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In beginning its work at the end of the 1950s, the Aslib Research and Development Department inevitably faced the task of identifying the most significant problems for investigation, at the same time having the need to establish appropriate experimental techniques. Most of the projects undertaken since that time have dealt with current problems, and to an extent the advent of new technologies and techniques to the information world (mechanization in the 'sixties, management studies in the early 'seventies, on‐line working and publication problems in more recent years) is reflected in the work reported below. What follows is a complete bibliography of publications by members of the Department from its formation up to the end of 1977.

The author writes from experience, originally as a member of the Aslib Consultancy Service and subsequently as an independent consultant. She explores the expectations of the client and the consultant, qualities desirable in consultants and job satisfactions, and goes on to analyse in detail the consulting process, the pathology of information systems and the role of library consultants as change agents.

Vine is a Very Informal NEwsletter produced three or four times a year by the G6TI Library Automation Projects' Information Officer (based at Southampton University Library) and issued on request to interested librarians, systems staff and library college lecturers. Its object is to provide an up‐to‐date picture of the activities of the Projects and occasionally to feature other automation work of special interest not already reported elsewhere.

The background of missile costs is discussed. Missiles are new and very costly. Developments in this field have been subjected to political vicissitudes which have often upset long‐term developments. Missile technology is on the frontier of science and there is no background of knowledge to draw on; much basic and expensive research is required. Missile engineering models are complex in detail and assembly, and therefore costly, and constant change occurs while making and testing the model. The complexity and functional requirements of missile parts are running a parallel race with the machines and processes being developed to fabricate the materials required. The usually small runs required in missile production again add to costs. Imposed on all these activities is the requirement that reliability of near 100 per cent is needed and in no case can reliability be allowed to be secondary to cost. The inflight life and shelf conditions for a missile are usually fairly well established and 100 per cent reliability for a short operating life with a long shelf life are the real requirements. There is a considerable tendency to overdesign for reliability. Some costly features of design such as finest finish, closest tolerances and highest strength are carried over by habit from aircraft design and are not always required in missiles. Having examined some causes of high costs, a programme for cost reduction is set out. Costs can be reduced by: (i) earlier freezing of designs making changes only in groups of several changes at wider intervals, (ii) making a more realistic approach to reliability designs, (iii) selecting tolerances in a more analytical manner according to individual needs, (iv) selecting materials on the basis of actual design requirements instead of using the very best materials available even when the short life makes them unnecessary, (v) avoiding tool‐room methods in production engineering, (vi) setting work standards on as many operations as possible and enforcing them to the greatest degree possible, (vii) selecting the best type of workers to make the transition from development models to production missiles as smooth as possible, and (viii) setting up rigid systems and parts designation procedures for handling production parts. Finally, methods of organizing research and development and production for bridging the gap between engineering design and production are proposed.

Mountbatten offers a vivid description of the current‐awareness function using the analogy of a very wide conveyor‐belt, representing the information publishers, on which books, periodicals and reports appear at random: ‘The searcher is on a platform just above the belt and as the information material passes underneath he can pick up and read anything that he thinks might be of interest to him. You can imagine his frustration as he realises that for every item he takes time to examine, hundreds of others of possible interest to him have passed by’. Personality and environment will determine whether the individual can find an intelligent compromise between the extremes of neurosis induced by worrying about the material he is missing, or complacency with any system which produces one or two interesting items.

The purpose of this paper is to review recent and current work of the Aslib Research and Consultancy Division, with special emphasis on its research funded by the British Library Research and Development Department (BLRDD). In particular, the aim is to explain why we do the work we do, and to bring out its essentially practical nature.

In the course of the survey covered by this paper, cost data were collected by visiting eighteen operational computer‐based systems in Europe and the U.S.A., using a structured cost analysis scheme. The sample included database producers and self‐contained systems that both create, and provide services from, a data base. From the data obtained, unit costs have been derived for most operations, and the factors contributing to variations in the figures are discussed. Analysis of the data has shown that costs are affected more significantly by factors such as system management, salary variations, and productivity of staff, than by technical factors such as depth of indexing, data preparation methods, or computer programming. The total operating budgets of most of the systems have also been analysed to show the overall pattern of cost distribution, including overheads.

All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked, which may be consulted in the Library.

Brian Vickery has been a prolific writer as this list — which covers a period of forty active years — indicates. There are almost certainly omissions. He has, for example, been an incisive if gentle reviewer, in this and other journals, of the contemporary literature. Only a few of his extended reviews are included here. The bibliography illustrates the breadth of Brian's professional interests: from Bradford's law in the forties to expert systems in the eighties, with significant contributions to contemporary developments throughout the interim. The range is formidable and characteristic.

Information units have tended historically to operate as groups independent from their user populations. New technologies have generally been adopted within this operating pattern in order to carry out certain specific tasks. There has been little planned interaction between recording, storage, retrieval and dissemination functions. The electronic technologies, in terms of the potential which they offer for capturing and re‐using information; and their pervasive introduction within organisations, offer the chance to re‐evaluate information services and the products which they generate. The nature of information management is described, and a broad plan for carrying out an information audit is provided.