The complete digital edition of the New York Times is now available to all members of the JSC community. Access to this resource is through the library’s website and requires signing up.

Faculty Librarian Joe Farara said that Johnson State College has decided to revamp its online library website and database. Among the changes has been this Times digital offering.

“We had subscribed to the New York Times Historical, which is a collection of archives,” Farara said. “At one point this was very heavily used by the history department.”

Services offered to students such as subscriptions are tracked to see how often they are being used. “We switched from the Historical to this product because we found it just wasn’t being used,” said Farara.

According to Farara, the library sent out a mass email in early September announcing this newly available resource, but many appear to be unaware of its availability.
The new subscription, says Farara is not only cheaper for the college but access to Times services are greatly expanded.

“We went from spending $5,000 a year on the Historical to $3,2000 a year on the new subscription,” he said. “The great thing is that after subscribing for a year students can re-enroll within the year and get another year free, and so on.”

The Willey library hopes to continue offering the New York Times to JSC students, faculty and staff. “As librarians we really hate discontinuing programs. The reason why we got it was to save almost $2,000 where we can put elsewhere,” Farara said.

He noted that he hopes to hear positive feedback from faculty that it is being used in classes, as well as students independently reading it. “All of our digital products provide us with usage rates so we can track its success,” he said.

To sign up, you can access the link on Johnson’s website after clicking on the ‘Academics’ tab. Once there, click on ‘Willey Library’ and ‘Find Articles: Databases A-Z.’ The New York Times and the New York Times Historical appear on the right side column.