Search results

THE STUDENT OF PUBLIC LIBRARY HISTORY soon accepts without surprise accounts of opposition to the public library. It is perhaps remarkable that a forerunner or pioneer of the public library idea should have encountered it when what he did was of his own volition and to some degree at his own expense, and when he laid no claim to public finance for his idea.

Aslib's annual report, which was considered at the Annual General Meeting in London on 7th June, made interesting reading and showed the association's steady progress. Membership is now 2,500, comprised chiefly of 922 industrial concerns, 221 Government departments and organisations, 295 public and national libraries and 301 universities and colleges. A point of interest is that there are only 403 individual members and this figure seems to be static having risen by only 5 in the last two years. Subscription income rose by £1,864 and Aslib's reserves are now £7,500. Some concern is expressed in the report about the finance of the Annual Conference, which showed a loss of £272. Many members are of the opinion that the conference fee is already too high, but the report suggests that rising costs may result in an even higher fee in the future.

THE outline programme of the Library Association Conference at Cambridge has now been circulated. It is eloquent of the change that has come over the Library Association in recent years. Twenty years ago technical papers on cataloguing, binding, classification, class lists and similar matters were frequent. In this Cambridge programme questions of policy and organisation on the larger scale appear to be dominant. County libraries continue to occupy a large share of the programme. It must not be supposed, however, that the programme is not very varied, because that is its main characteristic. Literature, library architecture, publishing and bookselling from the points of view of the author, publisher, bookseller and librarian, university libraries, modern branch libraries, the place of reading in national life, and other subjects, combine very nicely with a civic reception, a garden party in a college garden, the annual dinner, and visits, at choice, to Peterborough, Bedford and Ely.

The sub field of academia that the case is designed to teach is small business development, entrepreneurship or women in business.

This case is appropriate for graduate and post-graduate, MBA and executive education students focusing on entrepreneurship, small business development or women in business.

This real-life case is based on interviews that took place with Kate Rogan, the co-founder of Love Books, and other stakeholders associated with the small bookselling business that is based in the suburb of Melville in Johannesburg. It describes how Rogan’s past influenced how she saw and was open to the opportunity; and how, through passion, commitment, dedication and stakeholder management, she created a business that brought meaning to her and others’ lives. Rogan’s vast experience in editing, publishing and radio influenced how she evaluated the bookstore opportunity. For the past 11 years, she focused on building a loyal customer base through knowing her customers, staying on top of current industry and market trends and constantly thinking about how she could add value through minimal financial outlay. COVID-19 further complicated her thinking about how to traditionally market and sell books to her client base. As the case concludes, Rogan wonders how to build upon the foundations of her successful bookshop and grow profitability while remaining true to her and the business’s values.

The case allows students to consider the key enablers for assessing entrepreneurial opportunities and drivers of small business growth. Following discussion and analysis of the case, students should be able to: explore how cognitive dynamics affect an entrepreneur’s evaluation of opportunities; analyze the case against the 4Cs (continuity, community, connection and command) of competitive business advantage; evaluate building blocks for sustainable business profitability; and assess and recommend different learnings for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management Science.

AT this time of the year librarians take their holidays. They will need the break this year as much as in any year since the end of the war. There are many problems to be faced in the autumn and winter, among them the continuous rising prices of everything, and the diversion of public funds to rearmament, which must have some repercussions upon the library service. Whether it is yet a fact that the pound is worth little more than five shillings in real money, we are not prepared to say, but it is certain that every cost has increased, and is continuing to increase. Especially is this so in connection with book production and bookselling; even, as our correspondent on another page suggests, in some cases the royalties of authors are in jeopardy. How far this will go it is impossible to say. At the same time the rates everywhere promise to increase still further, and in spite of the advances, it is unlikely that libraries will be exempt from the stringencies of the time. Such predictions have, however, been frequently contradicted by our past experience. Some of the real advances libraries have made have seemed to be the direct result of bad times. This is hardly a holiday meditation, but we think our readers will need all the physical and mental refreshment they can get before they face the possibilities that may follow.

The research reported in this paper is part of a general study of books which was begun in 1967 and which has been reported elsewhere, in two books and several papers. The present study is about the communications between people in the universities who are concerned with the use of books by under‐graduates; postgraduate students are excluded because they present different problems.

Vine is a Very Informal NEwsletter produced three or four times a year by the G6TI Library Automation Projects' Information Officer (based at Southampton University Library) and issued on request to interested librarians, systems staff and library college lecturers. Its object is to provide an up‐to‐date picture of the activities of the Projects and occasionally to feature other automation work of special interest not already reported elsewhere.

The need for EDI standards was highlighted at the ‘Babel’ conference as long ago as 1986. BIC was set up in 1991 to be responsible for their development and promotion. On the European front, it also provides the secretariat for EDItEUR, a pan‐European book sector EDI group which coordinates work in Europe on the UN global EDI standard, EDI FACT. The article ends with an appraisal of the benefits of EDI for all links in the chain.