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Few readers have any inkling of the care with which a good librarian selects his bookstock. It is doubtful whether the average reader gives any thought to the way in which a library stock is built up, but if he does he probably imagines that it is merely an affair of going round the shelves of the nearest bookseller and selecting the books according to their appearance and titles. This, of course, is the last way in which a sound collection of books is developed, and no librarian has sufficiently large book funds to be able to ignore the accepted methods of book‐selection. These consist of a process of watching for advance notices of books which may come within the scope of his library, noting the publication date, reading and comparing reviews in reputable journals, examining the books themselves, and finally selecting those which:

Information officers as servants whether we admit it or not, we are all essentially selfish and like to know the answer to the question ‘Where do I stand?’ Hence it is proposed, as the first of the few topics selected for discussion in this paper, to deal with the position of the information officer himself.

Although textiles is one of the oldest crafts and goes back to prehistory—it is believed that weaving grew up in the neolithic or later stone age—our modern civilization is producing such rapid and numerous developments in so many aspects of the subject that the individual is hard put to keep up with only a fraction of them.

The last of the London meetings for the winter session 1955–6 was held on 13th April, 1956, when Mr. C. N. Kington, Group Manager, British Iron and Steel Research Association, and Director of Research, Cutlery Research Council, spoke on the problem of helping small firms to make use of scientific research. Many of the steel‐using firms are too small to have information departments of their own and, moreover, have a strong tradition of craftsmanship which is often slow to appreciate the value of new techniques. Mr. Kington has had first‐hand experience of the special approach that is necessary if these firms are to be kept in touch with scientific progress. His paper is printed in full in this issue, together with an account of questions and answers in the discussion which followed. The Chair was taken by Dr. M. A. Vernon, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, a branch of the Government that is particularly interested in this problem.

The disturbed national and international atmosphere during 1950 has not been without its effects on the affairs of the Association. Printing disputes have frequently delayed the appearance of Aslib publications and the scarcity of labour has made staff recruitment difficult. Notwithstanding these and other factors, the Council looks back on 1950 as a notable milestone in Aslib's history.

Love of the past is one of the key features of the British character. Tourists who flock to our shores see it in our carefully‐preserved archaeological sites, ancient monuments, churches, castles, palaces and timbered buildings. During their visit they may even learn from the guides that tradition is so important to us that its continuance may acquire legal force. If an individual can prove that he and his predecessors have enjoyed a privilege for a certain length of time he may be granted leave to enjoy it in perpetuity, as, for example, by our laws of ancient lights and right of way. In spite of evidence of this kind foreigners usually still fail to understand how fundamental tradition is to our nature and how much we respect our long‐standing institutions. Thus, in order properly to understand the present state of the information industry in Great Britain it will be necessary to examine its historical growth. As with most British institutions it owes much to the circumstances of its development.

ASLIB – the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux – was founded in 1924 with the aim of co‐ordinating the activities of specialist information services in the UK. This article seeks to present a new history of the first quarter‐century of the Association.

This is a historical study based substantially on two collections of primary documents: ASLIB's own records, held at Aslib Headquarters, London; and the papers of Edith Ditmas, held at the National Library of Wales.

The paper explores the origins of ASLIB, and its roots in the “science lobby” of the time; it then traces the development of ASLIB as both a “national intelligence service” for science, commerce and industry, and as a quasi‐professional association with international significance. It concludes that the first of these two functions was the Association's fundamental raison d'être.

The research is limited to study of ASLIB in the period 1924‐1950 and an obvious continuation would be a history of “corporate” ASLIB (1950‐1997). More generally, the paper reveals that the history of UK documentation and information science in the twentieth century is underexplored: there is scope for future research focused on key pioneers and ideas, as well as institutions such as ASLIB.

As far as is known, this is the first historical study of ASLIB to be based on contemporary records: it should therefore be of value to both historians of information and library science and practitioners interested in their professional heritage.

To comment on Brewer and Venaik's review of the misapplication of the national culture dimensions of Hofstede and GLOBE at the individual and other sub‐national levels. This paper supports and extends their critique.

The implausibility of deterministic claims about the multi‐level power of national culture is described and discussed by drawing on a wide range of disciplines (including anthropology, geography, sociology, and historiography).

Descriptions of the characteristics and origins of sub‐national level behaviour based on a priori depictions of national culture values are invalid and misleading.

There are important implications for practitioners. The paper highlights the unsoundness of descriptions of the sub‐national (individuals, consumer segments, organizations, and so forth) which are derived from national‐level depictions of culture and the dangers of ignoring the independent causal influence of non‐national culture and non‐cultural factors.

The ecological fallacy in the national culture literature is located within a wider and long‐standing critique of that fallacy. The paper is the first to show that the fallacy in the national culture literature is often an extreme causal version. It not merely supposes cross‐level equivalence, as in the standard version, but more aggressively, it attributes deterministic power to national culture thus excluding other independent influences and agency.

Data are presented on the benefits and costs that accrue to big game hunters living in the whaling community of Lamalera, Indonesia. Results indicate that big game hunting provides males a strong selective advantage. Harpooners, and to a lesser degree hunters in general, reap substantial fitness benefits from their activities. Hunters, especially harpooners, have significantly more offspring than other men after controlling for age. Hazard analysis shows that harpooners marry significantly earlier and start reproducing at an earlier age. This is not case for other hunt group members or non-hunting participants – the technicians and the boat managers. These results are consistent with data from other hunting societies that show significant reproductive benefits for good hunters. Harpooners experience other costs and benefits. Harpooners receive significantly more meat even after controlling for the effort they expend hunting, while at the same time suffer an increased risk of mortality. The results are discussed in the context of the hunting hypothesis and the current debate within human behavioral ecology concerning the role of hunting as a human male reproductive strategy.

This paper aims to prove that alliances in the construction industry can be used as vehicles to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

The paper first sets out a theoretical proposition through a literature review and synthesis, then details an empirical case study in the construction industry to investigate the theoretical proposition.

The findings indicate the existence of the “project based mindset”, within the working practices of the different players in construction alliances. This overly narrow project focus constrains the process of achieving sustainable competitive advantage for alliances.

This research, in broad terms, provides insights on the value of long‐term orientated collaboration in construction alliances and specifically target practitioners by identifying benefits of balancing alliance tasks and activities among senior executives and project managers in an appropriate way.

The paper makes an original contribution to the general body of knowledge on alliances and specifically to construction alliances by identifying the core value addition in the process of long‐term orientated collaboration so that the processes are carefully designed, interpreted and nurtured in practice. Also, recommends initiatives by the alliance management to redesign tasks and activities such that collaboration becomes part‐and‐parcel of senior executives and project managers’ daily routine, rather than considering collaborative encounters as extra activities that need “slack” time.