An interview with John Thomas, founder of the National Librarians Association. (PF)

A four-part account of a gathering of the world's library workers in the fall of 1977, the 50th anniversary of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA): "IFLA 1977" by W. Boyd Rayward; "Revolutionary Manifesto" by Alain Leens; "Innocents Abroad" by Richard M. Dougherty; and…

The third in a series of reports on major studies issued by the National Commission of Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), "Improving State Aid to Public Libraries" is examined in the first part; "Help Plan the New Library" is discussed in the second. (JPF)

Books printed since 1850 are deteriorating rapidly. With air conditioning still a remote dream, the research library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has turned to other weapons in attempt to preserve its resources. (Author/MLF)

Suggests that inexperienced buyers inform themselves and seek expert advice before making decisions to buy some of the more complex and costly computer-based library systems being offered. General guidelines are presented for selecting a system and for using consultants. Considered also are the mutual needs of librarians and vendors. (JPF)

General Revenue Sharing (GRS) was developed under the pretension of bringing government closer to the people by enabling them to exercise greater influence on the distribution of federal tax revenues. Libraries have not received fair and impartial consideration under GRS; in fact, very few public services have. (Author/JPF)

Representatives from three companies (Management Contents, ABI/INFORM, Predicasts) explain the coverage, content, thesauri, updating, products, and capabilities of their data bases. A panel of librarians from (1) a special library, (2) an academic library, and (3) a public library report on the use of business data bases in their respective…

An explanation of the federal government's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and how it relates to commercial business publications commonly used as tools by the reference librarian. (JAB)

This draft was prepared by the Reference and Adult Services Division of ALA, and covers the issues of accuracy of information, impartiality of presentation, confidentiality of interview, and financial gain in information service work. (JAB)

This report of a study to determine what practitioners and educators think should be included in library school programs for young adult librarians provides an age, education, and work experience profile of the respondents with additional academic information for educators, as well as discussion of their responses to the survey. (VT)

Indicates the trials the student of history faces when trying to exploit the resources of archives and research libraries, both in the USA and abroad. (VT)

The background and technical aspects of a co-operative effort among American and Canadian libraries to convert retrospective and current serials to machine-readable form are described. (Author)

Lower cost and less shelf space requirements have made major reference works in miniaturized print editions attractive to small libraries. The major disadvantage is the necessity of a magnifying glass for reading entries. A bibliography of reduced-size editions is included. (JAB)

Reflections on the state of elementary school media programs are based on applications for the 1977 School Library Media Program of the Year award. Programs nominated for this award and their outstanding features are included. (Author/MBR)

A plea to the Library of Congress to adopt the British Preserved Content Index System (PRECIS), which is capable of enormous variations of output and precise analysis of subject content with no loss of clarity and simplicity for the user, and to reconsider the decision to overhaul the LC Subject Headings. (JPF)