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SHIRLEY WILLIAMS rounds the corner of the narrow country lane looking like someone in that TV advertisement for drinking chocolate; chin tucked into a yellow roll‐neck sweater, and the rest of her face pinched and red from chill winds and sporadic drizzle.

Since its introduction in 2006, messages posted to the microblogging system Twitter have provided a rich dataset for researchers, leading to the publication of over a thousand academic papers. This paper aims to identify this published work and to classify it in order to understand Twitter based research.

Firstly the papers on Twitter were identified. Secondly, following a review of the literature, a classification of the dimensions of microblogging research was established. Thirdly, papers were qualitatively classified using open coded content analysis, based on the paper's title and abstract, in order to analyze method, subject, and approach.

The majority of published work relating to Twitter concentrates on aspects of the messages sent and details of the users. A variety of methodological approaches is used across a range of identified domains.

This work reviewed the abstracts of all papers available via database search on the term “Twitter” and this has two major implications: the full papers are not considered and so works may be misclassified if their abstract is not clear; publications not indexed by the databases, such as book chapters, are not included. The study is focussed on microblogging, the applicability of the approach to other media is not considered.

To date there has not been an overarching study to look at the methods and purpose of those using Twitter as a research subject. The paper's major contribution is to scope out papers published on Twitter until the close of 2011. The classification derived here will provide a framework within which researchers studying Twitter related topics will be able to position and ground their work.

I MUST SAY, I was astonished to read in the editorial in the November issue of Assistant librarian the bald declaration that AL ‘is broke’. I mean, whatever will the printers think?

Replying to a debate on students grants, the Minister of State, Department of Education and Science, Mrs Shirley Williams, said that the present grant system had a recent birth. It dated back only to 1962 and since that time there had been a sharp increase in the overall cost of student awards. Whereas in 1963–64 the total value of all student awards was £71·3 million, in 1967–68 it had jumped to £129·6 million and next year, after the Brown recommendations were carried out, it was expected that the total sum would be £155·4 million. That was an increase of 118 per cent over only five years.

This paper explores the advertising strategy of crockery importers and dealers in relationship to their origins and backgrounds. This is a departure from earlier ceramic-history literature which tended to focus on the Staffordshire producers, with limited awareness on how the identity of importers and dealers influenced what products were sold, and their individual approaches to marketing.

Within a context of historical marketing research, this paper analyses newspaper advertising and commentary. It combines an examination of marketing practices with a wider consideration of the cultural identities of ceramic importers and dealers. The digitalization of historical records, combined with sophisticated search engines, makes it more feasible to examine a broader range of sources. Thus, modern research methods can enhance our understanding of production and demand and reveal how marketing strategy was diverse.

Awareness on how advertising was influenced by the backgrounds and socio-political views of importers and dealers demonstrates ways in which Anglo-American ceramic trade could be far more market-led. More significantly, marketing approaches were not necessarily responding to American demand, but rather that importers could engage in commissioning goods which reflected their own views on politics, religion or slavery.

Examining the advertising of importers demonstrates the complex relationship between production and ceramic demand. This paper opens up debates as to how far the advertising of other merchandise in the USA shows evidence of taking a more individual approach by the 19th century.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

Examines the commitment of Milliken Contract Carpets in the United Kingdom to improve the quality of product and service as perceived by the customer. Describes the background to the adoption of TQM by the parent company, which has defined its approach as “pursuit of excellence”, and which constantly strives to improve quality by benchmarking competitors and by Training managers. Reports on its uses of process improvement teams, customer action teams and supplier action teams which work together to improve quality throughout the organization.

Question such as these are typical of the debate currently sweeping the whole area of 16 + assessement and certification both in England and Scotland. The Schools Council, for example, have put forward a proposal for a common system of examining at 16 + to replace the GCE and CSE. This proposal has been rejected for the moment by the Minister of State for Education, Mrs Shirley Williams. In Scotland, a large and influential committee set up by the Secretary of State for Scotland under the Chairmanship of Mr J Dunning has been deliberating for many months on the form assessment and certification at 16 + should take. This article describes a contribution to this debate in outlining a way in which some of the problems in usefully assessing the young school‐leaver may be overcome.