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The purpose of this paper is to criticise the paper by Jennie A. Abrahamson and Victoria L. Rubin (2012) “Discourse structure differences in lay and professional health communication”, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 68 No. 6, pp. 826-851.

The author reviewed the antecedents of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) in discourse analysis, and paid close attention to the differences between the original formulation of RST, later formulations of the RST model and the application of RST in this paper. The author also reviewed the literature on physician-patient communication, and patient-patient support to contextualise the findings of Abrahamson and Rubin.

The paper shows evidence of over-simplification of RST since its initial formulation. Next, the Motivation relationship in the original Mann/Thompson formulation of RST appears problematic. This makes the authors’ RST findings that patient-patient (or consumer-consumer) information sharing appear to be more effective than physician-consumer information sharing rather tenuous. An important additional flaw is that there was only one physician participant in this study. A practical limitation to the study is that physicians mostly interact face-to-face with patients and use of consumer advice web sites may not fit well with the current practice of medicine.

The author had limited examples in the paper to examine how the authors had categorised the binary unit relationships.

RST is promising for discourse analysis of information advice web sites but simplifications in its application can lead to unwarranted claims.

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

A SPLENDID conference, I thought. True, there were those who complained, those who thought some of the papers were elementary and those who thought that we had come a long way to learn very little. I don't agree at all. Some of the papers did, I admit, deal with basic considerations but it does nothing but good to re‐examine the framework of our services from time to time. In any case other papers were erudite, and for the first time I have seen an audience of librarians and authority members stunned, almost, into silence.

FROM 5th to 8th October, 1951, Aslib was fortunate in holding its Annual Conference again at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, and our thanks are due for the third time to Colonel and Mrs. J. H. Alexander and their staff for the excellence of the catering and domestic arrangements. The weather also co‐operated and sunshine displayed all the autumn beauties of the garden and countryside.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

MANY and sundry are the worries which fall to the lot of the librarian, and the matter of book‐repair is not the least among them. The very limited book‐fund at the disposal of most public library authorities makes it imperative on the part of the librarian to keep the books in his charge in circulation as long as possible, and to do this at a comparatively small cost, in spite of poor paper, poor binding, careless repairing, and unqualified assistants. This presents a problem which to some extent can be solved by the establishment of a small bindery or repairing department, under the control of an assistant who understands the technique of bookbinding.

In this paper, our aim is to estimate the time varying correlations between Bitcoin, VIX futures and CDS indexes and to examine in what ways these assets can act as beneficial hedge and safe haven mechanisms, useful for facing, or attenuating, the major world equity markets related risks and volatilities.

Our methodology consists to model each pair equity/asset indices by bivariate symmetric and asymmetric dynamic conditional models (A) DCC to evaluate the portfolio design associated implications on both daily and weekly collected data base, with regard to the period ranging from July, 2010 to January 2018. To assess the extent to which the Bitcoin, VIX futures and sovereign CDS may stand as diversifiers, i.e. as hedging or safe haven instruments against the various stock indexes, we adopt the same method applied by Baur and Lucey (2010).

Empirical results show that the hedging and safe haven roles associated with the three hedging instruments tend to differ noticeably across time horizons and model used. The interest brought about by treating this issue is twofold. On the one hand, it should provide useful guidelines to investors through helping them opt for the most effective and beneficial strategies, whereby they could efficiently hedge the equity markets related extreme risks and volatilities. On the other hand, it is intended to highlight the applied models' specifications associated impacts.

The interest brought about by treating this issue is twofold. On the one hand, it should provide useful guidelines to investors and financial advisors through helping them opt for the most effective and beneficial of the strategies, whereby they could efficiently hedge the equity markets related extreme risks and volatilities. On the other hand, it is intended to highlight the applied models' specifications associated impacts.

Study of Bitcoin can be considered as safe haven or hedge or diversifier instrument. Compare between Bitcoin, VIX and CDs.

Given the current situation of the world's developed nations, it is hardly surprising that the economical organization of libraries is an area of study which has aroused considerable interest over the past few years; a large amount of work has been done in both America and Britain, and a number of bibliographies and literature reviews have appeared (e.g. 1–4). No attempt will be made here to be similarly exhaustive, since the object of the Progress in Documentation series is to highlight only the most significant contributions to the current state‐of‐the‐art; a further self‐imposed limitation is that every item quoted should be, in the reviewer's opinion, either actually or potentially useful to the librarian‐at‐the‐shelf, who has to turn his mind to the practicalities of operating a real system. It is all very well to treat library management as an academic exercise, a way‐station in the career development of a management scientist, as we see in all too many published examples—one, which shall remain anonymous, produces some elegant models and manipulations, but openly admits that the data required to make them operable do not exist, and moreover could never be collected; but if the librarian cannot follow what the researcher is saying, or see any benefit from applying his results or methods, then from the practical point of view the research might as well not have been carried out or published. It is unfortunately true that there is a great gulf fixed between the two sides: the librarian neither understands, nor wishes to bother with, the detailed mathematical treatment of models, while the theorist is not interested in any problem which is conceptually simple, even though in practical terms it may be difficult to solve. What is needed in this area is common sense, the ability to think at large, untrammelled by received professional wisdom, and to relate the converging products of many separate disciplines to the problem in hand; this is why the research teams which have achieved the most significant results are those which contain a mixture of librarians and management scientists.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).