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Reports on research undertaken because the Malaysian delegation to an ASEAN‐COCI seminar felt there was a need to understand what is meant by “Quality” from the librarian’s perspective. A survey was undertaken to obtain feedback from librarians. Questionnaires were sent to all (10) university librarians, all (13) state public libraries and six selected special libraries. The response rate was 100 per cent from university libraries, 77 per cent from public libraries and 100 per cent from special libraries. An analysis of the responses provided insights into what quality means to librarians, the policy infrastructure available, the obstacles faced by librarians in the implementation of quality measures and the strategies they employ to ensure quality services. It also provided an insight into their future plans.

This paper aims to describe the steps in attaining the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system certification at the University of Malaya Library.

This article includes description of the planning, implementation and maintenance of the quality management system by the library, along with continual improvement efforts to provide quality service to the library clientele.

Finds that the move towards a quality management system within quality standard requirements, such as the MS ISO 9001:2000 proved challenging to obtaining the management commitment and the reorganization of services. Customer feedback becomes the focus of on‐going planning to fulfill customer requirements. A quality management system has brought about informed decision making and increased customer satisfaction.

The study is limited to only four university libraries, thus generalization to Malaysian academic libraries is premature at this stage.

This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a quality management system to improve its quality service and increase customer satisfaction.

This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a quality management system to improve its quality service and increase customer satisfaction. As libraries strive to provide quality services to their clients, it is important that their quality standards be accepted globally, therefore the implementation of a quality management system based on ISO 9001:2000 may be helpful in providing clear guidelines on measuring performance.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and hypocholesterolemic activities of sardine and bogue protein hydrolysates in cholesterol-fed rats.

In total, 18 male Wistar rats (220 ± 10 g) fed 20 per cent casein, 1 per cent cholesterol and 0.5 per cent cholic acid were divided into three groups and received a daily gavage of 250 mg of sardine (SPH) or bogue (BPH) protein hydrolysates for 30 days. The third group, named control group (CG), received in the same conditions water. Lipoproteins were fractionated by size-exclusion fast protein liquid chromatography, and serum lipids, apolipoproteins and lipoproteins were assayed.

In SPH and BPH groups, serum total cholesterol concentrations were −66 per cent lower than in CG. This corresponded to the decreased very low-density lipoprotein-C in the former groups. Moreover, BPH treatment reduced low-density lipoprotein-C compared with CG and SPH groups. Compared with CG, serum phospholipids were reduced by SPH and BPH. Furthermore, BPH increased significantly APOA4 and sphingomyelin but lowered phosphatidylcholine. In the latter group, serum lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity was +23 per cent higher, but with SPH, this activity was −35 per cent reduced compared with CG. Apolipoprotein A-I contents were similar in the three groups. Compared with CG, hydroperoxide and lipid peroxidation contents in serum and lipoprotein fractions were reduced by SPH and BPH. Compared with CG, serum superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were increased in the treated groups, particularly in the BPH group.

These results suggest that sardine protein hydrolysates and particularly those of bogue could be a very useful natural compound to prevent hypercholesterolemia by both improving the lipid profile and modulating oxidative stress in cholesterol-fed rats.