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Although ethnicity and gender play a significant role in many types of social interaction, little research exists on their importance in mediation. An analysis of community mediation cases (N = 27,852) from New York state demonstrated that, consistent with predictions from criminal justice research, Whites were underrepresented in mediation relative to Blacks and Hispanics, and that females were more likely to participate in mediation as claimants than men. Both ethnicity and gender were related to the type of dispute, degree of violence, intimacy between disputants, source of referral, and mediation outcome. Additional analysis, taking into account source of referral, education, and income level of the claimant, did not fully account for the observed ethnic or gender differences. Results are discussed in terms of reasons why ethnic and gender differences exist in mediation, limitations of demographic data, and areas for future research.

The River City Marsh Conflict negotiation exercise describes a conflict between two government organizations—the River City Planner's Office and the Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources—in a dispute over what to do with the LaCrosse River Marsh. The City Planner's Office wanted to fill part of the marsh to use for expansion of the industrial park. River City officials also wanted to build an additional highway through part of the marsh to accommodate anticipated traffic increases. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wanted the marsh habitat enhanced and protected from development so that threatened species could increase in numbers. These officials also wanted to build trails, canoe access points, and other facilities in order to promote recreational activities in the marsh. In this exercise, students are assigned to the role of either the River City Planner's Office or the State Department of Natural Resources office. Both sides are provided with the same set of facts and many options for consideration involving road construction or expansion, wildlife enhancement, and trail construction. Using these interrelated issues, students must negotiate a plan for the marsh that integrates both side's objectives.

The Annual General Meeting of the Pure Food and Health Society of Great Britain was held at 20, Hanover Square, W., on February 27, the President, Sir PHILIP SASSOON, Bart, M.P., in the chair. The Secretary, Mr. A. E. MOORE, read the following report of the Executive Committee:—

IF YOU should ever have a mind to experience the flavour of life in the British public library service during the early decades of this century, you could not do better than turn to the contemporary files of the periodicals of librarianship. Apart from its beastlier aspects, to which only a George Orwell could have done justice, the library journals reflected pretty well the public library world as it used to be: impoverished and imperfect, but optimistic and resilient.

Hospitals in North America consistently have employee injury rates ranking among the highest of all industries. Organizations that mandate workplace safety training and emphasize safety compliance tend to have lower injury rates and better employee safety perceptions. However, it is unclear if the work environment in different national health care systems (United States vs. Canada) is associated with different employee safety perceptions or injury rates. This study examines occupational safety and workplace satisfaction in two different countries with employees working for the same organization.

Survey data were collected from environmental services employees (n = 148) at three matched hospitals (two in Canada and one in the United States). The relationships that were examined included: (1) safety leadership and safety training with individual/unit safety perceptions; (2) supervisor and coworker support with individual job satisfaction and turnover intention; and (3) unit turnover, labor usage, and injury rates.

Hierarchical regression analysis and ANOVA found safety leadership and safety training to be positively related to individual safety perceptions, and unit safety grade and effects were similar across all hospitals. Supervisor and coworker support were found to be related to individual and organizational outcomes and significant differences were found across the hospitals. Significant differences were found in injury rates, days missed, and turnover across the hospitals.

This study offers support for occupational safety training as a viable mechanism to reduce employee injury rates and that a codified training program translates across national borders. Significant differences were found between the hospitals with respect to employee and organizational outcomes (e.g., turnover). These findings suggest that work environment differences are reflective of the immediate work group and environment, and may reflect national health care system differences.

There are two fundamental facts about programming languages: there are lots of them; all but a handful are never used beyond the immediate circle of friends of the inventor. An exhaustive survey of all languages used over the past twenty years in Western Europe and the US would be time‐consuming and of questionable utility; however, it seems safe to suggest that the number is considerably in excess of 1,000. Sammet's latest annual survey lists 132 languages currently in use in the United States, and this can only be a minor fraction of those that have been constructed at one time or another.

The present study attempted to replicate the findings of Kolb's research identifying two groups of mediators, which she labeled “Dealmakers” and “Orchestrators.” Seventy‐seven mediators were presented with a written dispute and asked to react the likelihood that they would use each of nine different mediation techniques. The techniques corresponded to Sheppard's taxonomy of Process Control, Content Control, and Motivational Control techniques. They also rated the perceived effectiveness of each of these three types of control with the dispute. Based upon their responses, the mediators were separated into groups using average‐link cluster analysis. The results suggested four clusters: Cluster 1 members corresponded to Kolb's “Dealmakers,” relying upon Process, Content, and Motivational Control techniques. Cluster 2 members did not correspond to either of Kolb's classifications, choosing to use Content and Motivational Control strategies. Cluster 3 members were similar to Kolb's “Orchestrators;” members of this cluster relied upon Process and Content Control techniques only. Cluster 4 members were reluctant to use any of the control strategies. These findings suggest a partial replication and extension of Kolb's initial work. Implications for future research are discussed.

The author explains that both the 14.5 million population and the distance which Australia is from major publishing centres may account for the enthusiasm for new technology. Libraries in Australia were early users of minicomputers. A feature of these developments has been the growth in the country's telecommunications culminating in the introduction of MIDAS in 1979 and the use of online databases via Lockheed, SDC and OCLC. Access to databases within Australia is now achieved through AUSINET and CSIRONET. This has promoted library automation, which is here dealt with in three phases — Phase I relates to punched‐card systems; Phase II is characterised by the introduction of AUSMARC in 1971 and the establishment of the Australian MARC record service — under this phase are described the developments in systems for acquisitions, cataloguing, data entry, circulation control, and serials receipts; Phase III covers the shared systems and cooperative networks. The article ends by briefly surveying the future which seems largely dependent on the success of the National Library of Australia's development programme for hardware and software to provide a nationwide service.