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Online social networks (OSNs) offer organisations direct access to a plethora of information about their networks of connections and provide the means by which to create two‐way, business‐to‐consumer (B2C), information channels. Instead of traditional impersonal and one‐direction advertising, organisations can establish a personal and two‐way communication medium, by accepting members and having friends on these platforms. This paper aims to discuss the phenomenon of OSNs, and in particular Facebook, and examine whether they can be employed by small businesses as a resource for growth and adding value.

A case study is presented that examines how a small business in New Zealand, specialising in the distribution of products that help babies and toddlers sleep through the night, has adopted Facebook as a tool for engaging with its largely stay‐at‐home customer base. This examination of The Sleep Store is an impartial study based on findings collected over a period of several months, via a series of interviews supplemented by telephone conversations and e‐mail exchanges, with representatives from the case organisation.

The Sleep Store's adoption of Facebook was found to offer the business both direct and indirect value. That is direct value, based on the value of transactions, quantified by the increase in turnover experienced through connecting with new customers, and organisational growth; and the indirect value of word‐of‐mouth, positive recommendations and the relative influence that Facebook community members exert on each other, which enable valuable new insights to be made into their business ecosystem.

While the adoption of Facebook in this instance has been found to be an undoubted success it does not, however, suggest that such impressive results would necessarily be expected by all small businesses adopting Facebook in this way. The nature of this business, and their customer base, are an important contributing factor to the overall success of this project.

The findings of this study highlight potential opportunities for small businesses adopting Facebook as an additional sales channel or tool for leveraging new information about their market.

This is original academic research, designed to make a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature, on how small businesses are benefiting from the availability of OSNs.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the value of social media as an additional sales, marketing and communication channel for small businesses.

It presents a case study of a family‐owned, internet‐only business start‐up, describing their use of Facebook to communicate with customers and its direct and indirect impact on the business.

It must be the dream of every company leader ‐ and every marketing executive ‐ to find something that will allow them to double sales quickly and cheaply. And if using that tool gets the business closer to its customers, understanding their needs and engaging them in a two‐way conversation, well, so much the better. Online social networks (OSNs) may be the answer ‐ and for one small company, the decision to use social media has transformed their situation.

The paper shows that social media can be a valuable tool for small businesses as well as large corporations.

It points out that many of The Sleep Store's customers are already using social media in their daily lives. It warns that other consumer groups may not be as ready to share their experiences or use this as their main communication channel with companies.

This paper demonstrates the value of combining word‐of‐mouth recommendation with use of the internet. It is one of the first investigations to research the use of social media by small businesses.

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.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

THE completion of the sixth volume of the Library World may not be a very important or remarkable occurrence in the annals of journalism, but when one considers the meagre and spasmodic support which is generally accorded to professional magazines, it may be allowable for us to indulge in a little self‐congratulation on having lived so long, on little more than the minimum encouragement usually bestowed on literary ventures connected with librarianship. For some reason, which it is very difficult to understand, librarians will not buy their own professional literature, whether offered as books or magazines. An author may reckon on a possible circle of purchasers ranging between 200 and 300 in England, and perhaps thirty in the United States, for any library book which is not more than 5/‐ or 10/‐ in price; and an editor may be certain of a constituency, perhaps, double those numbers, if his journal is not too dull and overpowering. But this is practically the limit of encouragement which anyone can expect for non‐official library publications. The Colonies, the United States, and all the European countries are collectively hardly worth counting in any estimate of possible supporters of an English literary venture in librarianship, and what is even more discouraging, only a few British libraries, and hardly any library assistants or committee‐men, ever buy professional books of any kind. In these circumstances we may be allowed a little pardonable jubilation at having survived at all under such adverse circumstances.

Astronomy has experienced a rapid rate of discovery and change in the recent past, particularly because of the space program and general technological development. Through information gathered from artificial satellites, radio astronomy, orbiting observatories, and space probes, astronomy has advanced rapidly since the 1950s. This progress has also affected standard reference sources in the field.