportunities it is important to know the current position — how many male and female members, how many members from different ethnic origins, how many disabled members, what age profile, etc.

THE re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of staff, the loss of status for some senior officers, the general uncertainty for the future—these are very real consequences of the Act and they cannot be ignored. Many chief librarians will see the work of a lifetime, perhaps spent in building up a comprehensive and unified system, made virtually meaningless overnight.

The re‐organisation of local government in Greater London and the resultant amalgamation of library authorities is viewed by many with considerable misgivings. The upheaval of staff, the loss of status for some senior officers, the general uncertainty for the future—these are very real consequences of the Act and they cannot be ignored. Many chief librarians will see the work of a lifetime, perhaps spent in building up a comprehensive and unified system, made virtually meaningless overnight.

Two chunks of high protein leading article fodder are processed by Wilfred Ashworth in his report in this issue of LA Council meeting of 27 September — the negotiations then proceeding with Butterworth's (part of Reed International) on the sale to them of LAPL journals and discussion on the Saunders' Tract — Towards a Unified Professional Organization… Enough of these left, perhaps, for me to chew them over a bit more.

My conclusion is that by far the most effective way forward is to aim for a full unification of the Institute of Information Scientists, Aslib and The Library Association, and to set a short but realistic time scale within which this should be achieved. I would propose two and a half years as an appropriate length of time.

It has been widely assumed for the past ten years that multisite libraries, a feature of polytechnic institutions in the U.K., are expensive to operate, difficult to administer and by implication that the services offered are limited. Some years back, Wilfred Ashworth wrote an authoritative article covering most of the major administrative problems of multisite library systems and much of what he said still has considerable relevance. But given the increasing pressures resulting from the stringent financial climate and the continuing diversification of polytechnics, it is worth re‐examining some of the management problems associated with multisite library services in polytechnics. My observations are based on numerous conversations with colleagues in other polytechnics and as such have no particular reference to any one library service.

The Online Search Centre of the British Library has produced a concise but informative introductory guide to equipment and search techniques for online searching in the fields of science and technology. There have been a number of publications produced to assist would‐be online searchers but none quite so straightforwardly and practically helpful to beginners. It covers “what online searching is”; the basic equipment needs; choice of hosts and databases; the construction of search strategies; and downloading; and gives some sample searches to emphasise the points made. This publication should be a best seller for the British Library. It can be obtained from the Publications Sales Unit, The British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ at £12. The details are: Online Searching in Science and Technology, 1988, The British Library Online Search Centre, 54 pp., ISBN 0 7123 0760 5.

ALTHOUGH IT was in November that council held its last meeting of the year there were no fireworks. Indeed, your representatives settled down with meek devotion to a four‐and‐a‐half hour session of solid business: here a query, there an amendment, now and then a reference‐back as the work of committees was polished to a final condition which, if not always shining, was good enough to pass muster.

The British Library Document Supply Centre has always accepted that part of its function is to carry out, or commission, research into the needs of its users and their patterns of working, the better to offer improved services. Two recent documents arise from this concern and report collaboration between the Document Supply Centre and the Centre for Exploitation of Science and Technology. The first, Information Flows into Industrial Research, by Phil Barden of BLDSC and Ben Good of CEST, 42 pp., ISBN 0–7123–2065–2, November 1989, £8, discusses the results of a survey of users' attitudes and behaviour, by questionnaire sent to BLDSC's 1,000 largest industrial users in the UK. The survey was to discover the importance of the Library's role in providing scientific and technological information through supplying, on request, photocopies from back issues of journals.