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In this paper we present a corporate information system for untrained users to search gigabytes of unformatted data using quasi‐natural language and relevance feedback queries. The data can reside on distributed servers anywhere on a wide area network, giving the users access to personal, corporate, and published information from a single interface. Effective queries can be turned into profiles, allowing the system to automatically alert the user when new data are available. The system was tested by twenty executive users located in six cities. Our primary goal in building the system was to determine if the technology and infrastructure existed to make end‐user searching of unstructured information profitable. We found that effective search and user interface technologies for end‐users are available, but network technologies are still a limiting cost factor. As a result of the experiment, we are continuing the development of the system. This article will describe the overall system architecture, the implemented subset, and the lessons learned.

In a world where every competitive advantage must be fully exploited, productive diversity – utilising Australia’s linguistic and cultural diversity to economic benefit – offers a practical resource, which no organisation, including government, can afford to ignore. Astute employers have begun to tap this resource – people who speak the language, understand the culture and often maintain business and personal contacts in countries where they want to do business. The respondents in this research tell the story of the potential bottom line value of this unique human resource, termed productive diversity (that has been coined to describe the use of our language, skills and cultural diversity for economic benefit). This is a resource‐based study focussing on cultural resources and links to the country of origin as a sustained competitive advantage and a strategy for success of the ethnic business operations in Australia. It presents case studies/stories of ethnic entrepreneurs who have succeeded in business through productive diversity.

IN LINE with the general aims of the World Trade Centre movement, the London WTC information centre will serve the international trader at every level. It will provide both on‐the‐spot information from the library and a detailed referral service leading to sources of specialised information.

Many case studies on minority ethnic groups have been concerned with the social, structural and economic patterns of these communities. Knowing how these patterns have influenced the ethnic identity in some cases, the authors believe that they can extrapolate from the strength of the social cohesion of a group to the possible strength of the group's traditional food habits. This series of articles emphasises the strength of traditional food habits in a different cultural environment, and the factors which contribute to this strength.

The fusion of disparate information systems is creating new clarity for companies, their suppliers, and their customers.

Identifies key activities that network users can perform in order to use the network effectively. Offers recommended reading, from beginner to expert user status. Explains some commonly used terms (e.g. Turbo Gopher with Veronica!). Lists useful Internet resources.

America's movement to a digital network infrastructure may be threatened by the unavailability of high‐speed network channels to some sources of information. One reason for unavailability is fear by network intermediaries that they face legal liability for carrying harmful messages. Yet changing the law to require network intermediaries to provide equal access to their services raises First Amendment questions.

Much research claims that immigrant women's entrepreneurship in Western capitalist societies is embedded in the structural and cultural attributes of receiving societies. Other studies maintain that the structural and cultural traits of immigrant groups explain women's entrance into this type of business activity. Together, this body of research underestimates those individual attributes embedded in human agency, in the personalities of immigrant women, that encourage them to engage in this type of business enterprise.

This study examines the relation between voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Little is known about how these local norms (measured at the county level) affect firms’ disclosure practices and firm value, especially voluntary disclosure on climate change and environmental and social responsibility.

Poisson regression models test for a significant relation between firms’ voluntary CSR disclosure intensity and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Also, an event study tests whether the local religious norms affect investment returns. The data analyzed are extracted from the archive of CSRwire, a prominent news organization that distributes CSR news to investors and the public worldwide.

The study finds that firms in high adherence (high churchgoer) locations disclose CSR activities less frequently, and firms in high affiliation (a high proportion of non-evangelical Christian churchgoers) locations disclose CSR activities more frequently. The study also finds that managers make firm-value-increasing CSR disclosure decisions that cater to the religious and social norms of the local community.

The results imply that managers self-identify with the local religious norms of stakeholders and appropriately disclose less about CSR activities when religious adherence is high and when religious affiliation (the ratio of non-evangelicals to evangelical Christians) is low. The authors find this noteworthy because religious bodies often call for greater CSR involvement and disclosure. Yet, at the firm level, it would appear that local community religious norms also prevail, as it is shown that they significantly explain firms’ CSR disclosure behavior, implying that managers cater to local religious norms in their disclosure decisions.

The findings suggest that managers vary the timing and intensity of voluntary CSR disclosure consistent with stakeholders’ local religious and social norms and that it would be costly and inefficient if the firms were to expand CSR disclosure without considering the religious norms of their local community.

This is the first large-sample study to show that local religious norms affect CSR disclosure behavior. The study makes use of a unique and novel data set obtained exclusively from CSRwire.

The purpose of this paper is to formally assess the training program received by information studies graduate students and the reference services they provided at a research-intensive university.

A qualitative content analysis was used to evaluate if graduate students incorporated the training they received in their provision of reference services. The students’ virtual reference transcripts were coded to identify the level of questions asked, if a reference interview occurred and if different teaching methods were used by the students in their interactions. The in-person reference transactions recorded by the students were coded for the level of questions asked.

The main findings demonstrate a low frequency of reference interviews in chat interactions with a presence in only 23 per cent of instances while showing that instructional methods are highly used by graduate student reference assistants and are present in 66 per cent of chat conversations.

This study is of interest to academic libraries who wish to partner with information studies programs and schools to offer graduate students valuable work experience. It aims to show the value that graduate students can bring to reference services. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of continuously developing training programs and assessing the performance of graduate students working in these roles.