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The purpose of this paper is to bring the concept of a “hierarchy of action”, as it is currently being used in other fields, into library and information science (LIS).

Hierarchy theory is adopted to describe three hierarchies of action, which include the human processes of semantic and social innovation, as well as a system of biological interpretence, from which human processes are thought to have evolved as a development of biosemiosis in nature. By way of example, it is argued that a text is a complex achievement, and hierarchy theory shows how to account for this complexity; the everyday definition of “text” is augmented with accounts from different levels of observation.

The concept of a hierarchy of action enables a person to account for a text as a meaning/symbolic product; include in that account the processes whereby texts are produced and used; and say why these processes are important to the health of the biosphere that is called home.

“Hierarchy of action” has been developed as a concept in biology and ecology; it belongs to a way of thinking whereby human reality, like nature, is construed as dynamical processes operating in symbiotic relationship with each other; it has not yet been adopted in LIS with reference to hierarchy theory and its potential is yet to be explored.

This paper aims to contribute an Islamic critique of various competing economic system’s theories of interest, which have evolved within the distinct ideological frameworks of distinct rival economic systems and religions from the point of view of discovering potential effective Islamic economic solutions of the interest-driven modern economic, financial and banking and debt crises and the related problems of inflation, extreme, wealth inequalities and extreme poverty.

This historical research paper portrays the chronological evolution of competing narratives and theories of interest in realms of religions, philosophies and rival economic systems for contributing their comparative review and critique from an Islamic point of view in light of the pertinent literature of multidisciplinary history of religions, philosophies and economic thought. It develops an Islamic critique of theories of interest in light of interactions among history of religious thought on interest, history of economic thought on interest and economic theories of interest and the interest-driven economic crises for highlighting potential Islamic interest-free solutions of the modern economic crises in the framework of the Islamic political economy. In light of an Islamic critique of various competing theories of interest, the paper presents pertinent economic policy recommendations for the governments of the countries of the contemporary Muslim world.

The interest-free Islamic economic, as well as banking theories and models, offer the potential practical exploitation-free and injustice-free humanitarian solutions of the contemporary persisting macroeconomic crises (national, regional and global economic crises, financial crises, debt crises and banking crisis). Current Islamic discourses on interest and interest-free Islamic banking have effectively promoted the popularity and growth of global Islamic banking industry in the Muslim world in the 21st century.

Keeping in view a general universal consensus of the Islamic jurists on the elimination of interest of all types from the economy, it is recommended for the Governments of the Muslim countries to implement a consensus-based Islamic banking model, which uses only the Islamic juristic consensus-based Islamic modes of banking and finance – Musharikah, Mudharabah and Al-Qardh Al-Hassan (interest-free loan) – for precluding the possibilities of emergence of controversies about the prospective Riba-free Islamic economic and banking system. Litmus test of the practical success of the interest-free Islamic universal economic and banking system is the successful elimination of all forms of Riba (interest) and all possibilities of its involvement in extractive and exploitative activities in letter and spirit.

This research paper contributes a comprehensive logical and objective critique of various competing prominent theories of interest from an Islamic economic point of view and highlights their pertinent practical macroeconomic problems-cum-consequences as well as the potential Islamic macroeconomic policy responses in the form of interest-free Islamic banking/monetary/fiscal policies.

Older in its origins than any English Redbrick university, the University of Strathclyde is planning a new library building. A librarian from British Columbia outlines its history up to its present multi‐purpose structure.

Describes how the work of Eugen Dühring was regarded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It is underlined that the preoccupation of Marx and Engels with Dühring was accorded central importance in the history of Marxism. Shows the two phases of serious mutual attention between the protagonists of this relationship. The first phase dated from the year 1867/1868 when Dühring reviewed the first volume of Marx’s Capital. It is outlined that this phase has been comparatively little examined in dogma‐historical research up to now. Focuses on the second and most intensive phase of the engagement of Marx and Engels with Dühring covering the period from the middle of the 1870s to the start of the 1880s. Examines the climax represented by the Engels’ polemic Herrn Eugen Dühring‘s Revolution in Science and standing in the history of Marxism as the programmatic characteristic of the relationship of Marx and Engels to Dühring. Highlights the political‐ideological premises determining the Dühring debate.

Analyses the influence of value judgements in the mechanics of testing econometric theories against empirical data. The orthodox view of mainstream, positive economics is that value judgements play no part in the above process. Contests this view; defines value judgements and shows the orthodox conception to be too narrow, compared with the meaning and use of the term in other disciplines. Reviews many published examples from the 1970s and 1980s and ways in which value judgements have affected testing procedures in economics. Hypothesis testing via econometric techniques is fraught with value judgements because the application of statistical methodology is not a determinate, neutral or objective process.

The purpose of this short reflection is to allow for an informed use of both phenomenography and phenomenology in information studies and cognate fields.

The paper apprises uses of phenomenography found particularly in accounts of information literacy commonly describing phenomenography as distinct from phenomenology.

Both phenomenography and phenomenology continue to hold much credence in methods applied across scores of academic fields, with information studies being among those in the vanguard. Claims displaying differences of phenomenography from phenomenology are misleading and incomplete descriptions of phenomenology.

The paper presents newer materials on the origins of phenomenography and phenomenology to advocate for tighter relationships between and clearer applications of these methods in information studies and beyond.

THE Society of Bookmen have been interesting themselves in a practical manner in connection with the question of the reprinting of important non‐copyright books which do not appear on publishers' lists. The subject is one of interest to librarians, most of whom have experienced great difficulty since the war in replacing worn‐out copies of a number of important books. Doubtless as time goes on the ravages of war in this matter will be remedied, but at the moment the attitude of the Society of Bookmen deserves commendation. There is little likelihood that the Society will be faced by any serious financial obligations in the matter, as publishers are only too glad to meet a generally‐expressed demand for reprints of non‐copyright books. As a matter of fact, the ground is being slowly gone over, and every publishing season sees a succession of reprints of such works. One of the best we have seen is from the very literary house of Gowans and Gray, of Glasgow, who have done credit to themselves, to Scott, and to Scotland by issuing a long‐overdue reprint of the delightful “Tales of a Grandfather.” Saintsbury calls this “the soundest thing” that has yet been written on Scottish history, and we in turn would commend it both to our readers and to the Society of Bookmen as an example of how a library edition should be produced. From the point of view of library readers we might express the wish that there were more historical works produced in the same useful form and excitingly readable style.

Morals in the Market Place “Business is business”, we used to be told. Grammatically speaking, the statement is as unexceptionable as one that “rain is rain”, and about as pointless. It is meaningful only in what it excludes or in what it implies. Doing business, for instance, is not the same as administering a dole or charitable distribution, just as rain is not a shower of confetti or spray from a hose. What used to be implied when people said “business is business” was that bargaining, buying and selling, hiring and firing, were processes conducted according to ruthless, unchallengeable rules, in which no concession to weakness, no consideration of personal factors or social interests had any part. Power went with possession, or with advantage; and power was to be used to the full.