From embedded journalism in Iraq to the evolution of the sports pages, from weblogs to the Wall Street Journal--on your TV, computer, or in your local paper, the mass media is everywhere, framing your understanding of the world around you, giving you a picture of places, events, people you would never otherwise know. 

Good library research has always paid off for students.  Now, however, it also can literally pay, in the form of the Friends of the Library's $250 Prize for Library Research.