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…but it is hoped that the arrows fired in Target 2000 will fall somewhere near the target for this new column — the turn of the century, the year 2000. Contributors are invited to focus on a specific topic that falls within the current scope of the journal and speculate on the concerns, changes or challenges that will be experienced over the coming seven year period. However, Target 2000 will also be a ‘floating Delphi’, as contributors may be asked to revise their predictions during the seven years and they will certainly be asked to reexamine them as the new century arrives.

It is now a year since this column was launched and a number of arrows have been shot in the air … aimed at hitting the target labelled the year 2000. In the first column (vol. 17 no. 1) Charles Oppenheim (University of Strathclyde) commented that Target 2000 would be one way of learning how good information professionals are at predicting the future. So far, the Oppenheim award goes to Charles Citroen (TNO Policy Research, The Netherlands) whose prediction at this time one year ago was that ‘online hosts like the present ones will probably disappear.’ Within a few months of this prediction, Dialog and Data‐Star had announced their merger.

The quotation from Henry Longfellow's The Arrow and the Song: first appeared in the Target 2000 column in the first issue of the relaunched Online & CDROM Review in 1993. Since then a number of arrows have been aimed at developments that could be expected by the turn of the century. As this column was envisaged as a “floating Delphi”, this seems an appropriate point in the run‐up to the millennium to review the projections made to date. Below they have been reviewed and grouped, and it is hoped that in the coming months the authors may wish to expand or revise their original thoughts. The year, volume, issue and page numbers for the journal reference are given after the author’s name.

In preparing the population of the Sultanate of Oman for the challenges that will face them in the 21st century, the government is laying special emphasis on education. Early in the 1990s, a team of educational experts from Canada studied the educational system in Oman, and proposed a wide‐ranging, expensive, and thorough reform. Work on this programme began in 1995 using the Canadian recommendations as the framework for the reform programme to be developed between 1996–2000. The programme lays great stress on improving and strengthening the teaching of mathematics and science; introduction of English language teaching in the first grade for children aged 6; and, most importantly, a shift in the method of teaching from teacher‐ centred to child‐centred learning.

In 1986, according to Task Force Pro Libra (TFPL) data, there were 48 information CD‐ROMs in existence. The phenomenal growth of this outgrowth from the home entertainment music industry has been tracked by TFPL as it has compiled its directories over the past years. The rate of growth can be seen from the following table:

In The Information Society (Oct.‐Dec. 1995), three authors presented arguments on the future of electronic journals (e‐journals) which raised key questions that should be considered in trying to project into the future. Perhaps in the four year run‐up to the millennium there will no be dramatic change in the world of scholarly publishing. However, the three papers together pose interesting ideas for speculation.

Information and Society is the topic of a new course that was taught over one semester at the Department of Library and Information Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University at the beginning of the year. The course covers the definition of the information society; historical perspectives; industrialisation of society and the concept of a post‐industrial society; scenarios for the future; forecasting social and technological change; demographics; trends in research and development for LIS; the virtual librarian; and implications for professional education and continuing development.

In the last issue, second year undergraduate students taking the Information and Society option at the Department of Library and Information Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK contributed their thoughts about the developments they would expect by the year 2000. Their ideas were presented as the course started The option covers the following topics: definition of the information society; historical perspectives; industrialisation of society and the concept of a post‐industrial society; scenarios for the future; forecasting social and technological change; demographics; trends in research and development for LIS; the virtual librarian; and implications for professional education and continuing development. Three students who wrote down their thoughts at the beginning of the course agreed to write a second contribution which reflected their thinking at the end of the option. It was felt that this might show how thinking could have been changed and developed as a result of the course taught.

When this column was started two years ago it was established as an exercise in forecasting, with contributors being invited to shoot arrows at the year 2000 and predict what would happen in a particular field of interest by the turn of the century. In addition, it is also intended to use it as a ‘floating Delphi’, as contributors may be asked to revise their predictions in the intervening period. It is still the intention that these revisions will be requested and they will probably start next year — the mid point of the seven year run‐up to target date.

An outline of methods and summary of findings of a study of American, British and Overseas physicists. This project was conducted by Aslib Research Department (acting for the Institution of Electrical Engineers) and the American Institute of Physics. It took place in 1966, the first year of publication of Current Papers in Physics. Aims were to assess the need for and reactions to this new current awareness journal and suggestions for improvement, and to obtain background information on the current awareness requirements of the physics community.