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The Australian publishing industry continued to expand during the period under review and the last six months of 1979 witnessed a record number of books published in Australia. According to the Australian Bookseller and Publisher, 1,726 titles with a total retail price of A$16,861.44 were published compared with 1,413 titles (A$11,351.92) for the same period in 1978.

In spite of its sub‐title, Heading and Canons is not so much a self‐contained treatise as a new instalment in the author's continuous exposition of his thought about cataloguing. Its main purpose is to examine, in the light of certain general principles, the rules for headings of author and title entries given in Cutter's Rules for a dictionary catalogue, the Prussian Instructions, the Vatican Rules, the ALA cataloging rules, and Ranganathan's own Classified catalogue code. But it incorporates also a fresh statement of the ‘canons of cataloguing’, first enumerated in his Theory of library catalogue (1938); a general discussion of cataloguing terminology; a summary of a pioneer study (undertaken for UNESCO) of Indian and other Asian names; and a demand—which will have the heartfelt sympathy of all cataloguers—for the standardization of the information given on title‐pages. Each section—and particularly the ingenious and suggestive treatment of the problem of Asian names—would justify a separate review. The book will be considered here as a contribution to the current re‐examination of cataloguing rules.

There is a general lack of information on how to acquire materials in African languages outside the countries of origin. However, there are some very well‐established mechanisms in collecting this material. Notes the standard current reference sources, blanket and approval plan dealers, bookshops and publishers, printed and online library catalogs and two microform collections. With sufficient time, energy and a reasonable hard currency budget, it is quite possible to develop an African language collection appropriate to local needs.

AT the very outset of this paper it is necessary to make clear that it is not an attempt to compile an exhaustive bibliography of literature relating to special librarianship. Neither space nor time permit this. In fact, the references given can only claim to be a sample of the wealth of material on the subject and this paper is submitted in the hope that it will stimulate others to more scholarly efforts. Reference numbers throughout this paper refer to items in the ‘Select list of references to the literature of special librarianship’, section 2 onwards.

THE first surprise when travelling by air from Fiji to Western Samoa is that one leaves Fiji on Saturday and arrives in Western Samoa on Friday. This is because of crossing the International Date Line en route and a story is told in Fiji of a man who owned a shop through which the date line ran. Sunday trading is frowned on in Fiji but our friend got round this by opening only half of his shop on Sunday—the half on the Saturday or Monday side of the date line. It is therefore not surprising that the Fiji Times describes itself as “the first newspaper in the world every day”.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the new Technical Report ISO 28118 “Performance measures for national libraries”.

The paper reports on the mission and main tasks of national libraries as defined by the technical report, and describes some 30 performance indicators including indicators that are specifically relevant to national libraries. The paper also explains the process by which indicators were selected and tested.

The rationale for the establishment of a new standard is examined and perspectives offered on its envisaged application and further development.

This paper gives an informative preview of the Technical Report which, at the time of writing, is in the process of being published. It serves as a useful introduction to the report for those who may wish to adopt the standard in future, and whilst primarily aimed at national libraries it is potentially relevant for regional libraries with similar tasks and missions.

The uses to which analysis of bibliographical references and citations can be put are categorized. Five sources of references and citations are identified, and their advantages and disadvantages for various purposes assessed and compared. Comparative studies of different sources are urged.