Is There a Future for Journalism?

A functionalist perspective on the future of journalism would posit that because human society needs journalism, we will find ways to support this communications practice. Yet such a perspective, however consoling, assumes a teleology that is far from guaranteed. What will happen is far from easy to predict; nevertheless, this paper pinpoints several key issues that impact on the future of journalism. It also advances some general propositions and a broad periodisation around UNESCO’s historical role in relation to these issues. The analysis gives particular attention to political and economic matters, the safety of journalists and internet governance. Each of these dimensions entails existential threats to journalism, but some opportunities are also noted. Four paradoxes are also identified, with tensions that may lead to change in one direction or another.     

Is There a Future for Library Catalogers?

Is there a future for the library cataloger? For the past thirty years this debate has increased with the continued growth of online resources and greater access to the World Wide Web. Many are concerned that library administrators believe budgetary resources would be better spent on other matters, leaving library users with an overabundance of electronic information to muddle through on their own. This article focuses on the future of the cataloging profession and its importance to the needs of library patrons.     

Is There a Core Literature in Museology?

Abstract While critics have often asserted that museology is underdeveloped as a discipline and lacks a “core literature,” no empirical evidence has been introduced to support this claim. A citation analysis of journal articles and books published over the past several years shows clear evidence that a core literature is in fact evolving in the field. Highly‐productive and influential authors are easily identifiable, as are seminal works that have received large numbers of citations by other authors. The majority of those highly‐cited works belong to the discipline of museology itself, and sizable numbers of influential publications cluster around key unifying themes.     

Is There a Mentoring Culture Within the LIS Profession?

In library and information science (LIS), mentoring is often viewed as a significant influence on student choices and professional career directions. Most mentoring programs are built around the idea of a ‘seasoned’ or experienced professional working with an individual who is new to the profession. There is a common assumption of the mentoring process being a primarily one-way relationship – with the mentor sharing knowledge with a mentee. However, in our recent research, it is clear that mentoring is often seen as a much more reciprocal relationship. What does this mean for how we, as a profession, should try to create mentoring opportunities?     

Textbook Affordability: Is There a Role for the Library?

Try searching the library catalog, as many students do each semester for the latest version of the textbook being used in a class at many universities and you will likely come up empty-handed. Many academic libraries—due to high prices, frequently issued new editions, and a tendency to go missing from the collection—have justifiably chosen to play only a marginal role in the provision of textbooks on campus. However, the dynamics of the textbook market are changing rapidly and this presentation explored the question: Should libraries reconsider the roles they play in the provision of course materials on campus? This session focused on the issue of affordability in the context of the rapid evolution and increased availability of e-textbooks (electronic versions of textbooks). Topics covered included: an overview of the e-textbook market, purchasing options and outlets for e-textbooks, new business models for institutional access to e-textbooks, potential savings from e-textbook adoptions, information on negotiating with publishers and platform providers, and why the library is well-positioned to play a prominent role in the provision of e-textbooks.     

Is There a Role for the Library in a Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program?

ABSTRACT

With unique historical resources, academic archives can and should play an active role in support of the teaching and research missions of a college. Not only can archival teaching and collaborative learning teach students the importance of primary resources and how to use them but they also can provide support for the archives. Through partnership with faculty and students, the collaborative research program at Rollins College provides a viable means for enhancing the awareness and use of the unique historical collections, and, therefore, enriching students' appreciation of the liberal arts heritage of the institution while also providing students with a meaningful research experience.     

To Plan,or Not to Plan,Is There Even a Question? A Select Annotated Bibliography of Urban Studies Periodicals Focused on Planning

A bibliography of periodicals focused on planning within the urban studies field is presented. The bibliography contains scholarly, trade, and popular titles. Each entry contains identical categories of information (where each category is applicable), including an annotation. The bibliography is meant to aid in collection development in this subject area.     

LibGuides and Web-Based Library Guides in Comparison: Is There a Pedagogical Advantage?

This study investigates whether the platform used to deliver a tutorial matters in online information literacy instruction and assesses the overall quality of an information literacy tutorial assignment given to an undergraduate survey class. The study asks whether there is any pedagogical advantage between information literacy tutorials created in the LibGuides library guide creation software and tutorials created as Web pages. This research question is relevant to current studies of online information literacy tutorials, particularly given the increasingly dominant but under-researched position of LibGuides in the academic library world for delivering guides and tutorials. Two separate groups of students completed LibGuides and Web page versions of the same information literacy tutorial assignment in a university undergraduate communication course. Survey results of these 89 students indicated that both the LibGuides and Web page platforms deliver online instruction content effectively and achieve learning objectives almost equally well. Results also indicated content areas within the assignment that could be strengthened.     

Age-Based Ratings,Content Designations,and Television Content: Is There a Problem?

An analysis of 9 week-long samples of prime-time network programming broadcast between the fall of 1997 and the fall of 2003 found that more than 8 out of 10 programs were labeled with an age-based rating (TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, or TV-MA), whereas fewer than 4 in 10 programs were also labeled with content-based ratings (V, S, L, or D). Although programs with age- and content-based ratings accurately reflected sexual and violent content, a sizable number of programs without content-based ratings also had sexual and violent content. Ratings provide parents with incomplete information on which to base viewing decisions.     

Is This a Serial?

Serials represent a growing proportion of published literature and budget allocations. Since serials frequently contain the most current information and latest reports of research activity, they both generate many reference questions and supply the answers. Due to the continuing and changing nature of serials, their records are more difficult to interpret than are monograph records. The philosophy underlying the creation of serial records, the variations in serial cataloging rules, and the effects of automation partially explain what appears in our catalogs. A review of the essential elements in serial bibliographic records accents the unique characteristics of serials and the problems encountered in trying to create records that are consistent and intelligible.     

Community Impact of Science Centers: Is There Any?

In a competitive environment, established cultural institutions need to justify their activities and to provide measurable indications of success when applying for public and private funds. Science centers are part of the movement striving to enhance public understanding of science. The educational aspects of science centers have been the subject of numerous studies, while there is much less tangible information on the economic, political, or public impact of our institutions. There is clear evidence that learning behaviors occur in non‐formal settings. Crude assessments of the economic contribution by a cultural institution to the local economy can fairly easily be made. These include the direct purchasing power of the institutional budget and the salaries that the employees get, and an estimate of the direct costs related to the visits. An indication of the impact on local communities may be estimated from the attendance figures as a percentage of the total metropolitan population. Science centers tend to attract media attention for the exhibitions, programs, and events that they stage. This can be measured. The impact on the local economy, on political agendas, and on public perception of science has been only rudimentarily studied. Methods have not been developed, nor have the critical questions been clarified. More research, including compilation of existing scattered proprietary data, is needed. An active role in promoting a research agenda, or at least in compiling and accessing relevant data, could be taken by the professional organizations of science centers.     

Diffusion of the New Video Delivery Technology: Is There Redlining in the Internet Protocol TV Service Market?

This study examines the current status of the entry behavior of Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) into the video programming service market, with a particular focus on income redlining and local competition. Analyzing previously unavailable data on telecommunication companies' introduction of IPTV services into Indiana, this study found that although IPTV's entry into the state increased the local competition between cable and IPTV, this local competition was mostly confined to higher income areas due to the income redlining tendency associated with IPTV's entry. These empirical findings raise the issue of the recent deregulation policy reforming cable franchising rules, whose goal was to promote local competition but which might insufficiently reflect the public interest, especially for low-income households.     

The Archival and Library Viewpoints of a Collection in a Digital Environment: Is There Any Room for Compromise?

ABSTRACT

This article explores the archivists' and librarians' definition of a collection, and how they respectively arrange their collections in the context of collection development and collection management issues in a digital library. It centers on possible cooperative solutions and highlights, as a case study, the efforts of the Auburn University Digital Projects Committee to meet these challenging collection issues.     

When Is a Book Not a Book?

No abstract available for this article.     

What Is a Reference Source?

Reference is the balance of employing a process to use materials to locate information. A key feature of teaching reference is to help students understand what a reference source is. This column introduces the dilemma of that seemingly easy task. It includes examples of course assignments to aid in that effort.     

Recent Romanian Cinema: Is It a Real New Wave or Just a Splash in the Water?

This article demonstrates that recent Romanian cinema manifests the features of a new, coherent, and strong film movement that was correctly tagged as a late new wave in the context of postcommunist significant changes that have shaped the Romanian society and its artistic milieu over the past two decades. By discussing the general characteristics of new waves and the legacies of the most influential cinematic movements of the 20th century, several common features are highlighted, as is the Romanian directors’ capacity to integrate and restate these influences through innovative techniques and an original approach to reality. The analysis is exemplified through the exploration of some of the most representative films of the recent Romanian cinema, prizewinners at prestigious international film festivals.     

“There Is No Planet B”: Questions During a Power Shift

Communication and cultural studies are implicated in environmental matters. Unsustainable practices are relevant, contingent, contextual, articulated, public, banal, extraordinary, embodied, affective, global/local, material technocultural relations that hold life itself at stake. Given residual and dominant ecological crises and environmental injustices, palpable pressure to intervene in the contemporary power shift exists. While we remain invested in mapping the dynamic relations that constitute specific cultural assemblages and provide the conditions of possibility for particular acts, we also should continue to find better ways to identify and to intervene in emergent exigencies animated by our profound limits.     

Is a Fellow a dinosaur? A description of routes to Fellowship

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Do old Norms Have a Place in New Media?

Emerging business models for news have the potential to affect the nature of democracy. As the economic foundations of mainstream journalism become increasingly shaky, a new economic model is emerging in the form of news organizations operating as nonprofits. These are mostly run by former newspaper journalists bringing with them traditional journalistic norms they worked under previously; now they are operating under a vastly different economic framework. These organizations are producing a growing amount of public affairs news while mainstream news production shrinks. The research question examined here is whether this emergent form (1) changes but maintains core norms and practices of the journalistic culture from which it arose, or (2) transforms norms and practices into something new. I briefly review norms and practices of traditional journalism to create a framework against which to compare behaviors at one nonprofit news organization, MinnPost, through ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews. My findings indicate that MinnPost values some traditional norms (e.g. loyalty to citizens); other norms are valued but not fulfilled in a traditional way (e.g. comprehensiveness of news coverage); yet others are largely eschewed (e.g. forum provision). This suggests a set of evolving journalistic tenets, which observations indicate are linked to MinnPost's economic structure. It points toward how emerging business models are changing journalism, and by extension could be affecting American democracy. This paper is part of a larger project investigating how nonprofit news organizations are changing the information available in local news environments.