Maggie's Place is the name of the Pikes Peak public library situated at the foot of the beautiful Pikes Peak mountain in Colorado Springs, USA. During the last decade the library has received attention from people all over the world within the library sector because it became one of the first fully automated public libraries in the world. My curiosity had been aroused by reading the book ‘The Electronic Library’, written by Kenneth Dowlin who was Director from 1976–1988, as well as other papers and articles about Maggie's Place. Even if we have well‐developed automated systems for most library routines in many Scandinavian libraries and are running many experiments with the aim of increasing the use of new technologies in more library services, this library seemed from the descriptions to be worth visiting. I got the opportunity in June this year—and I wasn't disappointed. The architecture and internal Fittings of the new main library, The East Library and Information Centre, opened to the public in 1987, are magnificent.

More than 1,300 large integrated library systems are installed in the EC (European Community) member countries. This figure represents a growth rate of more than 525% over the last five years. New suppliers have achieved some 36% of the market. The number of suppliers of large integrated systems has increased from 12 in 1986 to more than 30. More than 3,600 small integrated systems have been installed by some 40 different suppliers shown in a study carried out in 1991 as background for the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) action under the Libraries Programme. Brief details of the main systems used in the 12 EC countries are given.

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A profile of the Department of Continuing Education and Consultancy The Department of Continuing Education and Consultancy at the Royal School of Library and Information Science (RSLIS) in Copenhagen has existed for almost 20 years, with changing goals and priorities over time. Some years ago the Department became an independent business unit within the organization. The staff consists of three full-time consultants and two full-time secretaries to run the secretariat and course administration. It is a great team, where each of us is fully aware of how we complement each other, and we all appreciate the different skills and competencies in the team. Our working values are based on high professional standards, commitment to the job, a sense of humour, confidence, self-management and knowledge sharing. Being a business unit helps to reach a common understanding on goals, results and economic baselines, which are not necessarily the case in a traditional university culture. This profile has been drafted in September 2008, when we have a lot of ongoing activities. The secretaries, Jeanette Laurberg and Karina Nielsen, are working like octopuses as practical conference assistants during the large international SHARP conference, which is held at the Royal School of