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In beginning its work at the end of the 1950s, the Aslib Research and Development Department inevitably faced the task of identifying the most significant problems for investigation, at the same time having the need to establish appropriate experimental techniques. Most of the projects undertaken since that time have dealt with current problems, and to an extent the advent of new technologies and techniques to the information world (mechanization in the 'sixties, management studies in the early 'seventies, on‐line working and publication problems in more recent years) is reflected in the work reported below. What follows is a complete bibliography of publications by members of the Department from its formation up to the end of 1977.

With a view to obtaining a set of standard times for information system operations, Aslib Research Department is developing and testing methods for collecting and analysing data on the time taken to perform certain operations. The current state of development of these methods is described. Data collection is by a self‐recording (diary) method, completed at the time of performing the operation. The major problem is one of identifying, describing, and analysing the effect of the various factors which might affect the time. First results indicate that it is possible to explain a large proportion of the variations in individual times by taking account of a sufficient number of variables.

For some time past, interest has been developing within the Aslib Research Department in the problems of establishing standard costs for information systems. A literature search recently conducted by the Department (R. Reynolds) has revealed a scarcity of usable information on this subject: such data as is available is difficult to evaluate comparatively because of the differing definitions of the operations costed and of the terms used to describe them. It would seem, therefore, that a first step towards developing a costing method of widespread application would be the establishment of standard conventions for the analysis of information systems.

Systems analysis is no new phenomenon, and the concept of hierarchies of systems is no novelty to a librarian. Its usefulness in classification schemes has long been appreciated. Control over change is one of the important contributions made possible by systems analysis. An organization and its environment are in a continuous state of change, and any information that can help people to understand, and hopefully to control, the way in which an organization reacts to change is of vital importance to management.

Aslib has had a Research and Development Department since 1959. It has received powerful financial support from the Office for Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and from industry, because it is recognized that a continuing department, accumulating experience, and working in close contact with operational services, is the most favourable environment for the advance of information science. Aslib's subscription income now contributes substantially to the support of the department. With the right pressure and the right encouragement from the Aslib membership, the department will continue to justify the support it receives.

Operational research was born during the 1939–45 war as an aid to military decision making. After the war it was rapidly applied to industrial production, and many new techniques were developed. It has since spread to all spheres of policy making.

RECENT YEARS have witnessed the proliferation of applications of cost‐benefit analysis to public sector expenditure. Cost‐benefit analysis is a method of decision‐making which seeks to quantify the benefits that are obtainable from a given course of action, to express them in financial terms (or in terms of financial equivalents) and then to deduct the estimated social and financial costs so that the results of the course of action may be assessed, valued and expressed in monetary terms. Quantification of actual financial costs and benefits poses no difficulties, but it has been shown elsewhere that the quantification of social costs and benefits often poses considerable problems. Some social benefits, such as the value of time‐saving, can be quantified reasonably successfully (using, for example, financial equivalents of time saved in terms of average wages or average salaries of the individuals concerned), but others, such as the measurement of alleviation of suffering or the assessment of degrees of incapability in nursing care, have no adequate financial equivalents.

An information system is the result of a hierarchy of decisions—Who are the system users? What are their information needs? What formal services will be offered to them? Through what media will services be provided? How will these media be produced? At every point there are alternative answers to these questions.

Research in library and information service I take to be any systematic attempt to investigate problems and arrive at solutions. The problems can be small‐scale, e.g. the best way to file pamphlets; or large‐scale, e.g. the optimum distribution of reference libraries throughout the country. They can be specific to one institution, e.g. the best method of providing current awareness to Members of Parliament; or of general import, e.g. the economics of micro‐filming. They can be short‐term, e.g. a brief study and recommendations concerning a specific indexing job; or long‐term, e.g. a continually deepening exploration of the functions and structures of bibliographic records in all kinds of library situations. They can be very practical, e.g. redesigning the layout of a library; or very theoretical, e.g. developing a linear programming model for resource allocation.