Library Review

McGARRY, KEVIN

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012835

There was a time some might say a blessed time when our professional curricula were assumed to be resting securely on the bedrock of a European culture. It was further assumed that this Eurocentric culture was eternally selfsubsistent, and not contingent upon, or indebted to, any source outside itself. For a considerable time our professional curricula were a pale derivative of this humanistic culture many readers may remember the Library Association's Registration Examination in English literature. This paper consisted of a hefty gallop from Chaucer to the present day a gallop that usually left quite a few riderless horses wandering aimlessly round the course. The curriculum was illconceived, and it was badly taught nonetheless in its own limited way it helped to make students aware of aesthetic values and imparted, however vaguely, a sense of the history of ideas. Book selection was considered to be an important activity and it was fashionable to agonise whether the ideal librarian should be an administrator or a bookman sic. Then came the impact of technology. Librarians became information managers, the organization of knowledge became information management and we witnessed the reemergence and ascendancy of Benthamite man. Indeed, old Jeremy would have been proud of us as we enthusiastically adapted his famous felicific calculus to the measurement of user satisfaction. By this time the user as a concept had mutated from being a borrower, or even a reader and the informationgathering behaviour of human beings had become a special study of its own. If this potentially valuable study is ever to be enlightening and productive it must include all kinds and conditions of people in varying contexts of cultural change and linguistic settings. It is tempting to limit the analysis to a ruler and stopwatch approach to specialized groups in readily definable roles the approach has a tidy look about it and is more susceptible to the methodologies of the sciences and social sciences. Such an approach encircles reality as a doughnut does its hole it is an approach that is doubly deceptive because it has the appearance of being scientific.

CRAWFORD, JOHN C.

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012836

The island of Arran is situated in the Firth of Clyde astride the Highland Boundary fault zone. It is 19 miles long by 10 miles wide. Although similar in size to the Isle of Wight it has only a twentyfifth of that island's population. The number of inhabitants in 1981 4743 is almost the same as in 1755 4600. The island's population reached its highest level in 1821 6541 and fell steadily for the rest of the century, reaching a figure similar to its present level in 1911.

HOFFMANPFEFFER, CAROL

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012837

While working in a rural district library system, the question of planning libraryinformation services to meet the needs of the population was always of foremost importance. Community profiles of the region had been conducted continuously for ten years, and during the eleventh year it was decided to survey the entire area in a methodical way to search for the information needs of the population. The purpose of the study was to identify information needs in a specific rural area in Israel in order to design a plan for libraryinformation provision to meet those needs. The study consisted of a literature search of relevant material on information needs in rural areas and less developed countries and a multilevel field survey in one specific rural area of Israel.

SIEW MUN, KHOO

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012838

Perhaps no other body of contemporary Malaysian economic documents is as significant as those related to the many seminars, symposia and congresses held on bumiputera indigenous participation in the Malaysian economy. Unlike those of most other seminars, the bulk of the hundreds of suggestions and resolutions emanating from the Bumiputera Economic Congress series have been consolidated into policy and have resulted in the creation of many current vehicles for training bumiputera expertise strategizing bumiputera expansion in the economy and solving problems of the bumiputera businesses. Agencies and institutions such as the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia the MARA Institute of Technology PERNAS the National Trading Corporation Bank Bumiputera Malayan Banking state development corporations the CIC Capital Investment Committee Urban Development Authority UDA are but a few examples of the myriads of agencies created to help in achieving the New Economic Policy NEP. The NEP itself, though propelled by the 13 May 1969 incident, was fundamentally a result of consolidated thinking of the initial congresses. For those interested in any aspect of Malaysia's modern social, political and economic history, therefore, the contents of seminar papers on this topic are of inevitable interest.

HANNABUSS, STUART

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012839

The relationship between information provider and client is a crucial measure of effectiveness. In commerce the success of this relationship might be measured by market share or profitability, while in the nonprofit sector, where most libraries and information services but not all exist, the success might be measured by criteria such as document delivery and satisfaction. We speak of effectiveness, implying the extent to which the service can successfully impact upon and meet the needs of the users. Particularly if the model which management supports is a communitybased model as opposed, say, to a stockholding model, then the relationship and interaction between service and user group lies at the heart of the matter.

McCULLOUGH, SHEILA

1987 Library Review

doi: 10.1108/eb012840

It is now over 4 years since the Library and Information Science Open Learning Project at Telford College in Edinburgh began developing open learning courses for subprofessional staff in library and information work. Since 1982, 315 students have enrolled on these open learning courses. The current enrolment figure is in excess of 200 January 1987.