Since mid-September, all University faculty, students, and staff have had free access to online editions of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post through the University of Chicago Library. Individuals who wish to access these sites can follow the instructions on the library website to sign up for accounts through their CNET ID. The subscriptions cover the New York Times online and mobile app, the New York Times Book Review, the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal online and mobile app, and the Washington Post online. However, NYT Cooking, NYT Games, and the Washington Post mobile app are not included in the subscription.
Prior to this change, access was available through ProQuest, Factiva, and other online databases. These databases will still provide access to newspaper texts and archives, but the new subscription service includes daily news coverage with articles in their intended web format.
According to Jim Mouw, the associate university librarian for collections and access, there are other benefits of the new subscriptions.
“[The subscriptions] allow us to support numerous faculty who want to use interactive content from The New York Times in their classes. We have selected these three newspapers because they are major U.S. newspapers and because some departments have been licensing them [in] their individual populations, which led to spotty access across the University.”
In addition to access to these three publications, the University library also announced the expansion of access to African American newspapers, such as the Michigan Chronicle and the Chicago Defender, on October 12. Archives from each paper are available from the early 1900s to 2010 for both reading and data mining.
“[Both papers] contain vital historical coverage that is important to researchers, including advocacy work and social justice reporting as well as information about everyday life,” commented Mouw.
For more information on accessing publications, students can visit the library guide.
