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Assumes that the education of valuers is generally directed towards producing professionally qualified personnel who are able to value a wide variety of properties by using standard accepted methodology. Suggests that teaching the concepts of valuation in isolation without any economic reference point is insufficient to establish whether the acquisition of any property will improve the performance of a portfolio. Concludes that the basis of education in valuation needs to change in order to address those issues that have economic relevance in a market dominated by international institutional investors.

This article aims to describe how a Friends of the Library group was formed to support the collections and services of a small academic university library.

A case study approach is used to articulate how a friends group can be established to generate revenue for library collections and services.

A discussion is used to review concepts supporting how a friends group may be created to provide financial support as well as community outreach and influence.

A friends group can not only add financial stability but also bring much needed positive attention toward various elements of the library enterprise. Friends can help manage special projects or exhibits, allowing library staff to focus on other duties.

By reaching out to constituents as ambassadors for the library, a friends group can help to promote and add value to the library's role and impact in the community.

This article provides a unique example to library administrators and leaders of how a friends group can effectively support library collections and services both financially and operationally. Comments are also provided identifying potential and real challenges.

Although real estate represents a substantial proportion of the UK investment market, research in this area is extremely limited. This is particularly true of the performance and construction of portfolios. This paper deals with one of the major issues which confronts both investor and advisor; namely, how effective is the diversification of a real estate portfolio as more properties are included. The analysis is undertaken at an empirical level and draws on similar research developed in the stock market. The main findings are that the low correlation between returns on individual properties enable high levels of risk reduction to be achieved. This correlation structure does, however, impose a penalty making it extremely difficult to construct highly diversified portfolios. The problem is exacerbated by the indivisibility of real estate assets.

The measurement of property portfolio performance is an important issue that, superficially, appears very straightforward. All that is required is an index of property market movements which can then be used as a reference point for comparing performance. Problems can arise, however, if the statistical characteristics of the index are different from the portfolio being analysed. This is not a trivial issue as the difference can be large enough to obscure the true performance of the portfolio and can lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of investment skill. Draws on recent research into index construction and examines some of the issues surrounding these problems. Discusses tracking errors and benchmarking issues.