The librarian is: BLOGGING | Journalism Library, Columbia University

The Journalism Library Blog has MOVED! This site is no longer being updated as of July 2009. Come find us at our new location:

https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/journalism

See you there!

Welcome, Summer 2009 Part-Timers! Please check out the following links to help you get started with your research!

• jump-start your electronic research with these databases
• scope out your beat with these resources
• don’t leave home without your Lexis Nexis and Factiva cheat sheet
• and a good place to start is always at the Journalism Library web page

If you need help with your research, please send email to journalism@libraries.cul.columbia.edu or stop by the library for assistance.

World Wide Web is a composite collection of content created and hosted on the internet by millions of organizations and individuals. In order to effectively evaluate information that you find on the internet, consider the following criteria:

Authorship -

• Who wrote this? As Peter Steiner said, “On the Internet,
  Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”
• Is the author an expert in the field?
• What are author’s affiliations?
• Who is the sponsor or publishing body of the site?

Currency -

• Is the information provided timely? This is particularly important in areas of science, technology, health, and politics.
• Is publication date or “last updated” date included with the information?
• If the information is dated or historical, does the document refer to the source and year, e.g. “Based on 1990 U.S. Census data”?

Objectivity -

• Does the author or web page sponsor have a bias?
• Is more than one viewpoint expressed on the topic?
• Does the author or publishing body have a particular agenda?

Coverage -

• Is the information freely available?
• Is the site complete or under construction?
• Does the information have a print equivalent?

Accuracy/Verifiability -

• Does the information include references to experts in the field or rely on other sources?
• Does the information include a bibliography?
• Was an explanation offered on how the data was gathered and interpreted?

If you need help in evaluating a particular internet resource, please stop by the Journalism Library or contact any of the libraries on campus for assistance!

Welcome to the Graduate School of Journalism, and to Columbia University Libraries. Here are some links for exploring the resources that will help you in RWI.

The Columbia Libraries’ website is your portal to information about the many libraries available at Columbia, as well as your link into thousands of electronic sources of information (newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, photographs, and more) - information which you won’t necessarily find on Google. The Libraries’ catalog, CLIO, helps you to locate both print and online materials at Columbia.

In terms of getting started on your beat reporting, searching for past news stories on your beat can be accomplished using either LexisNexis or Factiva (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates). If you’d like to dig deeper, ProQuest Historical Newspapers (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates) contains the full text of the New York Times back to 1851! This means you can find out what was happening in your beat neighborhood back then. Or, you can type in a street address and see what interesting events may have taken place there.

For other info on New York City and its neighborhoods, check out the guide, Scoping Out Your Beat. It includes links to a number of important websites with in-depth coverage of relevant social and cultural issues.

Welcome to the Journalism Library blog. I hope you will use this blog as a resource throughout your time at the J-school. Here are some crucial links to get you started:

The J-school Student Resources page is a good jumping-off point for starting your research. The Libraries section of the page has a number of useful links (including one to this very blog) and the Research Tools section has shortcuts to a number of databases that are likely to be of use to you very soon.

In order to make the most of this blog, check back in frequently, and remember to use the subject categories on the side of the page to navigate to the posts that interest you!