Kerong Kelly
Writer
Recently, Bucknell Student Government (BSG), in partnership with representatives from the Collegiate Readership Program, made the decision to provide students with online access to the New York Times.
“Since college students wouldn’t purchase online access anyway, I think it’s incredible that Bucknell is willing to pay for this service,” Brandon Dellafave ’16 said.
The Collegiate Readership Program, available at many universities through USA Today, encourages students to increase their knowledge of world events, by providing complementary online access to publications such as the New York Times, USA Today and the Financial Times. Throughout this process, the BSG Executive Board met with members of the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program to discuss newspaper consumption and demand.
“I think this access is what the campus needs. Students like being informed and this is one way BSG can make it easier,” Dotun Odewale ’13 said.
This program allows students to obtain a 24-hour access pass, where they can log onto NYTimes.com/passes and using their bucknell.edu email address, view the online edition as well as archival articles.
“If it’s a 24-hour pass and it’s reusable, why can’t we have unlimited access? I don’t blame Bucknell for this,” Tom Lukow ’16 said.
As with the campaign to increase college readership of publications, the University hopes to strengthen its partnership with programs such as the Collegiate Readership Program.
Bryan Campbell • Dec 10, 2012 at 10:38 am
Dear Editor:
I applaud the BSG for encouraging Bucknell students to read the newspaper (Re: “Students gain free access to online NY Times,” 11/30/2012), but I wonder if it is aware that students have always had free, online access to the New York Times, Financial Times, and USA Today (and many, many others!) through the Bertrand Library’s online subscriptions. They’re not too difficult to find on the library website. Go to: http://researchbysubject.bucknell.edu/news. I tend to use the National Newspapers Database, although but Lexis-Nexis is also a fine choice. Admittedly, the reading experience won’t be the same as say visiting the NY Times site, but still I think students should be aware of what’s already available to them.
In addition to supporting the Collegiate Readership Program, perhaps the BSG could also direct some of its effort to helping the library promote these readily available alternatives.
Bryan Campbell
Development Research Specialist
Development and Alumni Relations