diff --git a/doc/source/release.rst b/doc/source/release.rst
index 1edb44502221c..dfed47d33151a 100644
--- a/doc/source/release.rst
+++ b/doc/source/release.rst
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ pandas 0.12
     :issue:`4028`, :issue:`4054`)
   - ``Series.hist`` will now take the figure from the current environment if
     one is not passed
+  - Updated documentation to reflect ``data_source`` in ``DataReader``
 
 pandas 0.11.0
 =============
diff --git a/doc/source/v0.12.0.txt b/doc/source/v0.12.0.txt
index 0d2251bf225d9..63a3fb1e80261 100644
--- a/doc/source/v0.12.0.txt
+++ b/doc/source/v0.12.0.txt
@@ -249,6 +249,9 @@ I/O Enhancements
   - ``read_csv`` will now throw a more informative error message when a file
     contains no columns, e.g., all newline characters
 
+  - Updated documentation to reflect ``data_source`` in ``DataReader``
+
+
 Other Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/pandas/io/data.py b/pandas/io/data.py
index b0ee77f11a0a7..dd7fcafdcc0fa 100644
--- a/pandas/io/data.py
+++ b/pandas/io/data.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def DataReader(name, data_source=None, start=None, end=None,
     name : str
         the name of the dataset
     data_source: str
-        the data source ("yahoo", "fred", or "ff")
+        the data source ("yahoo", "fred", or "famafrench")
     start : {datetime, None}
         left boundary for range (defaults to 1/1/2010)
     end : {datetime, None}
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def DataReader(name, data_source=None, start=None, end=None,
                               retry_count=retry_count, pause=pause)
     elif(data_source == "fred"):
         return get_data_fred(name=name, start=start, end=end)
-    elif(data_source == "famafrench"):
+    elif((data_source == "famafrench") or (data_source == "ff")):
         return get_data_famafrench(name=name)
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/io/tests/test_data_reader.py b/pandas/io/tests/test_data_reader.py
index 129e35921335c..59ce69ba54671 100644
--- a/pandas/io/tests/test_data_reader.py
+++ b/pandas/io/tests/test_data_reader.py
@@ -28,3 +28,7 @@ def test_read_famafrench(self):
                      "F-F_ST_Reversal_Factor"):
             ff = DataReader(name, "famafrench")
             assert isinstance(ff, dict)
+
+            # test "ff" data_source option
+            ff = DataReader(name, "ff")
+            assert isinstance(ff, dict)