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AT the very outset of this paper it is necessary to make clear that it is not an attempt to compile an exhaustive bibliography of literature relating to special librarianship. Neither space nor time permit this. In fact, the references given can only claim to be a sample of the wealth of material on the subject and this paper is submitted in the hope that it will stimulate others to more scholarly efforts. Reference numbers throughout this paper refer to items in the ‘Select list of references to the literature of special librarianship’, section 2 onwards.

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.

THIS is the month when librarians and library workers everywhere, their holidays over, turn to their winter plans. There are, however, some interesting events to take place before the darker and more active months come. The first is the meeting at Oxford on September 21st and subsequent days of the Federation International de Documentation. This will be followed by and merge into the ASLIB Conference, and there is in prospect an attendance of over three hundred. Our readers know that this organization produces and advocates the International Decimal Classification. It is not primarily a “library” society but rather one of abstractors and indexers of material, but it is closely akin, and we hope that English librarianship will be well represented. Then there is a quite important joint‐conference at Lincoln of the Northern Branches of the Library Association on September 30th— October 3rd, which we see is to be opened by the President of the Library Association. Finally the London and Home Counties Branch are to confer at Folkestone from October 14th to 16th, and here, the programme includes Messrs. Jast, Savage, McColvin, Wilks, Carter, and the President will also attend. There are other meetings, and if the question is asked: do not librarians have too many meetings ? we suppose the answer to be that the Association is now so large that local conferences become desirable. One suggestion, that has frequently been made, we repeat. The Library Association should delegate a certain definite problem to each of its branches, asking for a report. These reports should form the basis of the Annual Conference. It is worthy of more consideration.

Although it will be natural for me, as a Unesco official, to talk of national and international bibliography with a special reference to the role which Unesco is playing in the development of bibliographical services, I do not propose to stress Unesco's work as if it had validity in itself, but rather to look at national and international activities from the somewhat favourable viewpoint of a person in Unesco whose duty it is to see the world picture as a whole and to contribute to the clarity of the picture by fulfilling certain planning functions. It has constantly been stated in our programmes that Unesco's role consists chiefly in stimulating, promoting and co‐ordinating activities, but in order to do these things well we have occasionally found it necessary to enter into the active field of bibliographical production ourselves. Where we do so, as in the production of Fundamental Education Abstracts, the new Index Bibliographicus and certain other bibliographical guides, it is only because we believe that by efficiently assuming responsibility for production, or for the actual organization of a bibliographical project, we may fulfil our major responsibilities of helping and stimulating national or international organizations to do whatever is necessary themselves. There are, in fact, few tasks which Unesco has undertaken which in other circumstances could not have been undertaken, or previously were not undertaken by independent or national agencies.

By Theodore Besterman's death on 10 November 1976 in his seventy‐first year, scholarship, bibliography and documentation and a wide range of esoteric subjects have lost a master of near fabulous achievement—how else, to note only two of his works, can one describe the 107 volumes of Voltaire's correspondence which he completed in twelve years as virtually a one‐man job, except for the help of an assistant for part of the time provided by the Swiss Foundation for Scientific Research, and the three editions of the World bibliography of bibliographies. To these great solo achievements as a scholar must be added his skill and discrimination as a collector, outstandingly of Voltaire editions and manuscripts and every Voltaire relic which he could procure as the material basis of the publications and activities of the Institut et Museé Voltaire in Geneva which was established solely through Besterman's creative efforts.

Mr. Fullman is well known to all Aslib members, as Information Officer at British Non‐Ferrous Metals Research Association. He has for years past given generously of his time to Aslib as a very active member of its Council, its Publication Committee, its Conference Committee, and, during the last year particularly, as Chairman of its Education Committee and of the sub‐committees, he has been largely responsible for drafting the syllabus for the Training of the Information Officer, thereby making a signal contribution to our Association.

Though special libraries are now accepted as an integral part of most commercial and industrial‐concerns, most societies and institutions, they are rarely housed in premises suited to their needs. Few special librarians have the opportunity of planning a new library, but more frequently are they faced with the problem of adapting premises which at the outset are totally unsuited to library purposes. Special librarians should be very critical of premises which are offered to them. Anxiety to get a few extra square feet of room should not sway the librarian to accept a room where the windows are badly placed, the radiators taking up wall space needed for shelving, buttresses breaking up the wall surface, uneven floors, inadequate ventilation, etc. The practice of housing the library in the Board Room or Conference Room is fortunately passing, but should be resisted very firmly as impracticable.

The number of slips written and locations recorded during the year, and the total up to 31st March, 1950, were approximately as follows:—

To investigate the external validity of Ultimatum and Dictator game behavior we conduct experiments in field settings with naturally occurring variation in “social framing.” Our participants are students at Middlebury College, non-traditional students at Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), and employees at a Kansas City distribution center. Ultimatum game offers are ordered: KCKCC > employee > Middlebury. In the Dictator game employees are more generous than students in either location. Workers behaved distinctly from both student groups in that their allocations do not decrease between games, an effect we attribute to the social framing of the workplace.