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The paper identifies lessons to be learned from the planning of Euronet‐DIANE and SCANNET with a view to the general prerequisites and problems to be handled when several interested parties are brought together for the purpose of setting up information services from databases and networks. Online services are placed as one among several communication channels for scientific information. The planning of Euronet‐DIANE and SCANNET in this environment followed different patterns. The basic elements were the same, but the order in which the problems received attention differed.

Up to 25 hosts will eventually make approximately 150 databases available on Euronet‐DIANE. If European users are to benefit from, rather than be totally confused by this massive store of information they must be educated, trained and supported in their efforts to exploit it. The common command set is already with us, as are multilingual thesauri and many other user aids for bibliographic retrieval systems. User manuals, however, present a confused picture to the user because they exhibit such a wide variation in content, structure and design. This paper summarises the recommendations of a study on the harmonisation of user manuals carried out under contract to the Commission of the European Communities as part of the Euronet‐DIANE project.

The need to improve performance and productivity causes conflict when a blind typist comes under scrutiny. Although not intentionally singled out, she felt threatened. This is a sensitive issue that needs to be handled with tact and professionalism. Because of the personalities involved, there is no easy solution to this case, a characteristic that makes “performance shock” a valuable learning tool.

With one foot in HR and training, and the other in communication, Diane Gayeski is well placed to understand the strategic role HR has to play in aligning corporate culture with the external brand. Here she explains to Bob Gorman why the best place for HR professionals to start is by taking the marketing vice‐president to lunch.

This study demonstrated that women EMBA graduates experience broadened perspectives. They “think more broadly”, “understand more comprehensively” and report the “life changing” outcomes expected by their sponsoring organizations. The focus was on the development of women managers from specialist perspectives to a more integrated generalist perspective. Personal development, and career development literatures provided the theoretical basis for this study. Data were collected using invited essays, and semi‐structured interviews. Evidence of change appeared in the essays and the interviews. The essays indicated graduates experienced increased confidence, cognitive flexibility, and broadened perspectives. The interviews indicated: greater self‐determination, more flexible approaches to roles, greater value of self and time, more process‐oriented, increased understanding of self and others, the meaning of success was competence, and that competence was valued over political gamesmanship.

This paper is concerned with what intensive family intervention professionals reveal to the parents with whom they work about whether they themselves are parents or not, as a form of professional self-disclosure in child welfare work. This paper also addresses the act of lying in professional self-disclosure.

The paper draws on material from a series of narrative interviews completed with practitioners from one family intervention programme in an English local authority as part of a study looking at how children’s services professionals experience the suffering of parents. The study was based on a psychoanalytically informed methodological approach, which is represented in the analysis provided in the paper.

The overall team ethos regarding parental status disclosure is considered briefly first then two participants’ accounts are explored in depth. These involved, what can be considered as, questionable or unorthodox stances regarding parental status disclosure (and self-disclosure more generally). The exploration illustrates the role that practitioners’ personal lives and histories can play in influencing how the act of professional parental status disclosure is experienced and how particular positions are invested in regarding the role of self-disclosure in working relationships with parents.

Child welfare and family intervention professionals are often asked personal questions by the parents and carers they work with, including questions about whether they are a parent or not. These questions can be difficult to answer and there is a need for dedicated empirical analysis into the ways in which professionals experience, think about and respond to them and what they disclose about themselves when working with families.

Online broker services in Denmark. The third edition of Formidlere af elektronisk informations‐søgning i Danmark has just been published by the Dansk Diane Center. The book gives the name, address and telephone numbers of over 90 centres which offer intermediary or broker services. The contact person at the organisation is given along with times if relevant. Also given are the subject areas offered, whether the service is restricted or open to all, any special databases searched, the price structure and whether information material is available. Copies are obtainable from Dansk Diane Center, Danmarks Tekniske Højskole, Bygning 101, DK‐2800 Lyngby, Denmark.

The historical and policy development of the project of the Commission of the European Communities to develop an information network for the nine Member States of the European Community is described. Network standards and their importance, the role of the common carriers in Europe and the future structure of information networking is also described.

The European network, Euronet, which became operational in 1979, was originally created to facilitate access to European hosts and to encourage co‐operation between these hosts. Because of the diversity of hosts, it was hoped to establish one common command language. However, these plans did not progress as well as expected. Many hosts did not always have the means and manpower to visit potential users or even to organise effective mailings to reach their respective markets. To overcome these problems the Euronet‐Diane centres were established in the member countries of the EEC. The aim of these centres was to promote the use of European online information services. At the moment there are five such centres, but most of them have already adapted their activities in response to the local environment. Now, with the disappearance of Euronet and the connection of, for example, Dialog to the British national telecommunication network, it has been decided that the centres should give general information on all online services rather than just information on European hosts.

A detailed description of the hardware and software used by the Euronet‐Diane Launch Team for automating a number of functions associated with online searching is described. Although certain facilities described are specific to Launch Team requirements, the general structure of the programming is common to all such applications. A number of comments are made on the lessons learned and suggestions for avoiding difficulties with this type of development are given.