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 This site is no longer being updated as of July 2009.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!

Columbia Libraries now subscribe to Ancestry Library, the library edition of Ancestry.com (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates).

Ancestry Library includes: digitized images of the United States Federal Census from 1790 forward; the American Genealogical Biographical Index; Passenger and Immigration Lists Index; United Kingdom and United States Directories 1680-1830; court, land, and probate records; and many other resources. It also includes telephone directory information for the U.S.

If you are interested in immigration reporting, what follows is a selective list of places to begin your search for background information, statistics, and articles. Note: Some sources have NYC-specific information, while others are more general in nature.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign-Born Population page links you to reports and data tables which show numbers of immigrants by country of origin, period of entry, and citizenship status, and many other demographic characteristics. The data on this site does not go down to the metropolitan area level, so is better for getting a picture of immigration to the U.S. as a whole.

The database Infoshare Online (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates) includes immigration numbers from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (now known as USCIS). Infoshare enables you to retrieve immigration data from 1988 through 2002, at geographic levels including neighborhood, community district, ZIP code, or borough.

Interested in estimates of the numbers of undocumented immigrants? A Congressional Research Service report, “Unauthorized Aliens in the United States: Estimates Since 1986″, uses data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, and is periodically updated.

The Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research organization, has published many reports on immigration-related topics, including the January 2004 report, “Undocumented Immigrants: Facts and Figures.”

Two New York-based publications which publish often on immigration issues are the Gotham Gazette (link displays most recent article, links to topic archives, and also links to useful websites), and City Limits (on left side of screen, use pull-down “Topics” list to select Immigration).

Finally, for an introduction to library resources on population, migration, and refugee studies, use this helpful subject guide from my colleagues at Lehman Library. The guide lists both print and electronic sources for these topics.