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In the light of the developing nature of the personal investment and financing domain any guide to the literature is inevitably going to be subjective: one individual might prefer a rational, analytical emphasis (reflecting, perhaps, an economic orientation), whilst another might favour an empirical orientation (reflecting real‐world patterns of human behaviour that may have significance for commercial exploitation). This guide contains elements of both these approaches, plus others, and draws on the available literature in a selective but multi‐disciplinary manner.

National Engineers' Week takes place annually during the week of George Washington's birthday. Washington, best known as a soldier and stateman, was also a surveyor and road builder. The National Society of Professional Engineers began this tradition in 1950 with a two‐page article in The American Engineer. The society promoted Engineers Week on a national level beginning in 1951. February and March issues of The American Engineer in 1951 discussed the early celebrations of this week. The society's history (Robbins) also gives insights about the creation of this special week. Although the National Society of Professional Engineers initiated this week, other engineering organizations became involved later. At the present time, many organizations participate in the celebration. Each year, the National Society of Professional Engineers plans a particular theme for the week.

This Symposium reports on the opportunities available to those who take the initiative to introduce materials management approaches. It examines both the anticipate rates of change and development of the underlying factors as well as the organisational implications they entail. A full bibliography of recent literature is provided. The predicted developments are derived from the findings of a Delphi Study in association with the Institute of Purchasing and Supply conducted by the author in 1976.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of cataloguing training for professionals at the St Augustine Campus Libraries of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, with emphasis on the cataloguing of special formats and the overall importance of continuing education.

The research methodology is based on a questionnaire which involved the use of a rolling survey for the periods 2005‐2007 and 2007‐2010, and utilized a five‐point Likert scale.

The findings clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of cataloguing training in the quest for professional development amongst librarians and also serve to highlight the need for greater collaboration between libraries, library schools and library associations.

The paper considers effectiveness of training in cataloguing and thus of the skills adopted in practice.

The study brings to the fore the importance of structured training for cataloguing professionals over a five‐year period. It also provides further insights into bridging the gap between entry level and working cataloguers in a developing country.

In his inauguration speech of 1961, John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic and youngest-ever holder of the office of US President, famously exhorted citizens to ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’ At the time, few would have interpreted this as a call for open innovation or even citizen crowdsourcing: neither the language nor the architecture then existed for either. But the sentiment he expressed marked the beginning of a campaign of citizen engagement in developing ideas for government. It was, in effect, the first national exhortation for the crowdsourcing of ideas, and Kennedy’s words have subsequently been adapted by Jeff Howe for the modern crowdsourcing context.

Citizen crowdsourcing is now well-established. This chapter sets out to assess how successful it has been as a mechanism for finessing original and meaningful ideas that advance social goals. We look briefly at leading examples of crowdsourcing for social good. We also look at the underlying factors that support it, including the knowledge and input solicited from the crowd; the crowd’s willingness to participate; and the mechanisms through which the crowd can engage. We trace the idea and practice of crowdsourcing back to Socrates in ancient Athens. We look at prosocial behaviour, exploring selected annals of public intellectuals, including Emerson. We examine citizen science as a forerunner of crowdsourcing, then move into the business strategy of open innovation and, finally, we arrive at crowdsourcing for social good in various guises. In conclusion, we explore what has been learned from initiatives that can now be considered current best practice in this area.

There is now no shortage of complex and expensive database software for business use and information retrieval but not all applications need the full sophistication of a relational programmable package costing close to £1,000. Indeed overkill can be a mistake because big systems do not always do simple tasks well. It is, therefore, worth looking to see what the other end of the spectrum has to offer. The “Key” data handling package is just such a system, intended for use in education and designed to be simple enough for pupils themselves to use. At a cost of only £7.95 (BBC B computer) or £9.95 (Research Machines Nimbus computer) including a 72‐page spiral‐bound handbook, one would not expect much, but in fact the system can record information of up to 255 characters length in a number of varied types of field, store simple drawings associated with the records, and plot positions on a map. Searching is possible for beginnings, endings and part words and is surprisingly fast.

THE first of the Islington Public Libraries, opened on September 21st, has proved a phenomenal success, and, at the same time, has thrown an interesting light on several modern theories in librarianship. It is, as our readers know, the fust of a system of five libraries, towards the erection of which Dr. Carnegie has given £40,000. The building itself is, as many librarians had an opportunity of judging at the “private view” described in our last number, of an exceedingly well‐lighted and attractive character. The arrangement and accommodation provided present several novel features. On the ground floor, opening from the Central Hall, is the Children's Lending Library and Reading Room. This is stocked with about 3,000 volumes for lending purposes, including French and German juvenile literature, and the reading room portion has seating accommodation for about a hundred children. A representative selection of children's magazines are displayed here, and there are special study‐tables for girls and boys equipped with suitable reference collections. A feature of this room is a striking dado of pictures illustrating scenes from English history, which goes far to make the room interesting and attractive.

THE Annual Meeting of the Library Association will have taken place before our nest issue is published, so, with three weeks still ahead, comment upon it here is necessary. As Mr. Berwick Sayers's reminiscent article on another page shows, it is the third conference to be held at Brighton and judging from the success the first two achieved the third should be as good. Brighton has a particularly tonic effect on its visitors which is often reflected in the debates. The subjects to be dealt with concern the aftermath in the main and are in good hands. A novelty is a paper on the first day. It is to be by Mr. T. E. Callender on the uses in libraries of punched cards; we mention this as mechanization will come in librarianship as in accountancy. All the details of the other papers have not reached us yet, which is a pity as members should always know early exactly why they confer and about what. There are, however, the difficulties of getting the papers from their writers, and the speed of publishing—need we say it?—is not what it was. There are also difficulties which exclude more excursions. Not all desire them, however, and Brighton affords as many means of diversion as members are likely to find time to enjoy.