Search results

The Oxford English Dictionary (hereafter referred to as the OED) is one of the most well‐known and respected reference works in the world. Its imposing bulk has even led some people to believe incorrectly that it actually lists every word in the English language. Of course, a good number of words were omitted from the distinguished dictionary because they were considered vulgar or because they were American words, categories that were actually somewhat synonymous to certain less tolerant Englishmen of the late nineteenth century.

The student revolt of 1967 to 1974, which finally expired about 1978, retains its fascination and much of its significance in the twenty‐first century. But the seven or so years which preceded it are often passed over as simply a precursor, the incubation of a subsequent explosion; they deserve a higher status. The concentration of interest on the late 1960s and early 1970s arises from the driving role of students in the cultural revolution whose traumatic impact still echoes with us. As late as 2005 some commentators saw federal legislation introducing Voluntary Student Unionism as the culmination of struggles in the 1970s when Deputy Prime Minister Costello and Health Minister Abbott battled their radical enemies. Interest in these turbulent years at a popular, non‐academic level has produced a succession of nostalgic reminiscences. In the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Good Weekend’ for 13 December 2003 Mark Dapin pondered whether the Melbourne Maoists had changed their world views (‘Living by the Little Red book’.) In the Sydney University Gazette of October 1995 Andrew West asserted that the campus radicals of the 1960s and ‘70s had remained true to their basic beliefs (‘Not finished fighting’.) Some years later, in April 2003, the editor of that journal invited me to discuss ‘Where have all the rebels gone?’ My answer treated this as a twofold question: What has happened to the former rebels? Why have the students of today abandoned radicalism?

All seventeen had graciously agreed to my proposal to gather for a small conference to seek consensus. A generous grant from the Pierian Press Foundation would cover all of our expenses for a long weekend at a resort hotel; the only condition of the grant was that we offer our results to Reference Services Review for first publication. Over the past five years each of the seventeen had in turn accepted my challenge to answer the following question:

The online database of the second edition of the OED, combined with tools developed at the University of Waterloo, gives researchers a unique opportunity to explore the dictionary in depth and in ways that would either be impossible or too time consuming to contemplate by manual means. However, the OED database is an unusually complex reference text. It makes use of many technical terms and abbreviations, and employs numerous structural and typographical conventions to alert users to elements within entries. The author discusses the history and structure of the OED database as well as tools developed to manipulate the database. Four sample searches are discussed in an appendix to the article.

THE New English dictionary on historical principles founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society, edited by James A H Murray, forty‐four years in the making, and now known the world over as the Oxford English dictionary holds an unchallenged place in that remarkable series of substantial works of learning and scholarship planned, nurtured, and executed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Rolls series, the Dictionary of national biography, and at the turn of the century, the Cambridge moderm history and the Victorian history of the counties of England, all bear witness to the tremendous, almost incredible, energy of the Victorian middle classes who, sometimes holding academic posts at the universities, or perhaps earning their bread as publishers (regarded then as one of the very few commercial pursuits allowed to gentlemen), formed clubs and learned societies to occupy their ‘leisure’ hours, and conceived and brought to fruition their costly schemes for ambitious publishing programmes, refusing to be deterred by years of unremitting toil which consumed their time, their money, but never sapped their vision or their dedication.

The War Contracts Sub‐Committee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Military Affairs issued a report on June 26 on tho disposal of surplus aircraft. The report is prefaced by a statement by Senator James E. Murray, Democrat, of Montana, Chairman of the Sub‐Committee, excerpts from which follow:

This paper aims to provide a preliminary systemic portrayal of risk relationships in the context of critical infrastructures (CIs) during disasters and assess the adequacy of the Hyogo Framework in addressing such relationships and the resultant cascading effects.

Using a systems thinking approach, this study views CIs as complex systems operating in the context of broader societies and disaster conditions. Using a causal loop diagramming technique, relationships across a large number of variables are mapped to capture pathways for cascading effects across CIs. This theoretical understanding is supplemented by cascading effects seen during the 2011 Japanese disaster. The Hyogo Framework indicators are mapped both to causal variables and disaster events to identify gaps. Data on cascading effects were collected from journals, news articles and reports by governments and NGOs.

The Hyogo Framework does not address facilitation by the host country of international aid during disasters; identification of infrastructure interdependencies and prioritization planning for recovery operations; national risk assessments that account for interrelated disasters; and private sector’s need to understand CIs’ dependencies and establish robust continuity plans that account for potential infrastructure failures.

This paper is the first attempt to assess the Hyogo Framework’s potential in addressing risk relationships and cascading effects. The knowledge provided in the paper is derived from the synthesis of previous cascading effects’ literature and examination of a real-life disaster. Findings are applicable to any disaster risk reduction initiative that seeks to anticipate and mitigate risk relationships and their implications for CIs during disasters.

THE influence of wireless on libraries is marked. As a method of publicity it is unmatched. On April 20th the new secretary of the Library Association, Mr. Guy Keeling, joined the number of library broadcasters with a talk from 2 LO on “What Your Public Library can do for You.” The announcer said he regarded the talk as a fresh mark of the co‐operation between the B.B.C. and the public libraries which had been so fruitful in the past; and Mr. Keeling made his first real public appearance as Secretary with a clearly Stated account of our ordinary activities, enlivened with humour, and delivered in excellent manner. Together with all those who have any vision in the matter, he looks forward to co‐operation between all libraries.

Clinical governance has been an important issue in the British National Health Service for several years. This study looks to see how this has filtered down to front‐line staff, in terms of their knowledge about clinical governance, their attitude to it, and their implementation of it. A total of 539 participants across three NHS trusts in the South of England completed the Staff Clinical Governance Survey. The results showed generally positive attitudes and varying levels of knowledge and implementation. The use of this questionnaire enables services to audit their implementation of clinical governance, and highlights specific training needs for staff and their managers.