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Discusses newspaper provision in the British Isles and the services provided by the British Library Newspaper Library. Assesses previous unsuccessful attempts to set up a loan service for newspapers, and the NEWSPLAN co‐operative programme for preservation microfilming of local newspapers. Suggests a co‐operative approach to interlibrary lending of some microfilmed newspapers, with input from advisory bodies such as LINC, SCONUL and the British Library.

Since the concept of provision aimed to attract particular groups from the community to use libraries began, library staff at all levels have discussed whether these materials should have a separate section of their own or be integrated with other items in the main classification sequence.

Aslib celebrates its 50th birthday this autumn. Its director Leslie Wilson very kindly agreed to answer Alan Armstrong's questions about the Association and its future.

THE serious and intractable housing problem persists to plague governments and embitter citizens. Why this is so can be gleaned from a few statistics.

John Saunders wrote ‘Why are we campaigning against cuts?’ (NLW July 1985). Cuts columnist Terry Hanstock criticised the article in September NLW and referred to a meeting in Rotherham addressed by John Saunders.

PETER LABDON, of the calibre of whose editorship of this organ during the past five years you should be thoroughly appreciative, is to become the Hon Treasurer of the Library Association in 1983; and, while none of us felt his ordinary membership of LA Council to have been in conflict with editing NLW, one of the principal honorary officerships of the LA obviously is. So, with a great deal of regret all round, and gratitude on my part for his achievements, Peter will be relinquishing the editorship at the end of this year.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the predictive validity of two measures of fidelity to the individual placement and support (IPS) approach to supported employment.

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of IPS programs. In total, 30 studies provided information characterizing 69 cohorts and 8,392 participants. Predictive validity was assessed by a precision and negative prediction analysis and by multivariate analysis of deviance.

Fidelity scores on the IPS-15 scale of 60 or less accurately predicted poor outcomes, defined as 43 percent or less of participants commencing employment, in 100 percent of cohorts. Among cohorts with IPS-15 fidelity scores of 61-75, 63 percent attained good employment outcomes defined as 44 percent or more commencing employment. A similar pattern emerged from the precision analysis of the smaller sample of IPS-25 cohorts. Multivariate analysis of deviance for studies using the IPS-15 scale examined six cohort characteristics. Following adjustment for fidelity score, only fidelity score (χ²=15.31, df=1, p<0.001) and author group (χ²=35.01, df=17, p=0.01) representing an aspect of cohort heterogeneity, remained associated with commencing employment.

This study provides evidence of moderate, yet important, predictive validity of the IPS-15 scale across diverse international and research contexts. The smaller sample of IPS-25 studies limited the analysis that could be conducted.

Program implementation leaders are encouraged to first focus on attaining good fidelity, then supplement fidelity monitoring with tracking the percentage of new clients who obtain a competitive job employment over a pre-defined period of time.

The evidence indicates that good fidelity may be necessary but not sufficient for good competitive employment outcomes.

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

Reproduces the main texts of hitherto unpublished reminiscences of the style and influence, as a teacher, of Allyn Abbott Young (1876‐1929) by 17 of his distinguished students. They include Bertil Ohlin, Nicholas Kaldor, James Angell, Lauchlin Currie, Colin Clark, Howard Ellis, Frank Fetter, Earl Hamilton, and Melvin Knight (brother of Frank Knight who, with Edward Chamberlin, was perhaps Young’s most famous PhD student). There has recently been a revival of interest in Young’s influence on US monetary thought and in his theory of economic growth based on endogenous increasing returns. These recollections of his students (addressed to Young’s biographer, Charles Blitch) shed light on why Young has, at least until recently, been renowned more for his massive erudition than for his published writings.

The purpose of this paper is to study the consistency in the management of poor performance by a group of experienced managers working at the same level in a service organisation which had a formal performance management process.

A case study is developed using cognitive scripts to reveal how front‐line managers in a large service organisation dealt with the issue of poor performance. The nature of their scripts was also related to measures of the managers' experience.

The management of poor performance is still fraught with inconsistency even among an experienced group of managers. Those who had been managers longest were the most likely to act consistently in this area.

The research is based on the perceptions of the managers all‐operating at the same level and in one organisation and it is not possible to generalise across other levels or organisations.

The inconsistency of approach does suggest that organisations should at least review their procedures and facilitate the development of managers in this area.

The paper presents the managers' voice on this area of their work, a perspective that is essential for management development in this area.