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The 1990s in UK Higher Education have seen far reaching changes throughout the sector, which have impacted in many and beneficial ways on the individual learner. The paper will provide evidence from the School of Information Studies at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: it will trace the developments in the teaching and research cultures in the 1990s and assess the resulting impact on learners. The Northumbria experience is that changes in its teaching and research cultures have resulted in developing all its staff as reflective practitioners, which adds value for the increasingly diverse learner community. Theory and practice are fused close to the marketplace, thereby both improving employability and enriching the learning experience.

This paper deals with two user‐related themes: the development of a user audit and training. The author suggests that a user audit should be carried out within an organisation before the full records audit takes place. The underlying rationale for such an audit is suggested by the author to be firstly, that employees will better understand the relevance of the ensuing records audit; secondly, they will feel less threatened by any changes that take place as a result of the records audit; and thirdly, will feel more committed to the records management programme. The author asks whether it is financially feasible to conduct a user audit separate from the records audit itself, when running both audits together may diminish the value of the user audit. Finally, the issue of training is addressed. The author questions how the effectiveness of training can be measured, in records management terms.

Examines the developing importance of the quality issue in the service sector and highlights common barriers to the successful implementation of total quality management principles (TQM). Such information provides managers in complex service organizations such as the National Health Service (NHS) with valuable lessons for improving quality standards. Illustrates how TQM principles could and in a few cases are already being applied to the NHS in the light of the 1989 Government proposals for reform. Such efforts are in the early stages of development and therefore guidelines are proposed to assist management in sensitive areas for implementing change.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature relating to retention of good employees and the role that work‐life balance (WLB) issues have in an employee's decision to stay or leave an organisation. The paper begins with a brief overview of the seminal material in the more generic management literature and then tailors the discussion to the hospitality and tourism industry using literature from the hospitality and tourism journals.

The paper provides an overview of the key employee turnover literature within the hospitality and tourism industry for those academics researching in this area, with specific attention given to the role of WLB issues in the turnover decision‐making process. The paper also provides a theoretical and practical framework for industry to develop strategies for reduced employee turnover, with a focus on the role that balancing work and family plays in these strategies.

The key findings emerging from this literature review focus on job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment, personal attributes such as positive and negative affectivity, the role of WLB in employee turnover and, finally, the strategies provided to alleviate high turnover rates.

Recommendations to management are presented for both government and organisational consideration. These recommendations include the need for legislation on maximum, as well as minimum working hours, good role models at the workplace, flexible working hours and arrangements, sound recruitment and training opportunities and company family friendly work policies.

The last few years have seen considerable advances in the field of computerised bibliographic control. In addition to the mainframe‐based systems such as MARC, there has been increasing interest in mini‐ and microcomputer systems for both technical processing and information retrieval. With these developments has come a re‐examination of the usefulness of bibliographic standards which have emerged since libraries started facing the needs of interlibrary communication. This reconsideration of standards has prompted among many librarians the idea that the advent of computerised systems means the end of the need for standardisation. There is a general feeling that it is no longer necessary to require cataloguers (if they figure at all in the argument anyway) to create records in the rigorous way demanded by the likes of the Anglo‐American cataloguing rules (AACR). The power of the computer, it is felt, obviates the sophisticated and resource‐wasting processing that goes on in cataloguing departments; and features such as boolean searching, truncation, etc, can get over the need for accurate specification of authors' names or the titles of documents.