Editorial Commentary on Publications and Documents Received

Electronic markets provided by public or private networks are of growing importance and interest for providers as well as users of information. Following a Z-year practical experiment with a very large regional market place (the Electronic Mall of the Lake of Constance — Germany, Switzerland and Austria), risks and opportunities of electronic markets are discussed in detail; among others, the following topics are emphasized: management, marketing, technical and financial aspects, commercial and infrastructure information, global vs regional organization, acceptance and quality criteria.     

DETERMINING OUTCOMES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN TWO‐YEAR INSTITUTIONS‐PART 1

This research is presented in a two part series. The first article sets forth the objectives of the study and the research methodology and design. Basic demographic and institutional data are also presented. The second article in this series discusses interrelations among research data and presents conclusions and implications for practice.

An attempt is made to assess the extent to which faculty associations have penetrated certain management functions or rights. A related and second objective was to determine the impact of faculty unions on the traditional professional prerogatives of the faculty. The sample studied was approximately 63 percent of all collective bargaining agreements in existence at two‐year institutions. The authors also sought to develop predictors (institutional and demographic variables) of contractual language. In part 1, characteristics of institutions where contracts are in existence are discussed. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between the demographic and institutional variables and the relative strength of contractual clauses in the areas of appointment, promotion, nonrenewal, tenure, long range planning, retrenchment and management rights. A complete breakdown of all variables utilized in this study can be found in the appendices     

Editorial commentary

This review of Chinese libraries comprises the following parts: basic information; the three stages of library development; academic libraries;. and the founding of the Chinese Library Association.     

Meeting of directors of national libraries: Second meeting,Oslo, 12–13 August 1975

The article reviews various definitions of information literacy and discusses a study conducted at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Library to reassess the need for information literacy, to identify factors which influenced non-attendance, to evaluate the impact of the program, and comments and suggestions used. The major findings include: there is a dire need for information literacy; participants found the programs useful; and one-on-one method coupled with seminars were more effective and more preferred by the participants. The article also advances a set of recommendations for improving bibliographic retrieval education programs at the KFUPM Library and other libraries in Saudi Arabia and other countries.     

Proposed development of resource sharing networks (UNISIST,NATIS, ALBIS)

A questionnaire survey of researchers engaged in seven scientific disciplines was conducted to identify preferred information channels and to determine interdiscipline variations in communication behaviour of Croatian scientists. The article also addresses the problem of the foreign language barrier and the visibility of Croatian science at an international level.

The findings indicate that journal articles with their accompanying lists of references are the most important source of information in all the disciplines surveyed, while on-line searching was ranged rather low.

Differences between pure, applied and social disciplines were identified in the domain of informal communication and in the publishing of the research results. Contacts with colleagues outside one’s organization appeared to be an important element in information retrieval, while informal dissemination of information is mostly performed internally. Except for physicists, participation in international scientific communication is rather unsatisfactory.