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NYTimes - Free Access, Sort Of
September 18, 2007

Early this morning an era ended. Today is the first day that the New York Times, that most revered newspaper, began offering full and free access for online users. Mostly. You can now access all stories online as there is no more Times Select version. Additionally, they have opened their archives from 1851-1922 to free access as well as from 1987 to the present. The archives from 1923-1986 are still partially restricted. Still, this represents a great leap forward in "free" access to information archives.

Free is, of course, used in a very general sense. Not to be cynical, but as the announcement from the NY Times notes, this was mainly done because they think the profits from web advertising will surpass the $10 million they got from subscriptions. How generous of them!

Of course, I would never let this stop me from making use of such a valuable resource. Imagine having students follow the developments through the 350 stories from the week the Titanic sank or follow the birth of a national sport with 134 articles from the first 10 years of baseball coverage. The possibilities are pretty wide open.

How will you use the new access to the New York Times in your school library?

Posted by Chris Harris on September 18, 2007 | Comments (1)