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Youhave heard two papers on different aspects of training in library and information units. The object of training must be to enable the individual to make a more effective contribution to the total effort of the unit; it is logical to look beyond, to the impact of training and development, to the recognition of the result of greater effectiveness, and to the question of incentive and promotion. This is the purpose of this paper, to consider some aspects of these matters, and particularly the possibility of grading and assessment of library work, and their relation to staff recruitment, incentive, and promotion. It is proposed to look generally at principles of job evaluation for non‐manual work, to examine what special requirements there might be in the assessment of library and information staffs, and to outline the provisions of a scheme which could meet these requirements.

In presenting this paper on ‘Information Services at Work’, I would like to stress that we are appealing very largely in this type of meeting to the younger members. While hoping that they will benefit by hearing of other people's experiences and methods, we still look to them for fresh ideas and even more for criticism of old ones. In due course these budding library assistants will have become blossomed and blown information officers and it will be too late; like us, they will then have become convinced that there is no better way of doing things than their own. You will notice that I have presumed a development from library assistant to information officer. The library must be the foundation on which the information service is built, and to my belief, a library training is essential to anyone in information work. In any case, it is obviously not possible to draw a rigid distinction between the library service and the information service, nor to say where the one begins and the other ends. There is only one thing to be stressed; that the guiding force, whatever the type of organization which is found, must be the requirements of the company, association or other concern served by the information unit. No theoretical ideals or rigid adherence in the application of library science should be allowed to jeopardize this prime consideration. One further introductory point. I have noticed that matters technical tend to dominate almost exclusively any discussion of the work of an information officer. This is perhaps natural enough, but I hope to suggest to you that there exists a much wider field of activity. Information services must be considered as covering the whole of the parent body's interests and not only those on the technological side.

The British Standards Institution dates from 1901, when a committee was formed to standardize steel sections. This was in answer to the need to reduce the excessive variety of types of sections being produced by different manufacturers at that time. The advantages of this move were quickly seen and the work of the Committee was soon extended to a number of engineering products. This Engineering Standards Committee later became the British Engineering Standards Association; the Association was granted a Royal Charter in 1929 and the present name was adopted in 1931. The Institution is recognized as the national body for the preparation of standards and its work now covers a wide range of industries—building, chemical, textile, and many others as well as engineering, though engineering is very much the largest of its activities; of the standards issued last year more than one‐third were in the engineering field. The standards now being prepared are of a number of types—dimensional standards to secure interchangeability and simplification, standards laying down quality, including performance tests, and methods of test. In addition, there are the more ‘abstract’ types of standard—dealing with terminology, definitions, symbols and documentation. The Institution is also concerned with Codes of Practice which lay down guiding rules for such matters as installation, maintenance and use of plant, equipment or machinery, as, for example, installation of gas pipes in buildings, or the lighting of streets.

In 1958 a number of librarians and information officers in the Midlands met informally with the staff of the Birmingham School of Librarianship to discuss what could be done, at a local level, to train their staff in the technique of librarianship and information work. This is not to suggest that the information bureaux and special libraries in the area are staffed by unqualified amateurs. On the contrary we are fortunate in having a considerable number of highly qualified librarians and information officers in the area. Their interest and enthusiasm in the Scheme of Training is an indication of this.

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

There is a traditional tendency to think of managers and the managed as two quite separate classes of individual and I should like to make it clear therefore that when I refer to ways in which a manager can improve his effectiveness I am talking about anyone of you who, at a particular moment in time, is achieving his objectives through the agency of at least one other person. I would suggest that by this definition we are all managers, for even those few who in their jobs do not work through a subordinate must, in order to approach their objectives most effectively, manage either their peers or their seniors.

FROM 5th to 8th October, 1951, Aslib was fortunate in holding its Annual Conference again at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, and our thanks are due for the third time to Colonel and Mrs. J. H. Alexander and their staff for the excellence of the catering and domestic arrangements. The weather also co‐operated and sunshine displayed all the autumn beauties of the garden and countryside.

Sir Raymond Streat, C.B.E., Director of The Cotton Board, Manchester, accompanied by Lady Streat. A Vice‐President: F. C. Francis, M.A., F.S.A., Keeper of the Department of Printed Books, British Museum. Honorary Treasurer: J.E.Wright. Honorary Secretary: Mrs. J. Lancaster‐Jones, B.Sc., Science Librarian, British Council. Chairman of Council: Miss Barbara Kyle, Research Worker, Social Sciences Documentation. Director: Leslie Wilson, M.A.

Thisissue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Learnington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.

This issue of Aslib Proceedings is mainly devoted to papers presented at the 24th Annual Conference, held at Ashorne Hill, near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, from 9 to 11 September, 1949. In addition, we have pleasure in printing the annual report and accounts of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals.