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Introduction Hastily, I beat the editor to it by writing “These are the personal views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor of this journal.” Indeed, I take it further. The article does not necessarily, in general manner or particular phrase, represent the views of the National Committee of National Library Week. It's a great disappointment to me that to date neither the National Committee nor myself has had to disown the other. Our opinions, to date, coincide on all salient points. No blows have been exchanged between Committee and Organiser. Since concord should often be more rightly spelt “c‐o‐m‐p‐l‐a‐c‐e‐n‐c‐y”, I regret this. All, however, may yet be well. My full views as Organiser of NLW 1969 follow: I shall state them with the most forthright candour and the most furious conviction; and the fisticuffs may well follow, as sure as Library fines. If the editor considers this preamble, too … well, too ambling … I proffer one excuse. As organiser, I'm as over‐worked and time‐pressed as any librarian, and my defence is therefore borrowed from Flaubert: “Forgive a long letter—I had no time to write a short one.” (Reference librarians, please check this quotation. I'm too busy.) Finally, there are those who write very lightly when they wish to state their most serious belief. Into this maladjusted and misjudged fraternity, I was myself born.

Professional touching behavior (PTB), defined as intentional touching behavior that occurs between organizational members and that falls within the boundaries of appropriateness and professionalism in the workplace, is prevalent in organizations. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including human resources researchers, have acknowledged the importance of physical contact for facilitating interpersonal communication and relationship-building. However, PTB may not only elicit positive reactions from those who receive it but also negative reactions as well, with implications for social dynamics in organizations. PTB can, on the one hand, fulfill employees’ desires for interpersonal connection; at the same time, such physical contact at work can represent a threat to employees’ health. To explain the nature and implications of these divergent effects of receiving PTB, the authors draw upon sociometer theory and behavioral immune system (BIS) theory to model the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes via which, and the conditions under which, receiving such behavior will result in socially functional responses and prompt subsequent prosocial behavior, and when PTB will be perceived as a health risk and prompt withdrawal behavior. The theoretical framework of this chapter expands our conceptual understanding of the consequences of interpersonal physical contact at work and has important human resources management (HRM) implications for organizational managers.

My original intention in writing this discussion chapter was to conduct a fine-grained comparison and contrast of what the contributors had to say about several aspects of making and using video in teacher education. However, my initial notes indicated that I would have nothing different and not much more to say than Ladewski (1996) already said in her comparison of four video-based teacher education programs. Furthermore, continued study of the chapters underscored the fact that seeming disagreements were mostly reflections of differences in the authors’ target learners and program goals, not actual disagreements about what or how video should be used.

The history of the public library is long and rich, and continues to reflect this institution's initial mission: to respond to the needs of an evolving democratic society. From its early days as a subscription service for the middle-class, through its evolution to become an educational site for the lower-classes and new immigrants, the public library has served as a touch-stone for urban industrial society in North America (Lerner, 1998, p. 138; Shera, 1974). Over the past century, public libraries have evolved to respond to the growing needs of the communities they serve and continue to do so with recent advances in technologies (such as DVDs, electronic books, the Internet, etc.), and with a more global outlook on the ways that people seek and share information. Indeed, the public library's constituents today are exceedingly diverse, including children and adults from a broad range of socio-economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds, all of whom seek information for a variety of personal and work-related purposes. The fact that public libraries have been fulfilling patrons' information needs for well over a century is a testament to their enduring success and versatility as information providers, and also points to the overall effectiveness of public librarians as intermediaries in the provision process.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover attitudes of physical therapists (PTs) who treat vegetative state (VS) patients, and to raise awareness to ethical and professional dilemmas: Are PTs influenced by ageist perceptions? Do they consider physiotherapy to be effective or futile?

Ethical questions and complex dilemmas are by and large subconscious and rarely explicitly voiced, but can be identified by revealing implicit therapists' personal and professional approach to patients. A quantitative six‐point Likert scale questionnaire was developed, which presented two VS cases – young and old, followed by practical‐ethical questions concerning key issues including: treatment choices, quality of life, prolongation of life, futile treatment (n=101, 68 percent return rate).

The results reveal a complex reality: on the one hand PTs expressed a positive perception of their profession, and consider all treatment components important for VS patients and their families regardless of age; on the other hand, significant preference for treating the younger VS patient was found.

There is a need for raising awareness of physiotherapists to the social phenomenon of ageism and its implications on daily professional and ethical conduct.

While other studies revealed ageism in various health care settings, this study was original both in its methodology (examining implicit ageism via contrasting vignettes), and its unique context (VS patients) which in theory could be viewed as “ageless” in light of the patients' permanent condition.

This article addresses issues of calculation and economization in contemporary public organizations. In particular, it investigates how choices of organizing emergency health-care have been affected by accounting as a performative device. Special attention has been paid to how accounting brings about performative consequences in shaping the medical profession and its context.

The article employs qualitative research methods and draws its analysis on empirical data from in-depth interviews at an emergency health-care unit in Sweden.

It is demonstrated how accounting, in the form of calculations of treatment time and number of patients, enables performative consequences for medical professional work. It is also demonstrated how the use of accounting engages (re)descriptions of practices and roles, creates accounts of patients, and helps to sustain such (re)descriptions. Accounting terms (such as efficiency and control) have been reframed into medical terminology (such as health-care quality and security), ensuring and retaining (re)described medical professional work in terms of practices and emerging roles.

This article contributes to (1) the literature on accounting practices within health-care contexts by demonstrating a case where the accounting ideas and practices of medical professionals are coexistent and interwoven and (2) the increasing body of literature focusing on accountingization by showing how emerging calculative technologies carry performative power over medical professional work through formative (re)descriptions.

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

Digital divide is lack of access to and effective use of information and communication technology (ICT). It represents the difference between people with access to ICT and who use it effectively and those who do not. The aim of this study is to determine the level of digital divides amongst estate surveyors and valuers (recognized real estate practitioners in Nigeria). This is with a view to turning the identified digital divides into digital dividends for sustainable real estate practice in Nigeria and elsewhere.

In attaining the aim, primary data were collected on 3,627 corporate members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) with questionnaires administered through the internet using SurveyMonkey, an internet‐based software complemented with bulk sms to alert them about posting of the questionnaires into their e‐mail addresses. The Culbertson's constructs for evaluating digital awareness in the USA were adapted for inclusion in the survey instrument. The finding on the estate surveyors and valuers was also compared with those on comparable professionals in the building industry to determine if the respondents are lagging behind in adopting ICT.

Based on the Culbertson's constructs, there is great digital divide between practising estate surveyors and valuers and their counterparts in advanced countries. The analysis indicated that 33.75 percent of the respondents were not committed to ICT, 26.25 percent were slightly committed, and at least 38.75 percent were somewhat committed; and the respondents were classified as “low‐tech high‐touch” professionals; and their level of ICT deployment found to be appropriate within the framework of the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics. This implies that digital divide is not a challenge to real estate practice in Nigeria.

The study serves as good starting block for further analysis of the setting, challenges, and practice of real estate profession in Nigeria and elsewhere with regards to ICT applications. The research posited the implication for the NIESV to organize mandatory continued professional development workshops on ICT to remain relevant in the fast moving digital society. The IT requirements, current skill base, and curricula in the higher institutions were however not examined. It is therefore necessary to carry out further research on students and faculty in the higher institutions to identify the gaps in skill and technological capabilities.

The findings help in specifying development activities that will enhance improvements in professional standards, build local capacity and improve transparency expected by international investors. Also, the findings provide professional bodies and policy‐makers with indications to improve and ensure sustainable real estate professional practice through continuous and life‐long training of members in ICT. It recommended capacity building, reviving of interests of practitioners, direct investment of software companies, and research as approaches to reducing the level of digital divide between practitioners in advanced countries and Nigeria in order to remain relevant in the technologically‐driven and competitive world.

This paper brings up the regulatory environment for valuation and estate agency practices in Kenya. Its main purpose is to assess the regulatory institutions to determine whether consumers of real estate services are protected from risks in the property market and to compare Kenya's situation to other markets in the world.

This is a qualitative study of institutions including bodies and laws that are involved in the regulation of valuation and estate agency practices in Kenya, using document analysis method. The roles of professional body, the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and the registration bodies, the Valuers Registration Board and the Estate Agency Registration Boards and attendant statutes, the Valuers Act and the Estate Agents Act are reviewed to gain insights into the regulation practice in Kenya. Benchmarking is done using regulatory practices in the United Kingdom and the USA.

Concerning valuation, Kenya uses a hybrid system combining the United Kingdom's self-regulation approach and the USA's state regulation approach. The co-regulation approach is working well for valuation practice in Kenya. On the other hand, the regulatory system for estate agents is weak because of limited powers of enforcement, thereby allowing an unknown number of agents to practise outside the regulatory framework.

The paper is unique in its subject matter as it evaluates the external organization (regulatory) environment of professional services firms (PSFs) in the real estate market. Existing studies have been done mainly by management scholars focussing on the internal organization environment of PSFs in general. Secondly, the study brings up to the international audience the regulatory system and practice in the real estate professional services market. This has not been done for Kenya and perhaps for many other countries. Lastly, it makes a novel recommendation that emphasis should be placed on registration and regulation of PSFs rather than individual practitioners to enhance quality in the provision of services where real estate agency is concerned.