Communications Blog

Advertising and Media Resources

Early this semester a Communication student studying Advertising contacted me about creating a special page just for Communication Advertising and Media Majors.  He and several students and instructors created a list of books, websites and periodicals that would help them in their study and research.  All of these resources, plus more are now accessible in one place from this new page.  The page is now live from the library website at:  http://info.lib.uh.edu/libraries/advertising.html

If you would like more resources added to this page, please contact me!

Enter and Win: Library Learning Commons Media Contest

Students in the School of Communication might be interested in the Library Learning Commons Media Contest (To celebrate the grand opening of the Learning Commons).  Students can enter and possibly win an iPod Nano, Shuffle, or Gift Card.  See details of the contest at the Library News Blog: http://weblogs.lib.uh.edu/blog/2009/04/10/enter-the-learning-commons-media-contest/

Attn Bloggers! Wordpress Plugins and Tools…

Especially all those bloggers using Wordpress from Comm 4310 and 4314

Check out this good article on adding Wordpress Plugins and Tools. Learn new plugins and tools and enhance your blog!

http://www.thedailyanchor.com/2009/03/23/31-wordpress-plugins-to-enhance-your-blog-and-life/

Do you care if print papers die?

According to a survey by the Pew Research  Center, few Americans say they would miss their local newspaper if it were no longer available in print.  Shocked?  What do you think?

See the full story at…

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1147/newspapers-struggle-public-not-concerned

ATTN: COMM 4361 – Demographic Help

Hey Friends.  I wanted to let you know about a few helpful demographic surveys of US Colleges:

For overall demographics of degree granting colleges in the U.S., visit the Department of Education’s Quick Facts about post-secondary schools:

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98

***Also, The Princeton Review Ranking the “Top Party Schools of 2009.” You might want to investigate the demographics of these particular schools! The list is (drumroll…)

1. Univ of Florida
2. Univ of Mississippi
3. Penn State
4. West Virginia Univ.
5. Ohio Univ
6. Randolph – Macon
7. Univ of Georgia
8. Univ of Texas-Austin
9. Univ of California – Santa Barbara
10. Florida State Univ
11. And the list goes to 20….(let me know if you want more info).

There are also lists with similar stats related to your projects, let me know if you need more info!

Communication Library Page Updated

I have recently updated the Communication Virtual Library.  Here you can find help choosing resources for papers (news, scholarly articles, books).  You can also chat with me, find my contact info, and many other helpful things!

Please check it out: http://info.lib.uh.edu/libraries/communications.html

Save it, bookmark it, add it to your Del.icio.us account.  If you don’t know what Del.icio.us is, stayed tuned for my upcoming posts that will introduce you to new cool web tools.

Have a great Friday!

Christina – Your Communication Librarian

I am your personal librarian for any questions, Communication, Journalism, Social Sciences, or whatever you need! I just began working at UH Libraries in January 2009. Prior to this, I was the Coordinator for Undergraduate Services at Texas A&M University Libraries from 2005-2009. I graduated from Texas A&M with a B.S. in 2003 and from the University of North Texas with a M.S. in Library Science in 2004.

I enjoy helping students in the library, my goal is to make your research projects as easy as possible! Thanks to Dr. Michael Berryhill, I got this blog rolling a lot faster than I otherwise would have, which is a good thing! I look forward to meeting more faculty and of course many many students semester after semester

My personal interests include sports and games, including running, tennis, taboo, and others! I travel to nature places with my husband whenever I can, mountain or beach, rain or shine. I spend time with my family often, and enjoy being in Houston near my close friends. I actually stay in touch more with friends now than ever because of that little addictive thing we all know as Facebook!

Please contact me, chgola@uh.edu!

Two New Databases for Interdisciplinary Research

The University of Houston Libraries now offer two more databases that may be of interest to Communication faculty and students:

• • CQ Global Researcher: This database provides definitive, in-depth coverage of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints. Each single-themed, 12,000-word CQ Global Researcher report is researched and written by an experienced observer of the given issue. Reports include an introductory overview; background and assessment of the current situation; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; chronology on the topic, followed by short features for extensive context; a sampling of related international perspectives; maps and graphs; bibliographies of key sources; next steps for additional reading; and author profiles.
  • Dissertations & Theses Full Text: This database indexes over 2.4 million dissertations and theses included from around the world. Nearly one million are available in full text, and the full text coverage dates back to mid 1990’s. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master’s theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637, and more than 65,000 new citations are added to the database every year.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about these two databases.

Let’s Go Navy …

The University of Houston Libraries now have a brand new exhibit, Let’s Go Navy … :

Let’s Go Navy… The Art of the Navy Recruiting Poster is now on exhibit on the 1st floor of M.D. Anderson Library. This exhibition showcases vintage Navy recruiting posters from the Floyd Glass Navy Recruiting Literature Collection, with images ranging from the patriotic to the exotic to the sentimental. Contemporary Navy recruiting posters and print advertisements provide a visual counterpoint. Let’s Go Navy… will be on display through May 15, 2009.

The exhibit was curated by Rebecca Russell, Senior Library Assistant, and Julie Grob, Digital Projects & Instruction Librarian.
Production assistance was provided by Justin Hughes, Digital Photo Tech, and Chinh Doan, Senior Library Specialist, all of the Special Collections department.

Sparky Awards 2008

The Second Annual Sparky Awards now accepts submissions. From the press release:

Six library, student, and advocacy organizations today announced the Second Annual Sparky Awards, a contest that recognizes the best new short videos on the value of sharing and aims to broaden the discussion of access to scholarly research by inviting students to express their views creatively.

…
The 2008 contest theme is “MindMashup: The Value of Information Sharing.” Well-suited for adoption as a college class assignment, the Sparky Awards invite contestants to submit videos of two minutes or less that imaginatively portray the benefits of the open, legal exchange of information. Mashup is an expression referring to a song, video, Web site, or software application that combines content from more than one source.

To be eligible, submissions must be publicly available on the Internet – on a Web site or in a digital repository – and available for use under a Creative Commons License. The Winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000 along with a Sparky Award statuette. Two Runners Up will each receive $500 plus a personalized award certificate. At the discretion of the judges, additional Special Merit Awards may be designated. The award-winning videos will be screened at the January 2009 American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Denver.

Entries must be received by November 30, 2008. Winners will be announced in January 2009. The Winner of the First Annual Sparky Awards in 2007 was Habib Yazdi, a student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for “Share” (http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/08-0122.shtml).