Newspapers

Selector:   Susan Wishinsky (Interim)


top GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION

Newspapers are valuable sources of current information for students and faculty in the fields of business and management, communication, economics, history, and political science. Newspaper indexes and newspaper backfiles on microform and in digital format are useful for historical research in these same disciplines. Foreign-language newspapers serve a secondary purpose as teaching aids for faculty and students in modern foreign language programs.

In recent years the Internet has provided alternatives to print subscriptions. Most newspaper publishers now provide the current day's news online, and many provide a searchable archive. While our foreign newspapers in print take many weeks to arrive, the current news in many foreign newspapers can now be viewed 'same day' online. The database PressDisplay allows us to provide over 260 titles in full-color, full-page format, with a 60-day searchable backfile. The Current Newspapers and Media Guide lists print newspapers currently available, as well as many print-alternative, searchable Internet sources such as LexisNexis Academic and Massachusetts Newsstand; the Guide to Historical Newspapers lists digital, print and microform sources for archival material such as New York Times (Historical).


top SCOPE OF COVERAGE

   1. Languages collected  (primary and selective) or excluded:  English language and foreign language newspapers are collected very selectively.

   2. Geographical areas covered by the collections in terms of intellectual content, publication sources, or both, and specific areas excluded, as appropriate:  Geographical coverage is international, and the library subscribes to newspapers published in all parts of the world.

   3. Chronological periods covered by the collection in terms of intellectual content, movements or schools, and specific periods excluded, as appropriate:  A variety of newspapers is collected in order to provide balanced geographical and political representation both within the United States and from around the world.

   4. Chronological periods collected in terms of publication dates, and specific periods excluded, as appropriate:  Current newspapers are retained for a few months, and selected major newspapers are preserved on microform.


top GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES AND LIBRARY LOCATIONS

Current issues and microform sets of newspapers are housed in Mugar Memorial Library, except for the current issues and microform sets of business newspapers, which are housed in the Frederick S. Pardee Management Library. LexisNexis Academic and other databases providing text from selected newspapers are available online to the Boston University community. Since newspapers are not assigned Library of Congress classification numbers, they may be located in the Boston University Libraries' online catalog either by name or by searching for "newspaper" as a Library of Congress call number. Newspapers may also be searched by name using the eJournal Locator.

Newspapers from African nations are housed in the African Studies Library.

Newspaper indexes and bibliographic works on newspapers may be found in Mugar Memorial Library under these Library of Congress classifications:

AI 21 Indexes to Individual Newspapers
Z 6940-6967 Periodicals, Newspapers, and Other Serials, Bibliography

top RELATED SUBJECTS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY RELATIONSHIPS

The Newspapers Selector is responsible for collecting newspapers and newspaper databases, with two exceptions:

African Studies:  The African Studies Selector collects newspapers from African nations.

History:  The History Selector collects newspapers of primarily historical interest, such as the microform collection of Early American Newspapers.


top TYPES OF MATERIALS

Collected:  Reference materials, including directories and bibliographies.

Collected Selectively:  Newspapers, microforms, and electronic resources.

Not Collected:  Juvenile newspapers.


top OTHER ON-CAMPUS OR LOCAL RESOURCES

A newspaper morgue, consisting of newspaper clippings from Boston newspapers from the late 1800s to the early 1980s, is available through request at the Pickering Educational Resources Library.

The Newspaper Room of the Boston Public Library (BPL), a Boston Library Consortium member, subscribes to many U.S. and foreign newspapers. The Microtext Department of the BPL has microfilm backfiles of selected U.S. and foreign newspapers.


COMMENTS/NOTES

The library has been fortunate to receive gift subscriptions to newspapers from student groups and other donors. We are grateful for these donations, and we encourage student groups who would like to assist the library in this way to contact us.



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