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The last decade has witnessed considerable changes in the nature and range of the general current bibliographies which serve the student of English literature. The development of an online database for modern languages and literature, including English, has added a new dimension to bibliographical provision. One entirely new printed service has been introduced and existing printed bibliographies have been significantly modified. Librarians are among the main purchasers of these materials and are also called upon to advise on their value and use. The present article surveys the developments which have taken place and seeks to identify the particular value of each work as a contribution to the bibliographical control of newly published materials in this field.

Victorian Periodicals: A Guide to Research. J. Don Vann and Rosemary T. VanArsdel, eds. New York, Modern Language Association of America, 1978. $17.00 cloth; $8.50 pa. 188p. LC 77–94918. ISBN 0–87352–256–7; 0–87352–257–5 pa. So many of us in the field of library science owe our jobs to the fact that others articulate their own need to know; reference work itself arises out of this logical need. Many questions we answer involve the simple, “what?,” “when?,” and “where?” More complicated question‐and‐answer interactions deal with “why?” and “how?” Through interviews with one editor and one chapter author, this essay will invert the reference process upon itself and show the why and how involved in the conception and realization of the reference work entitled Victorian Periodicals: A Guide to Research.

Any librarian who has been faced with the problem of cataloguing the course unit booklets supplied by the Open University as the framework of its teaching will have discovered how bibliographically intractable they are. This article seeks first to describe some of the problems thus encountered, and secondly to describe how one institution has attempted to solve them.

The National Library of Wales can be rightly proud of its commitment to staff training and development. Since the inception of formal library education in Wales in 1964, it has placed considerable emphasis on the importance of appointing professionally qualified staff. Whatever the future holds, The Library hopes to retain and develop the policies it has pursued over the last 25 years.

This is the concluding article in a series of three, describing the automation system used in the Department of Printed Books at the National Library of Wales. The procedures for Serials Control are described, together with some of the ancillary tasks. Conclusions on the use of the McDonnell Douglas URICANLW software are outlined and a future development strategy suggested.

I HAVE BEEN looking at a six‐page leaflet which gives details of an international graduate summer school, 1 July‐23 August 1975, in librarianship and information science at the College of Librarianship Wales. (A joint undertaking by CLW and the Graduate School of Librarianship, University of Pittsburgh.)

This is the second in a series of three articles describing the automation system, based on McDonnell Douglas' URICA package used in the Department of Printed Books at the National Library of Wales. A description of the Cataloguing Module is given, including developments to respond to changing working practices and problems inherent in the original system design. The Retrospective Record Conversion procedures are described and the likely impact of CD‐ROM technology is recognised. Finally the Enquiry/Public Access and Circulation modules are described giving short‐comings of the existing system and suggested ways to improve the facilities in the future.

ANYONE who might have looked in at one of the windows of the “pavilion” at Churchill College in Cambridge in the late evening of September 11th, 1967, would have witnessed a rather remarkable event—a group of British and Scandinavian librarians performing with great sincerity a stirring musical interpretation of “Bobby Bingo”, using a variety of instruments ranging from potato pots and wine glasses to combs and human voices.