Enhance Your Library Research with AI: Zoom Sessions
Join a Zoom session to discover how generative AI can enhance your research process with smarter tools and strategies.
Topics include:
- Choosing the right AI tools for research purposes.
- Creating effective research prompts that yield quality results.
- Integrating AI into your research workflow efficiently.
- Verifying and fact-checking AI-generated content.
- Citing AI tools and using AI for citations.
Session Dates:
Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Register Here
Thursday, March 20, 2025 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Register Here
Additional sessions may be offered based on interest.
Explore our Generative AI Tools for Students library guide for helpful resources or visit the Training Opportunities page for details on upcoming sessions.
For questions, please contact Brock Edmunds at edmundsb@bu.edu.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Quick Guide to Business Research
Ready to start your research journey? Here are some resources to save you time and streamline your process:
Research Guides
Explore our expert-curated Research Guides for insights on key topics. Pardee Library offers Business Research Guides, Course Guides, and Research Tutorials, with recent additions on Leadership, Family Business, and Generative AI Tools for Students.
Databases
Find the resources you need quickly by browsing our Business Databases A-Z page.
Journals and Newspapers
Stay informed with access to a wide range of journals and newspapers through BU Libraries Search, ensuring you have reliable sources at your fingertips. New York Times was recently added to our collection, offering digital access to NYTimes.com, including articles, multimedia content, and archives.
Need Help?
Our reference staff is here to assist you! Contact us at pardstf@bu.edu for personalized research support.
BU Libraries acquire the papers of pioneering journalist Dorothy Butler Gilliam
Photos by Jackie Ricciardi for Boston University
The Special Collections division of the Boston University Libraries has acquired the papers of Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the reporter, columnist, and educator who was the first Black woman journalist at the Washington Post. This major acquisition by the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center of the BU Libraries provides access to the journalist’s notes, drafts, correspondences, and other documents, and highlights the significant role archives play through building and preserving archival collections that enable research and study in critical areas like journalism and the Civil Rights Movement in America.
This acquisition brings Dorothy Butler Gilliam’s papers into conversation with the influential civil and human rights leaders whose papers are also here at Boston University, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman, Elie Wiesel, and a diverse group of journalists who documented the fight for – and themselves helped advance—civil rights in the United States.
“Dorothy Butler Gilliam’s papers show that the movement happens one article, story, or column at a time. Just as Dr. King’s papers show that the non-violent movement happens one decision and one action at a time. It is the small moments that make up a movement,” said Jennifer Gunter King, associate university librarian for special collections. “Viewed in the context of the papers of these human rights leaders, journalists, poets, and others, we have a fuller picture of how many levels of society must be engaged and involved in moving civil and human rights forward.”
Dorothy Butler Gilliam worked for The Memphis Tri-State Defender and JET magazine, outlets focused on Black communities. In 1961, she made history, joining The Washington Post as a reporter on its City Desk. There, she covered the civil rights movement and later became an editor and columnist. Throughout her career, she was committed to improving newsroom diversity, co-founding in 1977 what would become the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, and in 1998, founding the Young Journalists Development Program to educate, cultivate, and hire aspiring minority newspaper journalists.
The Dorothy Butler Gilliam collection documents her career as a journalist and educator through personal and professional correspondence, notes, drafts and manuscripts, reporter’s notebooks, daily planners, speeches, printed materials, and research files. This collection joins the papers of several other Black media pioneers and professionals held by the Gotlieb Center, including: William Monroe Trotter, who founded The Guardian of Boston; the archives of the Bay State Banner; and the papers of Alex Poinsett, former editor for EBONY and co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
The Dorothy Butler Gilliam collection be open to researchers for use by 2026. A selection of materials is on display at the Howard Thurman Center as part of the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center’s exhibition The Work of Trailblazers and Pioneers Through Their Archives.
Read more about this acquisition in BU Today: Groundbreaking Journalist Dorothy Gilliam Gives BU a Gift of History
Unlock Industry Insights with Our Research Guide
Ready to dive into industry research? Whether you’re working on a class project, analyzing market trends, or exploring new sectors, our Industry Information Sources guide provides access to the best tools and data available. With essential databases like IBISWorld, Mintel, and more, you can find reliable, up-to-date information quickly and easily.
Both IBISWorld and Mintel have recently updated their interfaces, making them even more intuitive to use and easier to navigate, so you can quickly find the insights you need.
Designed to streamline your research, our guide directs you to trusted sources that save you time and effort. If you need help or have any questions, our friendly team is here for you. Contact us at pardstf@bu.edu for assistance—we’re happy to help!
BU Libraries now provides New York Times subscriptions
The BU Libraries now provides subscriptions to The New York Times online to all current BU students, faculty, and staff. Through the BU Libraries academic group pass, students, faculty, and staff across all disciplines have unlimited access to The New York Times online and several of its features, at no cost to them.
With this subscription, BU community members have full online access to the paper’s latest news and features and all articles dating back to 1851, browsable digital replicas of issues from 1851 to 2002 via the TimesMachine, podcasts, multimedia features, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscribers can access content online or via the NYT News App for mobile devices. Please note this subscription does not include crossword puzzles, NYT Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, or The Athletic. New York Times access is not available to BU alumni and affiliated researchers.
To create your free account, log into the NYT academic group pass with your BU credentials, and follow the prompts. You can review more detailed instructions on creating your account and guidance for users with existing accounts.
Organizational Chart
This organizational chart outlines the units and departments of the BU Libraries. Visit the BU Libraries directory for a listing of all staff. For research assistance or general service information, email ask@bu.edu.
Office of the University Librarian
Mark Newton (University Librarian)
- Associate University Librarian for Academic Engagement and Special Collections — Jennifer Gunter King
- Associate University Librarian for Collections and Operations — Dawn E. Gross
- Assistant Director for Library Administration — Jasmine Flatley
- Library Communications Manager— Johanna Kaiser
- Director of Finance and Business Services— Nicole McCaffrey
Academic Engagement and Special Collections
Jennifer King (Associate University Librarian for Academic Engagement and Special Collections)
- Access Services and Library Experience - Michelle Niebur (Head, Access Services and Library Experience)
- African Studies Library - Beth Restrick (Head, African Studies Library)
- Arts and Humanities - Shatha Baydoun (Head Librarian, Arts and Humanities)
- Digital Ventures - Ellen LeClere (Interim Director, Digital Ventures)
- Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
- Processing and Collection Management - Ellen LeClere (Head, Processing and Collection Management)
- Reading Room and Research Services - Jane Parr (Reading Room and Reference Manager)
- University Archives - Sean Noel (University Archivist)
Collections and Operations
Dawn E. Gross (Associate University Librarian for Collections and Operations)
- Assessment and Project Management - Sarah Hunter (Assessment and Project Management Librarian)
- Finance and Business Services - Nicole McCaffrey (Director, Finance and Business Services)
- Library Facilities - Ethan Bren (Library Facilities Manager)
- Library Technology and Discovery Services - Michael Ward (Director, Library Technology and Discovery Services)
- Materials Services - Sarah Struble (Head, Materials Services)
- Course Reserves – Debra Fields-Berry (Reserves Manager)
- Interlibrary Loan – Rhoda Bilansky (Interlibrary Loan Supervisor)
- Technical Services - Michael Fernandez (Head, Technical Services)
BU Libraries welcome community to tour the Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room
The BU Libraries is hosting a series of tours of its Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room to provide a space for community members to engage with Dr. King’s life and work through his papers. The archivist-led tours will be held in the afternoon of Saturday, January 25, as part of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day Celebration hosted by Howard Thurman Center and the City of Boston. The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center of the BU Libraries holds the University’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection and, for the first time, is providing these formal tours of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room during the annual celebration of Dr. King’s legacy.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room exhibition provides an intimate view of Dr. King’s time at the University, and his leadership of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement for racial equality in the United States through photographs, handwritten letters and other materials in his papers. King earned his PhD in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955, donating his papers to the University in 1964, saying:
“…many people, as the years unfold, will want to know more about non-violence and they will want to know about the ethical and historical roots of non-violence and there are many things in the collection, from letters to manuscripts, that may be helpful in getting people to see the roots of non-violence in my own thinking and in the movement that I have been a part of in the South.” 1
All are welcome to join this meaningful program and to engage more deeply with Dr. King’s legacy.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Reading Room is in Mugar Memorial Library (771 Commonwealth Avenue). Tours will start at the below times. Click the tour times below to learn more and register:
Learn more about the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day Celebration 2025 here.
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1 Source of Quote: September 11, 1964 Press Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Boston University, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.