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The University of Illnois Information Retrieval Research Laboratory contracted with the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to identify and analyze word‐oriented databases of potential relevance to FEMA. A subject profile technique was used to measure how many potentially relevant citations were found in selected databases, thus allowing a ranking and comparison of databases for the multidisciplinary field of emergency management. “Distribution of Citations in Databases in a Multidisciplinary Field” describes the ranking of databases relevant to emergency management and demonstrates the applicability of Bradford's law of scatter to citations in databases. This article describes an experiment to compare the subject profile technique used in the FEMA project to another common database coverage evaluation technique — the ‘bibliography’ or ‘review article’ technique. Although the two techniques have slightly different purposes, they can both be used to compare the coverage of databases in a particular subject area. This study shows the subject profile technique to be less costly and less time consuming.

The Knowledge Warehouse project, an exercise in collecting, storing and re‐using the electronic versions of published text, is briefly described. Some of the factors affecting library and scholarly use of electronic archives and electronically delivered documents are discussed.

Small firms have been attracting increasing attention in recent years. An awareness of their potential contribution to an ailing economy has given rise to a multitude of assistance schemes and benefits. Financial organisations, government departments and other interested parties are all trying to assist start‐ups and the development of new enterprises. Local authorities, too, are becoming aware of the role they can play.

Citation analysis for the purposes of this survey is taken to mean the analysis of the citations or references which form part of the scholarly apparatus of primary communication. It is not taken to include study of the references appearing in secondary (abstracting or indexing) services, in subject bibliographies, or in lists or catalogues of the holdings or issues of libraries, although analysis of these latter sources of data can sometimes provide similar information to that derived from citations in the primary literature. The essence of the distinction is that citation in the primary literature expressly states a connection between two documents, one which cites and the other which is cited, whereas citation in other listings does not usually imply any connection between documents other than that effected by the indexing machinery. If libraries kept records of the materials requested, borrowed, or read by their individual users, and if these records could be synthesised so as to produce complete borrowing or reading lists for individuals (taking account, that is, of document acquisition by individuals from a number of sources), then the resultant data could be used for analytical purposes in the same way as citation data from primary publication and with much the same justification.

The large scale and far reaching functions of local government in the United Kingdom today are eloquent proofs of the universal demand for local services of high quality and wide coverage extending into almost every sector of life from literally the cradle to the grave. In the cities of Britain local government is often found to employ more people than any other single organisation. There are some 25,400 councillors in Britain and around 2,500,000 employees. The total expenditure of local authorities in England and Wales for 1984–85 was estimated at £24,323,000,000.1 The services provided include departments for development and planning, art galleries, libraries, museums, engineers, building surveyors, environmental health, architects, estate surveyors, housing, leisure and recreation, social services, economic development, education, transport, highways, trading standards, fire brigade, and police. In addition each local authority has departments mainly concerned with services to the other departments: the chief executive or secretary, personnel and management, solicitor, treasurer, and central purchasing services. Each of these departments has several important subdivisions, and clearly all require a constant inflow of information, and increasingly it is recognised local authorities generate large quantities of important information which can be used more widely with benefit within the authority, as well as outside.

Amongthe data collected for and published in Aslib's Survey of information/ library units in industrial and commercial organisations were figures for the numbers of information/library staffs then employed, in a sample comprising fifty‐two organizations, with information about their qualifications. In most cases the data related to the position in 1955–6.

Using questionnaires and interviews, a survey was undertaken of publishers/producers of electronic information with regard to retention, storage and access. It was found that, although some large publishers were innovative with their use of electronic material for different purposes, many commercial publishers are only gradually getting involved with electronic production methods and few have policies on electronic archiving. Among publishers, there is a low level of awareness of the Knowledge Warehouse project and a marked disinclination to deposit material with a national electronic archive on a voluntary basis. Database producers have more interest in electronic archiving and take more measures to refresh their magnetic media. There is some evidence of material produced in electronic form only that is in danger of being deleted from databases, electronic newsletters and videotex. CD‐ROM is the medium of the future for several publishers and database producers. The archival life of various electronic media is considered, and standards relating to electronic publishing are discussed. Some initiatives in electronic archiving are described.

Aslib has had a Research and Development Department since 1959. It has received powerful financial support from the Office for Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and from industry, because it is recognized that a continuing department, accumulating experience, and working in close contact with operational services, is the most favourable environment for the advance of information science. Aslib's subscription income now contributes substantially to the support of the department. With the right pressure and the right encouragement from the Aslib membership, the department will continue to justify the support it receives.

Information‐use studies are vitally necessary in order to complement, challenge, and sharpen informed intuitive judgements, but even the broadest conclusions drawn from such studies need to be examined critically. The conclusions or their generality may sometimes be invalidated by special conditions in the survey sample, by the environment having been disturbed by the survey, by the interpretation given to questions or observations, or by the way the data has been analysed. These same factors make direct comparison of results from different surveys difficult, and make superficial comparisons misleading. Some comparisons and conclusions are certainly much less sound than the casual reader might suppose, particularly when results have been compressed and taken out of their context in the original survey. The difficulty of comparing information‐use surveys is well illustrated by the copious footnotes used by Menzel, Lieberman, and Dulchin in order to qualify the significance of the results which they compare.

In beginning its work at the end of the 1950s, the Aslib Research and Development Department inevitably faced the task of identifying the most significant problems for investigation, at the same time having the need to establish appropriate experimental techniques. Most of the projects undertaken since that time have dealt with current problems, and to an extent the advent of new technologies and techniques to the information world (mechanization in the 'sixties, management studies in the early 'seventies, on‐line working and publication problems in more recent years) is reflected in the work reported below. What follows is a complete bibliography of publications by members of the Department from its formation up to the end of 1977.