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THE death of Sir John Ballinger was the cardinal library event of January. Elsewhere one of our contributors has gathered his memories of this distinguished past president of the Library Association. Here we pay tribute to a great librarian whose devotion to all that is best in the service was life‐long and who received honours which are not always given to librarians. Achieving a relatively important library position in early life, he not only gave his city an admirable service; he found time to work for all the general interests of the profession. The respect and gratitude, and indeed the affection, of all of us surrounded his later years and go with him to his grave. Our sympathy is respectfully expressed to Lady Ballinger and her family.

In a lecture of this type it is not necessary to discuss how the various nutrients in food are determined, but it may not be out of place to emphasise that it is misleading to use general terms, such as a broad statement that one food is more nutritious than another. The value of a food in a diet is dependent upon what actual nutrients it contains, and consideration should also be given to the nutrients supplied by the remainder of the diet normally consumed. A diet which provides all the required calories, ample fat, and good quality protein, mineral matter, etc., would be unsatisfactory if it still lacked other essential nutrients such as vitamins. Similarly, no one can live for long on a diet of high calorific value and rich in vitamins if it lacks protein which supplies the body with a wide range of essential amino acids. It is inadvisable to think only in terms of well‐known foodstuffs and simply to say, for example, that milk is very nutritious. Milk is only the excellent food that it is because in general it provides a wide range of essential nutrients such as fat, proteins which supply many amino acids, vitamins such as riboflavin, and useful minerals such as calcium, etc. It is advisable to think in terms of the actual nutrients rather than in terms of the foodstuff itself. Table 1 shows that bread provides a variety of important nutrients, i.e., substances which are essential to the diet if the body is to remain healthy and able to fulfil its normal functions.

THE following list of contracts placed by the Air Ministry during the month of May is extracted from the June issue of The Ministry of Labour Gazette:

THE following list of contracts placed by the Air Ministry during January is extracted from the February issue of The Ministry of Labour Gazette:—

“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published in 1941. The 1970's has produced more than enough — too much — food to satisfy that appetite. In the past five years the number of reference books, in this context defined as encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, indexes and bibliographies, and the astounding number of volumes on individual directors, complete histories, genre history and analysis, published screenplays, critics' anthologies, biographies of actors and actresses, film theory, film technique and production and nostalgia, that have been published is overwhelming. The problem in film scholarship is not too little material but the senseless duplication of materials that already exist and the embarrassing output of items that are poorly or haphazardly researched, or perhaps should not have been written at all.

ATTENTION has been repeatedly drawn to certain drawbacks in the library profession which tend to hinder progress in many ways, and recently some discussion has taken place concerning the long hours and short pay of library assistants. Some years ago there appeared, we believe, in one of Mr. Greenwood's valuable Library Year Books, an analysis of the hours of work in a large number of British Municipal Libraries, and it was made plain from this that a majority of assistants had to work considerably more than forty‐eight hours weekly. Conditions may have changed since then, although it is open to doubt, but the fact remains that too many assistants, and a considerable number of librarians in small places, are now working so long, and in such broken spells, as to preclude any possibility of attaining self‐culture or reasonable recreation. The case of the small town librarian is particularly distressing. In some instances he is a man who has been well‐trained in a large town library, and inspired by a mistaken ambition, elects to attain a position of independence by accepting the chief librarianship in a library of which he afterwards finds himself the sole officer. He is responsible for the cleaning, as well as the ordinary work of a librarian, and his efforts to convert a miserable library rate of a few pounds into an engine of immense efficiency (as expected by the local authority) are enough to make the financial operations of even an American millionaire seem petty in comparison. We have had several cases like this brought to notice within a few weeks, and they give added point to any plea for reform which may be advanced. One young man, well‐educated and well‐trained, undertook the charge of a small municipal library, chiefly because it happened to be near London, and he wished to be in touch with that great and attractive centre. He very soon discovered that the hours of the library were so arranged as to occupy his whole time and keep him employed all day, from 9 a.m. or earlier, till 10 p.m., with two short breaks which did not suffice for a visit to London. On Sunday he was too tired to think of London, apart from which, the institutions which interested him were closed, so that it is possible this librarian has not yet seen the longed‐for London of his cherished anticipations ! There are cases like this in the smaller libraries all over the country, where one official has to perform all the work in an unlimited number of hours. If, as is done in some places, the hours of opening are greatly curtailed in order to give the librarian his deserved and well‐earned rest, then the public suffer. On the other hand, a library administered by a single officer and kept open from nine to ten hours daily, is rather of the nature of a slave‐compound, in which an official is kept prisoner in the interests of the omnipotent ratepayer. Wherever small staffs are kept, there exists this tendency towards long hours, and a consequent eterioration in the efficiency and educational qualifications of assistants. A standing complaint among those who are engaged in the educational work of the Library Association is that so many candidates are deficient in the most elementary subjects, such as composition, spelling and arithmetic. This is undoubtedly caused by the employment of imperfectly educated assistants, who are afterwards tied so fast to their library duties that they are unable to find any time for study and reading. In libraries where small staffs and long hours of opening are found together, it is almost certain that the work‐hours of the assistants will be excessive, and the efficiency of the service impaired.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether learning communities (LCs), defined as a cohort of students jointly enrolled in two distinct courses, increase “deep learning” in either or both courses. This study focuses on the impact of learning communities in quantitative courses.

The hypothesis is tested using a unique data set including individual student performance and characteristics collected from students enrolled in an LC of Principles of Microeconomics and Elementary Statistics. The sample also includes students enrolled in each course separately which allows for testing between groups. The final exam in each course contained questions designed specifically to test deep learning. The design facilitates the use of multivariate regression analysis to examine the correlation between learning in communities and deep learning, holding constant other possible elements of student success.

Despite perceptions among the sample student population that learning increases in both courses as a result of the LC format, the empirical evidence does not reveal any statistically significant increase in deep learning as a result of learning in community. However, the sample is more introverted than the average college student which may meaningfully impact the results.

There are a number of important motivations for implementing an LC program that are not measured here. These include an increased sense of community among students, breadth (rather than depth) of knowledge, and awareness of the interconnectedness of learning across disciplines. However, to the extent that university instructors are motivated to ensure learning in their own discipline, this resource-intensive strategy may not be the most suitable approach in quantitative courses.

Learning communities continue to be a popular pedagogical technique and curriculum requirement, particularly at teaching-focused universities. This research offers an empirical approach to measuring one aspect of their value which is typically left to conceptual or qualitative study.

This paper seeks to examine how young consumers attribute and select product prices according to their presentation (i.e. format and ending).

A questionnaire, administered to a sample of children between six and 12 years of age, reveals that children's allocation of prices and children's choices depend on different price formats (i.e. non‐decimal versus decimal prices and varied price endings).

Children tend to prefer round prices and to choose a 0‐ending in the decimal portion of decimal prices. However, their preferences also depend on their position as either a salesperson or a buyer.

Research into the relationship between children and price is a relatively new field. This study uses recent works as a basis and extends the field with new insights.

This conference was the second in the National Physical Laboratory series focusing in turn on each of the non‐CFC options for de‐fluxing soldered electronics assemblies. The first conference was on Controlled Atmosphere Soldering and the third will be on New Solvents.