Selecting & Evaluating Communication-Related Databases

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Introduction

The collection development process for communication studies presents unique challenges including limited collection budgets, an interdisciplinary subject area, the rapid progression of the disciplines within communication studies, and the increasing significance of additional media formats. Librarians today face a new challenge that librarians of yesteryear only wish they had – which Communication-related database(s) should a library subscribe to?

These resources may help you to answer this complex question.

Journal Coverage

I. This Excel spreadsheet, posted to ALA Connect, is based on an analysis completed in December 2006. [Communication Abstracts, ComAbstracts, and Communication & Mass Media Complete]

II. Also posted to ALA Connect as a Word document is an assessment of Tables of Contents completed in July 2009. In order to further assess and compare journal coverage, in 2008 the committee extracted selected tables of contents (TOCs) from 34 communication studies journals, and searched all content of the selected TOCs (including reviews) in ComAbstracts, Communication Abstracts, and Communication & Mass Media Complete (the 34 titles are indexed by all three databases). The committee reviewed TOCs from the first issues of the 34 journals for the years of 1978, 1988, 1998 and 2005. The additional research reinforces the findings of the initial overlap survey, which indicates that Communication & Mass Media Complete has the most extensive coverage (especially since it indexes book reviews), while Communication Abstracts (CSA) has the least extensive coverage. Data collected for the additional journal coverage assessment is included in the attached MSWord document.

III. Evaluation Criteria This links to criteria used to evaluate the databases Communication Abstracts, ComAbstracts, and Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Aggregated News Databases

I. Evaluation Criteria - for newspapers This links to criteria used to evaluate the aggregated news databases.

Beginning in January 2010, the Committee is beginning to evaluate aggregated news databases. The first step is modify the evaluation criteria.

II. News Sources The Committee has not yet selected databases to evaluate. We are currently updating the the News Sources page of this guide.

Questions and Comments

Post questions, comments, or suggestions about this resource to the Electronic Resources in Communication Studies document

Created: November 2007
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