New for Journalism and Mass Communications

Oxford University Press / Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Five-volume set (2009) contains over 300 signed, alphabetically-arranged entries, providing "situation profiles and full coverage of the development of the movement, historical cases of abuse, the key figures, major organizations, and a range of other issues in economics, government, religion, and journalism that touch on human rights theory and practice."
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sparxoo.
Available online.
"Evaluated over 100 news and politics media outlets (from the New York Times to the Daily Beast to NPR) in a comprehensive study of content, social and multimedia influence."
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Congress. Joint Economic Committee.
Available online.
"Hearing to examine contraction in the newspaper industry, the economic impact of the changing media landscape, as well as the future of the industry at large."
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Books recently announced free access to the digitally-preserved issues of Life magazine, dating from 1936 through 1972.
And Annie, the Washington and Lee library catalog, now includes a link to this collection.

Once one of the popular mainstays for U.S. readers, the magazine's issues now serve as a revealing time-capsule of American life over five decades in the middle of the twentieth century. Even the advertisements fascinate.

A reader may browse page-by-page through (mostly) weekly issues or search the entire contents by keywords for such stories as Life's coverage of the death of Alben Barkley at W&L's 1956 Mock Convention.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Associated Press.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Sometimes called the "journalist's bible," this multifaceted resource "provides fundamental guidelines on spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage, with special sections on reporting business and sports," as well as a guide to media law. Unlike the annual printed editions, this online version (2009 edition) is continually revised.
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congressional Quarterly / Governing.
The magazine Governing is one of the most valuable periodicals for monitoring issues in U.S. state and local government. For years, that publication also has created an annually-published collection of information called the State and Local Sourcebook, which now is available only online. Parts of the site are accessible only to subscribers to the magazine, which includes W&L.

Two portions of the Sourcebook site are particularly valuable.
The Data section offers free access to statistical data about U.S. states and municipalities, often used by government officials in policy consideration. Categories include economic development, education, demographics, social services, and more.
The subscription-only Contacts collection is a searchable database of thousands of "addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for state and local government leaders in all 50 states and the largest local governments."

Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chronicle of Higher Education
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
"At a time when the newspaper industry is in free fall and thousands of jobs are being cut each year, one would think that the halls of the nation's journalism schools would be awfully quiet. Think again. Many universities report that journalism enrollments are up..."
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Available online.
"The public's assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans' views of media bias and independence now match previous lows. Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate."
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kogan Page / Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Subtitled Practical PR Strategies for Reputation Management and Company Survival, this 2008 volume "advises organisations how to limit the damage of crises effectively by acting quicly and positively." Provides information on accountability, crisis communication planning, building corporate image, natural disasters, accidents, financial crises, legal issues, etc
Links will be maintained in several locations in the library Web site, including this subject listing.

Posted by Dick Grefe at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)