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Search Helper was selected as a system for introducing the Carnegie‐Mellon University community to do‐it‐yourself database searching. Use of Search Helper was offered without charge to CMU students and faculty. User satisfaction and reaction to the service were monitored with a simple survey. Preliminary results of the survey are reported along with critical evaluations of the system's capabilities and performance. Search Helper proved extremely popular with library users. Specific suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of this gateway software package focus upon the type of documentation and error messages available to users.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

The target costing method works “backward” from traditional cost‐plus methods and begins with a targeted sales price for a product. This price is set based on what the customer is willing to pay. It considers not only the preferred current selling price but also the later life cycle pattern of prices. This technique has key managerial implications. This article considers these implications along with implementation guidelines. Examples of industries successfully using target costing are included. Ongoing controversies concerning where the techniques can best be used are discussed. Further considered are international differences in target costing as well as challenges of global outsourcing along the supply chain. The article ends with implementation challenges, significance for practice, and suggestions for future research.

In recent years there has been considerable discussion of and some movement towards, harmonisation of governance structures and processes between the EU and North America in particular. Multilateral organisations (i.e. World Bank), the USA's Sarbanes Oxley and the expansion of the EU in 2004 have all provided added impetus for a broader focus on harmonisation or convergence. But is convergence possible? Can any ‘one size fits all’ approach to governance be consistent with divergent national legal and cultural systems? A qualitative study of Austrian company directors is used to investigate whether the recent development of a more open economy coupled with the global capital market is generating a convergent model of director conduct. It was apparent that a stakeholder approach, where stewardship theory best explains the processes to mediate director conduct, continues to best describe the Austrian way. This contrasts with ‘theory in use’ in Anglo-American practice which conforms to the tenets of Agency Theory. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for sustainability management.

The chapter introduces the reader to select language of human sexuality and the definitions and characteristics of some key terms related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer (LGBTQ+), identifies different theoretical perspectives of human sexuality and sexual orientation, and discusses select LGBTQ+ theories and concepts in a historical context that library and information science (LIS) professionals should consider while performing their roles related to information creation–organization–management–dissemination–research processes. It helps better understand the scope of what is LGBTQ+ information and traces its interdisciplinary connections to reflect on its place within the LIS professions. The chapter discusses these implications with the expectation of the LIS professional to take concrete actions in changing the conditions that lack fairness, equality/equity, justice, and/or human rights for LGBTQ+ people via the use of information. Important considerations in this regard include the need for an integrative interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ information model, growth of a diversified LGBTQ+ knowledge base and experiences, holistic LGBTQ+ information representations, LGBTQ+ activism, and participatory engagement and inclusion of LGBTQ+ users.

Reports on the OCLC Users’ Council meeting of February 5‐7, 1996. Issues discussed included nominations for the board of trustees, the OCLC president’s report, the Users’ Council executive committee report and reports on users of electronic information. Also under discussion were a number of strategies for the future.

The following annotated list of materials on providing library orientation to users and instructing them in library and information skills is the tenth annual review of this literature and covers publications from 1983. A few items have not been annotated because the compiler was unable to secure a copy of these items.

A hobby is any purposeful use of leisure time. Due in part to an increase in the amount of leisure time available to most Americans, the hobby and recreation industries have grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. There are countless publications on hobbies ranging from genealogy to doll collecting, from painting to needlepoint. Obviously, a compilation such as this cannot include publications on every imaginable hobby, so rather than appear biased, this author has attempted to include primarily publications that discuss many different hobbies, or deal with one major group of hobbies.

Fingerhut, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is a direct-marketing company that sells a smorgasbord of consumer goods through an array of specially targeted catalogs. In November 1996, an article in the Star Tribune, a major Minneapolis newspaper, drew attention to a class-action lawsuit pending against Fingerhut that suggests the firm made its profits by exploiting the poor. Several civil rights groups rallied around the suit and submitted amicus curiae in favor of the litigation. The case illustrates issues in ethics and management communication. Discussions focus on the constituencies. Is Fingerhut exploiting its customers or providing them with an affordable method of obtaining valued consumer goods on credit? Do retailers have a duty to offer products at reasonable prices? Are the high interest rates reasonable given the risk? What are the options: pawn shops, rent-to-own? What is the profile of the typical Fingerhut customer? Discussions also focus on the issues communicating to the constituencies. How much damage will the lawsuit do to Fingerhut's image as an ethical, socially conscious company? What communication strategies can the firm employ? Should it react to the lawsuit? What should it tell its employees?