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This paper seeks to establish the level of usage and how building log books are perceived within the UK non‐domestic buildings sector, and to identify potential benefits resulting from the use of building log books and internet‐based building information systems.

The method employed was the distribution and analysis of market survey questionnaires, distributed primarily via a professional body.

There is limited use of building log books, plus varying degrees of perceived usefulness, especially between the designer/contractor sector and the facilities management sector. Internet‐based information management systems appear to be largely acceptable. The quality of building information is likely to depend on who provides it. There is a significant perception within the designer/contractor sector that building regulations are not enforcing the availability of building log books in relevant buildings.

Only a limited literature review was undertaken, and there may be limitations due to the nature of the distribution of the surveys and sample sizes. More research into the effective provision, management and utilisation of useful building information is required.

The paper demonstrates that regulations may not necessarily lead to practical implementation and that there is significant room for improvement in the provision and maintenance of building information which is useful to those operating buildings.

The paper expands understanding of the need for useful building information and proper management of that information, both for the facilities manager and as a means of feeding forward into new building designs.

With the development of new public libraries such as the Idea Stores in Tower Hamlets and Discovery Centres in Hampshire, it has been debated whether the inclusion of non‐book materials and activities illustrates the death of public libraries by the marginalisation of books. This paper aims to investigate these assumptions by examining the use of space in public library buildings for book and non‐book purposes over time.

The methodology involves a survey of secondary data on library buildings and the comparison of floor plans, observations and stock statistics of libraries in the two authorities over time.

This study concludes that the inclusion of non‐book space is not a new trend in library buildings and that books still have a significant role in terms of floor space and stock in new libraries even with the increased addition of non‐book space, illustrating less dramatic changes than suggested by some commentators. These trends in fact indicate a diversification of public libraries and their buildings not their imminent death.

Although this research was only able to study a few examples of libraries, this alternative method of investigating space could be repeated in future research.

The study of use of space in libraries is important as it has implications for the library profession and the design of future library buildings. This methodology provides a different way of studying the issues of space.

EARLY IN 1962 I was asked by Unesco to serve as consultant for a new library building to be erected in Kuwait, Arabia. A librarian consultant was required, who should be versed in the problems of library planning, and should draw up the programme for the building.

The Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science is the largest library in the world devoted to the social sciences, with some four million items. In a major redevelopment project, the library’s building, which also houses the LSE Research Laboratory, has been radically re‐designed by Foster and Partners. Key features of the re‐design include a central atrium with a glass dome and stepped helical ramp as well as a double height space on the lower ground floor. During the building programme, the library operated from temporary premises nearby, remaining open throughout two book moves. Describes the planning process involved in the redevelopment, the maintenance of services and the book moves. User reaction to the re‐designed building has been positive and there has been a great deal of interest from librarians and members of the public.

WE are pleased to devote this Special Number of THE LIBRARY WORLD to a discussion of Irish libraries and librarianship. Our contributors are all distinguished members of the profession in Ireland, none more so than Dermot Foley, to whom we are greatly indebted for having convened this issue.

This paper aims to contribute to discussion about the changing role of libraries and their collections, through discussing projects designed by architecture students.

The paper reflects on design projects produced by final-year students studying for an undergraduate degree in architecture. A project was set for a group of students to design a “Book Repository”. Each researched their own interpretation of what this might be, given contemporary issues such as increasing digitisation, falling numbers of library visitors, changing users’ needs and what they interpret as a future for books. This paper reviews a selection of the projects in the context of contemporary research, and discusses the book as a physical object, contemporary library design and the role of libraries as civic buildings.

Despite being designed by digitally literate students, physical books are highly significant in every project; however, the cultural significance of the books is more important than the objects themselves. Also, the provision of spaces for the act of reading is notably absent. The relationship between the library and its context was a key theme for several projects, which explore innovative means through which to engage the public.

Collectively these projects contribute to debate over the role of books and libraries in contemporary culture through the eyes of young designers. The paper will be of interest to those involved in the procurement and design of libraries.

This study aims to investigate the valuation accuracy of Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs) by using price-multiple methods.

Cross-sectional data including 467 IPOs listed on the Malaysian stock exchange were used for the period of 2000–2017. This study used univariate ordinary least square (OLS) regression to analyse the relationship between IPOs’ price-multiples and comparable firms’ price-multiples. The test of valuation accuracy was conducted via computing valuation errors by segregating the sample into two groups: fixed-price IPOs and book-built IPOs. Furthermore, multiple OLS regression was used to examine the influence of IPO valuation on underpricing.

The findings of the results suggested that IPOs price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-book (P/B) and price-to-sales (P/S) multiples were positively related to the median P/E, P/B and P/S multiples of five comparable firms matched by industry and revenues. The P/S multiple was shown to be the most significant valuation method, specifically in book-built IPOs. The findings indicated that those firms that had a lower valuation in comparison to the comparable firms were inclined to underprice their IPOs to allure investors to subscribe IPOs. In addition, book-built IPOs that had fair valuations were inclined to generate higher initial returns for investors.

The findings of this study observed implications for underwriters in avoiding the mis-valuation issue by considering the book-building mechanism.

This study attempted to explore the suitability of the valuation method to value IPOs in Malaysia.

This study investigated the effect of pricing mechanism and oversubscription on the heterogeneity of investors' opinions on initial public offering (IPO) valuation.

Besides the ordinary least square method, this study incorporated robust least square, stepwise least square and quantile regression methods to investigate the aftermarket behaviour of investors using the price range on the first day of trading of 82 IPOs listed on the Pakistan stock exchange.

The aftermarket behaviour of investors was found to be significantly influenced by the pricing mechanism, oversubscription, financial leverage, political stability and the risk of IPO, whereas control of corruption showed an insignificant impact. Concurrently, the findings showed that pricing mechanism and oversubscription played a crucial role in determining the intensity of investors' heterogeneous opinions at high levels of significance.

Pricing mechanism and oversubscription not only signal the quality of IPOs but also provide an important means for reducing the information asymmetry associated with new listings. Based on the literature review, it was found that both the pricing mechanism and oversubscription have yet to be explored in investigating the aftermarket behaviour of investors using the price range in the Pakistan IPO market. This study suggests that book building pricing mechanism and oversubscription are associated with lower heterogeneity in investors’ opinions at a high level of significance.

In Britain, university libraries encountered a decline in funding later than in the US, but had never enjoyed support sufficient to permit ambitious acquisitions schemes designed to extend the national information resource which together academic library collections constitute. Hitherto new technology, so far from reducing the output of literature in conventional formats, has merely enlarged the number of the claimants for limited funds: snared cataloguing networks, while offering economies, threaten to erode the position of the scholar‐cataloguer, so posing a threat to parity with academic staff. Never, Ratcliffe argues, has the need been greater for the combined expertise of library staff and faculty in collection‐building for the future.

Within the past ten years Canada has experienced a renewed interest in its architectural past. Whether part of an international trend toward architectural conservation (witness European Architectural Heritage Year, 1976), or part of a general reappraisal of all things Canadian and the development of a sense of nationalism, or the realization, painful as it may be, that the character of the urban landscape is quickly losing its familiar character, this renewed interest in our architectural heritage has surfaced, and is manifesting its presence in many ways. To any who would doubt the existence of a Canadian architectural heritage, or would quarrel with its worth, one has only to turn to Alan Gowans' prefatory remarks to his Building Canada: An Architectural History of Canadian Life: