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Undoubtedly the most publicised art event during recent months was the long‐awaited opening of the much‐debated extension to the National Gallery. Even when completed the Sainsbury Wing (named, of course, after the trio of grocers who donated the money for its erection) continued to generate controversy in architectural circles. To the uninvolved visitor the building seems to be enormously successful and the suspicion arises that a lot of adverse comments may have come from British architects disappointed that such a prestigious commission went to an American architect. But Robert Venturi and his principal partner, Denise Scott‐Brown, have cracked what had hitherto been seen as an insoluble problem, with style and vigour. Indeed, thanks to Prince Charles' notorious “carbuncle” intervention the National Gallery has now an extension of a quality not achievable (for a number of economic and aesthetic reasons) since the 1930s. This point is clearly emphasised by the illustrations of the structures previously proposed for the site reproduced in Colin Amery's A Celebration of Art and Architecture: The National Gallery Sainsbury Wing (ISBN 0 9476465 86 1, hardback, £40.00; ISBN 0 947645 87 X, paperback, £15.95). This includes not only a succinct history of the National Gallery and a survey of the various previous proposals for an extension, but also a section on “Construction Details” illustrated by some excellent paintings of work in progress, by Andrew Norris. Some of the paintings around which the Wing was designed are in Amery's book, but more are to be found in Michael Wilson's Guide to the Sainsbury Wing (ISBN 0 947645 94 2, paperback, £4.95). This takes the form of tours around the building and around the contents. These include a very large and elegant shop which has led to the immediate removal of the “temporary” shop from its previous dominating position within the National Gallery; a restaurant which allows the public a view of Trafalgar Square similar to that hitherto only available to users of the library in Canada House; and the Micro Gallery (sponsored by American Express) which brings the very latest touch‐screen computer technology right out to the public. With software developed by Cognitive Applications and editorial material generated by 21st Century Systems, this enables any visitor to search the whole of the National Gallery's catalogue and compile their own study notes. The system even has a facility for the display of explanations of “difficult” words used in the descriptions of the 2,000 painting involved, and, at print‐out time, there is even an explanation for the reasons why copyright restrictions prevent the reproduction of certain pictures. No wonder this facility has proved to be an immensely popular aspect of a building which already looks as though it has always been there.

The closing years of the last decade saw the United Kingdom government trying to implement changes which could drastically alter the concept of the public library service in this country. These developments provoked a nationwide reaction from both librarians and the public which was expressed in the national and local press as well as in the anticipated professional sources. In the event the measures taken were not as draconian as feared, but the threat to the public library service remains. These events are chronicled and illustrated.

“Do you want to keep your hand in?” strikes as a peculiarly unfortunate turn of phrase to one so recently delivered of a breech baby. Nevertheless son Dashiell is the reason this woman is presently not in Libraries, and hence was invited to contribute to the fecund pages of NLW.

A quite unexpected coincidence of a great pile of copy shouting to be published and a complete absence of anything I feel like shouting about, means a remission from the pain of reading the effusions usually occupying this space. So, I take the opportunity of telling Librarylanders what NLW likes to have in the way of copy.

Suggests the unsuitability of any of the major classification schemes to adequately cope with the needs of a researcher in the field of women′s studies. Asks if women could devise a radical new classification system scheme in which the conceptual base could be transformed, not merely tacked on to other disciplines or separated altogether. Concludes that at the extreme the Dewey system could well be seen to represent the patriarchal order of things that so many women are fighting to change.

Over the next few months a lively image of Dick Whittington and his cat will be making its appearance in the capital. Walking briskly along, with his cat trotting obediently behind or dashing ahead with its tail in the air, he will stride across the print and posters of the Museum of London as the Museum's new corporate image.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework supporting the design and evaluation of e‐government projects, especially those involving voluntary and community organisations.

The research adapts a socio‐economic model of community sustainability, reinterpreting it in the context of e‐government. It documents the evolution of a conceptual framework for evaluative design through study of a project in London, UK. An interpretive approach was adopted, within which research was guided by the structured‐case method.

The research provides an evaluative framework for e‐government projects featuring four forms of community capital: infrastructural, environmental, human and social. An ex post evaluation illustrates how the framework identifies design and management issues that are not considered by conventional evaluative frameworks.

The main sources of data reflect project management perspectives and information from monitoring the evolution of activities undertaken by participant organisations. There has been limited direct engagement with the latter and the next phase of research will apply the framework from their perspectives to identify factors promoting and inhibiting ongoing engagement with the system.

The framework provides an analytic tool for designers and managers of e‐government systems, especially those which feature online community building as a strategic outcome. All project stakeholders can use the framework to structure engagement with system design and management.

The distinctive contribution is to reinterpret e‐government from a community development perspective. It offers a means of identifying project shortcomings ignored by methods taking a narrower approach to e‐government information systems development.

Despite substantial investment over recent years in telehealth there appears to be little consensus regarding what a successful implementation should achieve. However, defining success is often controversial and complex due to differing views from the large number of stakeholders involved, the local environment where telehealth is deployed and the scope, or size, of any planned initiative. Nevertheless, a number of generic measures are proposed in this paper which then provides a framework for the measurement of success. The local context can then be applied to determine the exact emphasis on specific measures, but it is proposed that all of the measures should be included in the holistic measurement of success. Having considered what constitutes success, attention is then given to how success should be quantified. Robust evaluation is fundamental and there is much debate as to whether the ‘gold standard’ randomised control trial (RCT) is the most appropriate methodology for telehealth. If the intervention, technology and system, can be maintained in a stable state then the RCT may well provide the most authoritative evidence for decision‐makers. However, ensuring such stability, in what is still a novel combination of technology and service, is difficult and consequently other approaches may be more appropriate when stability is unlikely to be maintained.

This paper explores the question of how librarians can win financial resources from their parent organisations. It maintains that securing funding is essential at a time of change and goes on to advocate practical techniques for improving the acquisition and management of financial resources. The paper examines the financial environment of many libraries, covering financial cuts, organisational changes, contracting out, service level agreements and income generation. The importance of the integration of libraries and information units within their parent bodies is considered. The paper stresses the importance of political skills in winning resources and explores what this means in practice for public, academic and special librarians. Finally, the paper looks at some aspects of austerity management.

To examine the status and strategies of the broadband cable TV industry on a world‐wide basis.

Data were gathered through a review of the literature and a series of one‐on‐one interviews with key industry executives, and with consultant analysts dedicated to the industry. The SWOT technique proved useful in analyzing the organizational environment; value chain analysis was used to understand the value‐generating components of the core activities; a Boston Consulting Group product portfolio matrix identified the nature of the products offered by the industry.

Four forces were identified which had impacted significantly on the industry. These were the rise of the internet, the experience of competition for telephony services, the arrival of satellite TV, and a persistent image of poor customer service. The paper observes that recent trading results have revealed very little evidence that modified strategies are making a significant improvement in the industry's overall competitive position.

Limitations relate to scope of companies chosen for the research and by the dependence on the mainly qualitative nature of the data. Further research is required to review innovation in the light of continuing technology developments and mergers within the industry.

More radical innovation is required so that the industry can successfully address its current difficulties whilst simultaneously preparing itself for future competition.

The interview data when submitted to a strategy framework formulation exercise enabled the environmental situation of the industry to be understood and the identification of the critical success factors to achieve strategic objectives.