Journalism Library houses Weinberg journalism fiction collection

Steve Weinberg has collected more than 3,200 journalist fiction novels.

By Ben Kupiszewski

Published Nov. 13, 2008

The new MU Journalism Library has a fresh set of books gracing its shelves.

MU professor Steve Weinberg allowed his journalism fiction collection to be transferred to the Journalism Library.

Although he donated the collection, Weinberg credits Ellis Library librarian Mike Holland and the Journalism Library librarians Sue Schuermann and Dorothy Carner with the relocation.

"I had nothing to do with the move itself, although I am pleased with the result," Weinberg said.

Weinberg's collection was moved because the recently re-opened Journalism Library had more space than Ellis. The collection already boasts more than 3,000 novels.

"Thirty-two hundred novels and growing," Carner said.

Weinberg began the collection in 1983 for his own enjoyment. He chose novels that featured journalists as protagonists.

"It's simple. It had a journalist as the main character," Weinberg said. "I'm a journalist and I like journalists."

He also collected stories that inaccurately hyped journalism and sugarcoated it as an overly gilded and glamorous profession.

"I felt flattered that fiction writers would find my chosen career so alluring," Weinberg wrote in an article, "A 'Novel' Approach," in Editor and Publisher Journal.

Now that it's in the Journalism Library, the collection is a resource for both faculty and students.

"It obviously makes it more accessible," Weinberg said.

Heather Cottle, a graduate student who works in the Journalism Library, said when the collection was at Ellis Library, it was much more difficult for students to access because it was in the Special Collections area.

The collection is already fulfilling its educational purpose at MU. Journalism professors are assigning readings from Weinberg's collection.

"From reading the fictional novel 'Only Couples Need Apply' by Connie Flynn, I further realized how female journalists are often depicted as incomplete without the love of a man, no matter how thrilling their career might be," senior Rachel Smeda said. "Conflicting desires for family and career are persistent themes in the literature our class has read from the Steve Weinberg fictional collection."

Weinberg wrote in his article in Editor and Publisher, "At least four master's degrees and doctorates are based in part on graduate students mining these books."

The move of Weinberg's collection also possesses another significant impact, which is furthering its educational value.

"His collection is a magnet," Carner said.

After hearing about the possible space the Journalism Library has for journalist fiction collections, journalists across the country are mailing their own collections to MU.

"A lot of journalists collect journalist fiction," Carner said.

University of Colorado professor Jay Black is sending 500 books and Northwestern's Journalism School Dean Loren Ghiglione is shipping his collection.

"People realize there is a place for it, and they will send their collections," Carner said.