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Has the public affairs function significantly changed the way major U.S. corporations meet the growing external challenge to traditional corporate practices? Examining in detail the actions of Exxon (Valdez) and Union Carbide (Bhopal), this paper raises some questions as to whether the difference between public affairs and traditional public relations is a real one or merely a matter of semantics. Then, utilizing an unpublished corporate public affairs survey conducted by Central Michigan University, the writer argues that the problem with the public affairs function lies not with the function itself, but in its implementation by corporations.

A PILGRIMAGE to West Cornwall can be heartily recommended to any librarian in search of rest, fresh air, and complete change from the monotony of town life. Here he will find abundance of interest and novelty in connection with the habits and customs of the ancient Britons still extant, and derive many impressions of pleasure from the magnificent rock scenery with which the coast abounds. Dairy‐farming, tin‐mining, pilchard fishing, druidical monuments, and wild flowers can also be studied with profit; and even Public Libraries, in a condition of arrested development not uncommon in other districts of England. Cornwall is pre‐eminently the county for Public Libraries. Geographically it is remote from the populous parts of England, and the Great‐Western Railway Company, with commendable forethought, have taken enormous pains to maintain this seclusion by a most pitiful and inadequate service of trains. I was once assured by the Public Librarian of Penzance that no thief would ever raid his institution, for the simple reason that it was impossible to get away quick enough to avoid detection ! A place thus difficult to get away from, is manifestly one which requires strong home interests to make it attractive, and, as theatres, music halls, and other light diversions, find little favour in Cornish towns, the Public Library, with its wealth of varied reading, is practically the only after‐dark resource left. But there are other circumstances which make Cornwall an ideal county for a liberal provision of Public Libraries. The decline of the mining industry has driven many of the men away to other centres, such as South Africa, and it is well‐known that, at the present time, more money is coming into the county from exiled sons abroad than is being made locally. There is thus an enormous surplus of that great natural reader— woman—and to her should be offered in profusion plenty of romantic and other reading as a solace and compensation for the loss of her natural companion—man.

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

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.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

The purpose of this historical paper is to examine arguably the most controversial advertising campaign of all time. Critics have condemned tobacco marketer George Washington Hill's “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet” campaign in the late 1920s and early 1930s for its explicit attempt to encourage smoking among women by linking cigarettes with themes of slenderness and youth.

The paper relies on primary sources obtained chiefly from the important advertising trade journals Printers' Ink and Advertising and Selling. Many sources, in turn, pointed to historically significant advertisements from the “Reach for a Lucky […]” campaign, some of which are included among the findings. Tentative themes of analysis were: the strategic motives behind the “Reach for a Lucky […]” campaign and the campaign's outcomes and consequences, both positive and negative.

Hill aggressively pursued the female smoker of the 1920s, as did other cigarette marketers of the period. However, the paper's findings support a conclusion that Hill had additional motives for attacking “sweets,” other than merely encouraging women to smoke with a slenderness appeal. Hill's primary strategic concern must have been how to address the extraordinarily competitive situation he faced with the other “big four” cigarette brands.

Focusing on the strategic intent of the campaign and its outcomes and consequences, findings strongly suggest that prior perspectives and conclusions found in advertising history texts regarding this infamous campaign often fail to reveal its significance as an historical event.

This survey covers civil, electrical and electronics, energy, environment, general, materials, mechanical, and traffic and transportation engineering. Areas such as biomedical and chemical engineering will be dealt with in future issues. Readers may find that the classifications included in this survey are not mutually exclusive but do occasionally overlap with one another. For instance, the section on environmental engineering includes a review of a book on the environmental impact of nuclear power plants, which might as easily have been part of the section on energy technology. Before we go into a discussion of data bases and indexes, I would like to note in this introductory section some recent bibliographic aids published during the period surveyed. Most engineering libraries will find them very valuable in their reference and acquisition functions. Since normal review sources will cover these books, I am merely listing them below: Malinowski, Harold Robert, Richard A. Gray and Dorothy A. Gray. Science and Engineering Literature. 2d ed., Littleton, Colorado, Libraries Unlimited, 1976. 368p. LC 76–17794 ISBN 0–87287–098–7. $13.30; Mildren, K. W., ed. Use of Engineering Literature. Woburn, Mass., Butterworths, 1976. 621p. ISBN 0–408–70714–3. $37.95. Mount, Ellis. Guide to Basic Information Sources in Engineering. New York, Wiley, Halsted Press, 1976. 196p. LC 75–43261 ISBN 0–47070–15013–0. $11.95 and Guide to European Sources of Technical Information. 4th ed., edited by Ann Pernet. Guernsey, Eng., F. Hodgson, 1976. 415p. ISBN 0–85280–161–0. $52.00.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.