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Up to 25 hosts will eventually make approximately 150 databases available on Euronet‐DIANE. If European users are to benefit from, rather than be totally confused by this massive store of information they must be educated, trained and supported in their efforts to exploit it. The common command set is already with us, as are multilingual thesauri and many other user aids for bibliographic retrieval systems. User manuals, however, present a confused picture to the user because they exhibit such a wide variation in content, structure and design. This paper summarises the recommendations of a study on the harmonisation of user manuals carried out under contract to the Commission of the European Communities as part of the Euronet‐DIANE project.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential impact of political party control on bank profitability and risk. This study extends previous work by looking at overall political power with respect to party control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency.

This paper employs regression analysis using several different dependent measures of risk and return. The independent variables include dummies to represent political power and control.

The results indicate that political control does impact both bank returns and risk. More specifically, concentration of power in either party results in higher profits. However, risk and returns typically increase during periods of democratic control.

To date, no research addresses the impact of political control and party affiliation on bank risk and return. Given the importance of banks to the overall economy and financial system, this research should provide policymakers and regulators with a different perspective on bank risk and return.

Libraries as they are known today can be defined by the term Library 1.0. This defines the way resources are kept on shelves or at a computer behind a login. These resources can be taken from a shelf, checked out to the librarian, taken home for a certain length of time and absorbed, and then taken back to the library for someone else to use. Library 1.0 is a one‐directional service that takes people to the information that they require. Library 2.0 – or L2 as it is now more commonly addressed as – aims to take the information to the people by bringing the library service to the internet and getting the users more involved by encouraging feedback participation. This paper seeks to present an overview of Library 2.0.

This paper presents an overview of Web 2.0 including definitions, technologies involved and sites currently advocated as examples of Web 2.0.

The major difference between Library 1.0 and L2 is that Library 1.0 only allows for a one‐way flow of information while L2 is a read‐write library that gives library users the power to decide the service that they get. L2 reinforces the role libraries play in the community by building on today's best and continually improving the service. L2 can be summarized as being user‐driven and aiming to save each library user time in retrieving information.

Libraries have been around for centuries and are considered places in which books, journals, CDs, etc. are kept for reference or for borrowing by the public. The term L2 was believed to have been first made by Michael Casey in his blog LibraryCrunch. Chad and Paul Miller describe Library 2.0 (L2) as a concept, very different from the service one knows today, that operates according to the expectations of today's users. They state that with this concept the library will make information available wherever and whenever the user requires it. One point to note here is that this concept is not about replacing the 1.0 technology already being used but rather about adding additional functionality.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between good corporate governance and dividend payment in the regulated insurance industry.

A modification of Rozeff's transaction cost/agency cost trade‐off model was estimated on a sample of 55 firms in the insurance industry. Data cover a five‐year period ending in 2006.

Consistent with an agency view of dividends functioning to reduce the need for firm monitoring, it was found that there is no relationship between good corporate governance and dividend policy in a regulated industry. In other words, regulation appears to supplant the need for most corporate governance mechanisms and dividend distribution to provide information.

One data point used in this study, the corporate governance quotient (CGQ), is a relatively new metric created in 2001. Therefore limited use of this variable has appeared in previous research. Additional work is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of CGQ as a true measure of corporate governance.

Regulated firms in the insurance industry do not need to be subjected to the external monitoring forced by high dividend payments. Regulators perform that function instead.

This study is the first to evaluate the impact of good corporate governance on regulated firms’ dividend policy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the adoption of social software in public libraries and to explore its impact.

This research uses a qualitative methodology and took the form of open‐ended interview questions using an e‐mail format. The research uses Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory as a framework.

This research found that participants consistently described social software as a means to deliver a library service that truly reflected their users' wants and needs. Participants indicated that social software would help achieve this goal in two ways. Firstly, participants felt that social software enabled users to interact with the library in the ways they wanted to. Secondly, the participative elements of social software made it easier for users to provide feedback on all aspects of the library service. The study also revealed that while social software is not currently being used to its fullest extent in public libraries, public librarians are exploring the meaning and potential of this new technology.

This paper advances the discussion on social software by providing concrete examples of its impact in practice. It is a resource for public librarians considering the potential impact of implementing social software in their own library which will allow them to learn from the experiences of others.

Confirms the empirical test of Hunt and Vitell’s general theory of marketing ethics by Mayo and Marks across four cultures. Uses path analysis to show the core relationships of the general theory of marketing ethics were successfully replicated using over 1,500 students from seven universities in the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia. States that tomorrow’s managers appeared to use a more deontological approach to making ethical judgements about personal selling. Extends its original research by confirming the positive relationship between the probability and the desirability of consequences. Concludes that, although the model was originally intended to explain management ethical decision making, the study shows that it may be possible to generalize as to how individuals make ethical life decisions.

This study sets out to focus on the identification of determinants of real estate limited partnership (REIT) capital structure from a market perspective.

This study uses ordinary least squares regression to test whether REIT capital structure is impacted by various market variables.

The findings indicate that investors do appear to be attracted to specific debt characteristics of REITs or, simply put, REIT capital structure is influenced by market factors. REIT debt levels appear to be directly influenced by the price‐to‐book ratio and are inversely related to the percentage of institutional ownership and price‐to‐cash flow. Forecast growth rates do not appear to significantly influence debt while the type of REIT (mortgage, retail, etc.) does appear to influence the level of debt.

Small sample size limits applicability of results, so further research with larger datasets is appropriate.

Investors do appear to consider capital structure when purchasing REITs. REIT managers should consider this when determining whether to incur additional debt.

The determination of various market factors linked to REIT capital structure.

This study examines the relationship between various agency factors and debt of property management firms in the UK. Findings indicate that debt is significantly inversely related to percentage of shares closely held, dividend yield and price‐to‐book ratio. Size, measured by sales volume, appears to be insignificant in determining debt level.

The purpose of this paper is to forecast variability in mortgage rates by using interval measured data and interval computing method.

Variability (interval) forecasts generated by the interval computing are compared with lower‐ and upper‐bound forecasts based on the ordinary least squares (OLS) rolling regressions.

On average, 56 per cent of annual changes in mortgage rates may be predicted by OLS lower‐ and upper‐bound forecasts while the interval method improves forecasting accuracy to 72 per cent.

This paper uses the interval computing method to forecast variability in mortgage rates. Future studies may expand variability forecasting into more risk‐managing areas.

Results of this study may be interesting to executive officers of banks, mortgage companies, and insurance companies, builders, investors, and other financial decision makers with an interest in mortgage rates.

Although it is well‐known that changes in mortgage rates can significantly affect the housing market and economy, there is not much serious research that attempts to forecast variability in mortgage rates in the literature. This study is the first endeavor in variability forecasting for mortgage rates.