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In the late 1960s, many universities created Black Studies programs in response to student demands. Because of the rapidity with which Black Studies became a discipline on campus, academic libraries faced challenges related to building collections and providing services for students when little time was available to plan for the changes. Within the context of political debates of the day, both within and outside of library administration, the responses of academic libraries to student demands leaned toward supporting a “liberal” vision of Black studies as an academic discipline similar to other disciplines, and away from supporting a “radical” vision of Black studies as a means of community empowerment. This article examines the responses of four academic libraries—at New York University, Rutgers University, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania—to the advent of Black Studies on their campuses between 1966 and 1971.

The RUSA/CODESS Historical Section’s Historical Materials Committee follows an established method to identify the best materials for the year. The process uses standardized criteria, a broad, national call for nominations, and the work of committee members to review and select from the nominations. The 2018 Best Historical Materials’ list is a mix of digital archives, collections, indexes, and print bibliographies that promote the research of unique, rich, and specialized collections. All resources were last reviewed on January 21, 2019.—Editor

Most applied ethics training in journalism in the West follows Enlightenment-era, reason-based ethical principles: Justice is intrinsically better than injustice (Kant), and the best choice is achieving the best outcome for all concerned (Mill). Recent scholarship in ethics suggests that ethics is much broader than this. This article examines a set of news stories to see whether journalism ethics can usefully be analyzed using more than the justice and harm principles. The answer is yes. This has implications for journalism ethics both in the Enlightenment-based West and in parts of the world where ethics is not dominated by reason.

This article presents findings from a pilot study of postgraduate journalism students in Dublin and Amman. The study compared professional outlooks and social characteristics of students in both contexts and examined institutional settings. The study finds that journalism students in Dublin and Amman have very similar views on the profession, although the students in Amman have a somewhat more activist outlook and less of a commitment to neutral or objective reporting; they also appear modestly more interested in effecting political and social change. We believe this has significant implications for journalism education across the region and for cross-cultural exchanges.

How the media should deal with information about the health of public figures remains a contentious issue in many countries. Many news outlets subscribe to the view that private lives should remain private unless public trust is broken or when private actions conflict with public positions. Controversy emerges over the exposure of marital infidelities, but it is in the area of health that agreement is hardest to achieve on where the dividing line should be between the public's right to know and a public figure's right to privacy. This article deals with the experience in Ireland in late 2009 when the broadcast of information about the health of the country's Finance Minister became a matter of controversy. The discussion examines this specific case before exploring the wider ethical issues, which have universal applicability.

The RUSA History Section’s Historical Materials Committee follows an established method to identify the best materials for the year. The process uses standardized criteria, a broad, national call for nominations, and the work of committee members to review and select from the nominations. The 2017 Best Historical Materials’ list is a mix of digital archives, collections, indexes, and print bibliographies that promote the research of unique, rich, and specialized collections. All resources were last reviewed on December 9, 2017.—Editor