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Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by women is an infrequently discussed topic. The lack of knowledge about female perpetrators of IPV results institutionally in insufficient prevention training and discursively in inadequate appreciation of the women's realm. Thus, this chapter will examine the debates on female IPV in the area of tension between violence prevalence research and the gender-based approach in social sciences and shows that female IPV as a women's reality of life is not limited to resistance violence and is far more complex. By collecting data from 58 female IPV cases, the author develops a typology of female offenders of IPV. Case files documented by the counsellors at violenTia, a German counselling specialist working with women perpetrating violence in their partnership, were examined. The counsellors' notes in the case files were analysed by methods of the empirically grounded type construction, that is the notes were thematically coded and dimensionalised and the case files were grouped according to empirical regularities, followed by an analysis of the contexts of meaning, the type construction and the characterisation of the types constructed. As per the findings, four types (1–4) and one subtype (3′) of female IPV were developed. The main dimensions of the typology are the structure of violence (asymmetrical/symmetrical), the pattern of violence (systematic/situational), the agency of violence (who has the ability and capacity to use violence) and attribution of meaning to violence (for example, explanations and legitimisation). The author concludes that types of female offenders show strong external heterogeneity. A finding which is important for appropriate treatment settings. Female perpetrators often lack the words to describe violent behaviour and repeatedly have unprocessed trauma. Accordingly, to understand and prevent IPV, it is necessary to widen perspectives on female offenders without reducing them to traditional gender stereotypes.

THE catalogue, as a library appliance of importance, has had more attention devoted to it than, perhaps, any other method or factor of librarianship. Its construction, materials, rules for compilation and other aspects have all been considered at great length, and in every conceivable manner, so that little remains for exposition save some points in the policy of the catalogue, and its effects on progress and methods. In the early days of the municipal library movement, when methods were somewhat crude, and hedged round with restrictions of many kinds, the catalogue, even in the primitive form it then assumed, was the only key to the book‐wealth of a library, and as such its value was duly recognized. As time went on, and the vogue of the printed catalogue was consolidated, its importance as an appliance became more and more established, and when the first Newcastle catalogue appeared and received such an unusual amount of journalistic notice, the idea of the printed catalogue as the indispensable library tool was enormously enhanced from that time till quite recently. One undoubted result of this devotion to the catalogue has been to stereotype methods to a great extent, leading in the end to stagnation, and there are places even now where every department of the library is made to revolve round the catalogue. Whether it is altogether wise to subordinate everything in library work to the cult of the catalogue has been questioned by several librarians during the past few years, and it is because there is so much to be said against this policy that the following reflections are submitted.

The recent advertisement for the post of City Librarian of Westminster announces, in effect, the retirement of Mr. L. R. McColvin, who has held the position since before the last war. Friends everywhere will regret that his retirement has had to be announced at a time when he has still not fully recovered from the serious illness which struck him last December. His retirement was of course due in any case at the end of this year, and it will be everyone's hope that by then he will be fully recovered and able to continue his valuable contributions to library affairs in the role of elder statesman.

THIS SEPTEMBER marks the seventy‐fifth birthday of J. B. Priestley, the ‘old rhinoceros of English letters’ as C. P. Snow once described him, probably the last of the old‐style writers, professionals to their finger tips, ready at an instant to write whatever was required of them, often at very short notice. More than thirty years ago Priestley outlined his ambitions in this direction. ‘I have a restless nature, easily bored,’ he confessed, ‘and so I flit from one kind of work to another, partly sustained by a very genuine interest in the technical problems of all forms of writing.’ He continued: ‘I have always wanted to be an all‐round man of letters on the eighteenth‐century plan, which allowed or commanded a man to write essay or poem, novel or play, just as he pleased.’

This study, carried out in the bilingual and bicultural border area of South Texas, is an exploration of bilingual preservice teachers’ identity formation and their experiences and beliefs about literacy and biliteracy during an undergraduate class focused on learning about emergent literacy in the bilingual classroom. This study is based on a sociocultural approach to learning and identity development, and research that explores how bilingual teachers’ identity is shaped through their participation in cultural and linguistic practices. The purpose of this practitioner research is to provide insights into preservice teachers’ identities as they start to explore literacy and biliteracy practices. Two research questions guide the study: What experiences about literacy and biliteracy development do prospective teachers identify as meaningful? How do these experiences contribute to define bilingual preservice teachers’ identities? Findings indicate that bilingual preservice teachers’ identities are shaped by cultural and linguistic experiences that define the bilingual and bicultural dynamics of the region. Two predominant types of experiences impact bilingual preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching, learning, and literacy/biliteracy development. Particularly significant in defining their perceptions are the lessons learned from meaningful others – especially mothers and teachers – and certain relevant memories regarding effective practices they experienced when learning to read and write. Implications for teacher education preparation of bilingual teachers are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of how quality improvement tools and techniques are framed within healthcare settings.

The paper employs an interpretive approach to understand how quality improvement tools and techniques are mobilised and legitimated. It does so using a case study of the NHS Modernisation Agency Improvement Leaders' Guides in England.

Improvement Leaders' Guides were framed within a service improvement approach encouraging the use of quality improvement tools and techniques within healthcare settings. Their use formed part of enacting tools and techniques across different contexts. Whilst this enactment was believed to support the mobilisation of tools and techniques, the experience also illustrated the challenges in distributing such approaches.

The paper provides an important contribution in furthering our understanding of framing the “social act” of quality improvement. Given the ongoing emphasis on quality improvement in health systems and the persistent challenges involved, it also provides important information for healthcare leaders globally in seeking to develop, implement or modify similar tools and distribute leadership within health and social care settings.

The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought within measurable distance the Regulations which were, in any case, promised for1975. The Group consider that the extension of voluntary open date marking systems will not be sufficiently rapid (or sufficiently comprehensive) to avoid the need or justify the delay in introducing legislation.

Recently Bradford Libraries celebrated the 25th anniversary of its “new” Central Library building. Not, to be sure, a world‐shattering event or one of great interest to the library profession (nor, indeed, to some of the public, whose library it is), but one feature concerning this celebration is worthy of note: the memories of past and present library staff. These memories were recorded, and from the new recruit who was asked to tell the City Librarian that the Great War had ended (and who got a penny for his effort), to the new recruit today struggling to master OPACs and the Citizen′s Charter, this record is a valuable documentary resource for both the historian who chronicles the changes in the philosophy and practices in the library service, and to the present‐day librarian.