Lab Assignment #3

Texas A&M University has a library with many useful tools for the tution-paying student. For this assignment, I was asked to find different categories of databases, as well as news information sites. With so many mediums of obtaining this information to choose from, my searches turned up with a wealth of results.

For media industry-related databases, I found the following:
1. Music Index Online
- contains over 725 international music periodicals, with many different music genres included
2. Music Online (Alexander Street Press)
- allows the user access to hundreds of thousands of audio tracks, scores, reference works and videos
3. Film Indexes Online (Chadwyck Healey)
- gives users access to search the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals, Film Index International and the AFI Catalog
4. Global Books in Print (Bowker)
- a bibliographical database with access to over 8 million English print titles
5. Oxford Music Online
- the online version of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians with links to international music sites

When I searched through library databases relating to media policy, I found these databases:
1. Foreign Brodcast Information Service Daily Report 1974-1996
- offers foreign perspectives on historical events with information obtained from monitored broadcasts and publications
2. Paley Center Seminars (Chadwyck Healey)
- an exclusive collection of interviews and 300 filmed seminars relating to professionals in the media market
3. Homeland Security Digital Library
- provides users speedy access to policy documents, presidential directives and national strategy documents
4. Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)
- the most thorough collection of information on communications and mass media issues
5. Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications (Elsevier)
- contains more than 200 articles that address policy controversies like freedom of expression, libel, information overload, etc.

As for websites providing media news that are not housed in the library database, there are the following:
1. MinOnline: http://www.minonline.com/min/
- an authorative source of breaking news that sends newsletter updates to subscribers
2. Peter Kafka's Media Memo: http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/
- a blog-style update on current media innovations
3. Mondo News: http://www.mondotimes.com/
- a connection to worldwide news media sources and updates
4. MediaWeek: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/index.jsp
- provides updates on the latest media news
5. Media Industry Today: http://media.einnews.com/
- a news service for media industry professionals

... and that about wraps it up!