E-Reference Ratings: Communications

Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC). EBSCO. www.ebscohost.com 

With full-text access to 350 journals and coverage dating as far back as 1915, this is one of the most comprehensive databases available for communication studies. Of the current 660 journals indexed, more than 460 provide core coverage, with the remaining titles filling in the gaps. The product also incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State), as well as a handy Communication Thesaurus. Searching is a breeze on the EBSCOhost 2.0 interface. This product has something not all EBSCO products have: biographical and bibliographical data on more than 5000 of the most prolific and most frequently searched for authors in the database.

Communication Studies: A SAGE Full-Text Collection. SAGE, in partnership with CSA. www.csa.com

Small and a bit expensive, Communication Studies (CS) provides indexing, abstracting, and full-text access to 19 journals (some going back over 50 years). The content here stretches across a smattering of disciplines—including political communication, cultural studies, film studies, business communication, and rhetoric—and comprises nearly 13,000 articles. For almost the same price range, however, subscribers can have equal access to 350 journals via CS's toughest competitor, EBSCO'S CMMC (above). What will users be missing? Access to three journals: Games and Culture, Journal of Communication Theory, and Knowledge/Science Communication. Suitable for academic libraries supporting comprehensive communications programs for which CS fills a gap in the collection.

Communications and Mass Media Collection. Gale Cengage. www.gale.cengage.com

Though somewhat narrower in scope and content than EBSCO's CMMC (above), the coverage here is more than 60 percent unique when compared in an overlap analysis with that product. Gale provides access to more than 250 journals dating back to 1980. To date, there are more than three million articles indexed across subject areas such as advertising, public relations, linguistics, and literature. Gale's PowerSearch platform is rated only slightly higher than EBSCO's 2.0 platform owing to its visibly pleasing, browsing-friendly interface and the incorporation of audio translations of the articles. The ability to link with other databases' holdings is still a concern, as is the lack of guidance in the form of suggested or related search terms generated by the database.

Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts (LISTA). EBSCO. www.ebscohost.com

Though purely bibliographic in nature, this is the most valuable database within the communications category; moreover, thanks to EBSCO, it is available for free to any library. This leads one to assume that EBSCO is probably using this offer as a hook to persuade libraries to buy LISTA's full-text counterpart, but even as a stand-alone, this is a valuable product for librarians at institutions that do not have LIS programs. The interface is designed to make searching and browsing the 700-plus journals truly instinctive. Want to see less detail? More control? Simply click on the side panels within a results list to expand or collapse them. With no access to full text, LISTA makes seamless use of link resolvers, including EBSCO's own LinkSource.

Library Literature and Information Science Full Text (LLISFT). Wilson. www.hwwilson.com

In terms of both content and scope, this is a very rich database for library and information professionals. With more than 320 journals (over 100 in full text) dating back to 1984, LLISFT is smaller than LISTA (above) and less unique. One noteworthy feature is the option of listening (without downloading) to articles read in English, any of the romance languages, several Asian languages, Russian, Arabic, and Dutch. Surprisingly, both the male and female voice options sound like real people, and the buffering time is negligible on a high-speed connection. Although Wilson has recently made some big improvements to its interface, even the most experienced user may find it a bit overwhelming at times. Still, this is one of the most comprehensive resources in the LIS field.