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The purpose of this paper is to expand the information technology concept of toil by applying it to system analysis for academic libraries. System mapping and toil definitions are used to measure costs and benefits of maintaining library information systems. The concept of toil provides a vehicle to shape the decisions made by managers when refining or building new library system infrastructure.

Using a system map of all library systems, the definition of toil was used to identify highly manual or high toil systems. This mapping was used to illuminate the need to migrate or eliminate certain library systems to managers in order to reduce the amount of toil undertaken by library employees.

Two library systems were identified for migration to more automated systems and two library systems were recommended for elimination in order to reduce the overall amount of toil present in the library systems ecosystem.

Using system mapping and toil definitions are helpful in identifying and relaying the cost of outdated systems to library managers.

This paper provides library managers an easy way to assess the ecosystem and efficiency of library systems without the need for technical expertise. It also expands the use of information technology concepts into the field of academic libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) on return on labour (ROL).

Data from 4,204 employees and their employers were used to construct regression models to assess separately, the direct relationships between the FWAs and ROL and also the indirect relationships, with job satisfaction and staff turnover as mediating variables, applying Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediation rules.

Flexible work hours significantly and directly increased ROL and indirectly through reduction in staff turnover, while the negative direct effect of job sharing on ROL was indirectly reduced by its positive effect on job satisfaction. Time in lieu of overtime (TOIL) and working from home reduced ROL with the direct negative effects of TOIL on ROL worsened by a reduction in job satisfaction.

The results suggest that not all FWAs increase ROL and that the direct effects of FWAs on ROL emanate from the efficacy with which work is reallocated in FWA negotiations. The indirect effects derive from employees’ reciprocation of FWAs through improved job satisfaction and turnover. The onus is therefore, on employers to maximise returns from FWAs through efficient work reallocation during negotiations.

The study makes a contribution by examining the direction of effects of FWAs on ROL and the pathways (direct and indirect) by which the effects occur. Research in this area has hitherto considered subjective and qualitative performance measures. FWAs, such as job sharing and TOIL, which are rarely considered in the literature, are covered in the study.

Our Dublin correspondent telegraphed last night:

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Human resources are becoming increasingly important to organisations in regards to competitive advantage. Good human resource management requires ensuring employees have a good work-life balance. One way of promoting this is by means of flexible work arrangements (such as flexible work hours, working from home, and job sharing). Flexible work arrangements directly affect return on labour via work reallocation, and indirectly through job satisfaction and staff turnover. Not all flexible work arrangements have positive financial outcomes. Employers need to ensure good work reallocation to make the right flexible arrangements work for their organisations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

WE have frequently in the past given expression to our belief that one of the more useful functions AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING can perform is to publish from time to time articles summarizing the position and surveying the existing state of knowledge on some subject of general interest. The difficulty, of course, always is to find someone with the time, as well as the inclination, to step back from his day‐to‐day routine investigations to prepare such a paper. Certainly that has always been the obstacle we have met when we have formed the opinion that the time has arrived when a survey on such broad lines of this or that matter would be of interest; apart from the view that a sufficient state of finality has not been attained for the process to be possible, pre‐supposing that such a condition ever is reached in any branch of knowledge.

Human liberation requires an affluent, egalitarian, and democratic society in which man is free from domination by nature's caprice and, in all spheres of life, free from domination by other men. The industrial revolution and technological advances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries held great promise for human liberation. The burden of toil and drudgery and the domination of man by nature's caprice began lifting in Europe and in some of her colonies. Human safety and security came within reach because poverty was being eliminated. Liberation on the material plane was at hand. However, at the closing of the twentieth century, the liberation process has been slowed down, if not thwarted. In most of the third world, not even the burden of toil and drudgery and the domination of man by a capricious nature have been lifted. In the affluent United States, on the other hand, material security and safety is widespread, but it still does not reach the lowest stratum. Domination by nature through human poverty continues in the affluent West even though it could be eliminated. Nevertheless, in the West, domination by nature is no longer an insurmountable physical datum.

The position of these Irish agitators is illogical and untenable; the remedy they propose is no remedy at all – nevertheless they are talking about the tenure of land and the right to land; and thus a question of worldwide importance is coming to the front.³

This paper aims to consider the role of the bank clerk in the Victorian era and to provide insights into clerical life in a London bank during the period.

The paper draws on the archival records of Hoare and Company. Founded in the seventeenth century, it is the oldest surviving independent bank in the UK.

Drawing on the company's archival records, the paper examines issues such as recruitment, house rules, acts of paternalism and the overwhelming concern with maintaining respectability. While Hoare's clerks humorously referred to themselves as the Association of the Sons of Toil, the records support the literature in revealing the relatively cosseted career of the bank clerk within Victorian clerical circles. He generally enjoyed a higher salary, longer holidays and more favourable working conditions than his clerical counterparts. It was therefore a highly sought after position. Only those of impeccable character however, were recruited into its ranks.

The paper suggests the potential significance of Victorian values to the recruitment and general working conditions of contemporary members of the financial community.

The paper's value lies in supplementing the existing literature with further insights into the life of the Victorian bank clerk.