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ALTHOUGH you are reading a professional journal, you may be interested in the impressions of a semi‐outsider, one who has teetered on the edge of the maelstrom of modern librarianship without actually having fallen in—yet. The experience may even be salutary; who knows?

During the past five‐and‐a‐half years of civil strife in Northern Ireland, the entire social fabric has been subjected to enormous strain. No one, man, woman or child, has escaped the pressures of living in this stricken province, and just as this is true of the people it is true of their institutions. Like other institutions, public libraries have come under fire, both literally, and in the sense that like shops, pubs and other places of entertainment they have suffered grieviously from a decline in custom. Not that the picture is an entirely gloomy one, and indeed there have been considerable achievements in the life of the province and its libraries in recent years. As is so often the case here, a great deal depends upon location, upon where one lives, works or indeed, just happens to be at any particular time. Hence, for librarians fortunate enough to be situated in less‐troublesome areas, life can go on almost as before, even if it is never quite normal. It is in the towns, particularly in Belfast, and again in certain districts, that the difficulties are most acute. Under the circumstances the performance of the public library system is greatly to be admired. Moreover, where circumstances have prevented the operation of normal public library services, the co‐operative and flexible attitude shown by Belfast Public Library has greatly facilitated the provision of alternative library facilities. Certainly without its aid the Highfield Community Library could scarcely have developed as it has done.

Reference tools are prime candidates for replacement with their electronic counterparts, since finding the desired information in the shortest possible time and with the least possible effort is the primary concern of users of reference tools. Electronic versions of reference sources often provide enhanced access, as well as more definitive searching techniques. This article will describe two attempts made by the Evans Library at Texas A&M University to substitute reference tools with their electronic equivalents: one that failed from an economic standpoint and one that succeeded, attaining good user acceptance and reasonable costs.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to establish the role of the pop-up store within the international location strategy of fashion retailers, second, to identify the factors influencing pop-up store location choice and the importance retailers ascribe to it and third, to assess how pop-up locations are sourced and selected.

A multiple case study was adopted. Research was conducted using secondary data sources, observation and semi-structured interviews with senior executives with strategic responsibility for store/brand development internationally. Manual content analysis was conducted.

Key findings cover the role of Pop-up stores within international retail location strategy, notably features, forms and function, with the latter highlighting the importance of opportunistic market testing and trial, reduced risk, regeneration, ROI- and CRM-driven decisions; the factors impacting location choice and selection, specifically the trade-offs between reactive and proactive approaches and the importance of networks and intuition, and future pop-up directions.

Due to the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalization outside of the given sector and marketplaces. Several avenues for future research are elucidated including exploration of pop-up transformations including pop-up rebrand, technology enabled, experiential and third place.

The study contributes to the nascent field of research by providing new insight into the role of pop-ups within international location strategy, the factors influencing location choice and selection and offers a pop-up location taxonomy.

Fourteen characters, a complete change of scene at half‐time, and sundry part‐changes during each Act, provide in themselves value for money in these days of economic stringency in the theatre. Throw in a typical Agatha Christie whodunit and you can really start thinking its Christmas — as it was indeed. The host of a party at which all of the main guests were, it was hinted, concealing a murky past was murdered on the sofa in his drawing room while a game of bridge was going on — thus the Cards on the Table. One of them was obviously going to be a caught card, which Gordon Jackson as a police Superintendent ultimately turned up. The settings and dresses reflected the mid‐thirties in which the play was set, providing a general atmosphere of elegance.

This paper examines the labor policies of the United Typothetae of America (UTA) from its birth in 1887 through the late 1920s and argues that labor policy differences among its members (personified by two prominent New York City-based printing employers, Theodore DeVinne and Charles Francis) created a “house divided” that not only prevented it from creating and maintaining a unified labor policy but also ultimately led to its demise as an employers' association and reconstitution primarily as a trade association. It will do so by analyzing key episodes in the UTA's labor history to show how the two competing labor philosophies – DeVinne's absolute authority & independence and Francis's stability & order – interacted with industry conditions – intense price competition, a decentralized industry structure, proprietor autonomy, the relative power of unions, and economic conditions – to impact the UTA's labor policies and its institutional survival. The UTA's experience reveals the diversity of American employers' experiences as well as the challenges that they have faced when attempting to act collectively in the industrial relations arena. Moreover, recent IR research on employers' associations around the world also reveals that, as unions have declined in power, many also are shifting their focus away from labor relations to other member services.

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the boundaries separating strategic and comparative institutional perspectives on human resource systems and employment relations. Each research tradition has investigated the role and outcomes of corporations as they operate in an increasingly global economy. Researchers in these traditions, however, ask different research questions and draw on distinct social science disciplines, theoretical assumptions, and research methodologies. While they have pursued parallel but separate tracks, we argue that they have important lessons for each other. In this paper, we review the core characteristics and critiques of each research tradition, provide a series of examples of efforts to bridge their differences, and offer suggestions for future integration.

The workplace offers an ideal setting for facilitating physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours. Understanding employees’ current health behaviours is required to inform appropriate, tailored, health promotion interventions. The purpose of this paper is to compare the physical activity and sedentary behaviours over 12 months of employees within and across five UK organisations. The paper also explores the association of these health behaviours with objective and self-reported health outcomes; and investigates the association between physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

Self-reported physical activity and sedentary behaviours were recorded at four time points (baseline, three, six, 12 months). BMI, per cent body fat, waist circumference, blood pressure and resting heart rate were collected in health checks (baseline, 12 months). Well-being and health were collected via questionnaire.

Low physical activity and high sedentariness were evident. Sitting levels varied by occupational role and organisation. More activity was associated with improved health outcomes; no association was evident for sedentary behaviour. No direct effects of occupational role or organisation on health outcomes emerged after accounting for physical activity/sedentary behaviours. Physical activity and sedentary levels were weakly associated.

The low activity levels are of particular concern as linked to health outcomes for this sample. The weak association between behaviours suggests worksite interventions should target both behaviours.

This study provides insight into both the physical activity and sedentary behaviours of employees of large UK employers across different occupational sectors over 12 months; importantly it is informed by the most recent guidance for these health behaviours.