Reading award-winning news stories in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal is now easier for the Vanderbilt community, thanks to a “News Desk” portal just added to the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries homepage.
The portal connects students, faculty and staff to current as well as historical news sources.
“Citizens need reliable and diverse sources of news and information,” said University Librarian Valerie Hotchkiss. “It is our duty as an educational institution to champion the crucial value of informing oneself as fully as possible. We hope that by providing campuswide access to The Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as links to other valuable news sources, we contribute to thoughtful discourse on the issues of the day.”
The portal or bar includes two radial buttons for accessing those papers and three other buttons that connect to the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, other news sources, and tools for determining accuracy and objectivity.
Opening an account only takes a couple of minutes. Students, faculty and staff can activate their subscription to the Wall Street Journal via the radial button on the portal link. After signing in with a VUNetID and password, new subscribers must complete a short registration form before they are logged in with full access to WSJ.com.
Students, staff and faculty can take immediate advantage of their Times subscription by going to the “News Desk” on the libraries’ main page or by following the instructions in a welcome email they should receive from NYTimes.com.
“Students have wanted this convenient resource for a long time, so we are delighted to be able to add this service with the provost’s support,” said Kasia Gonnerman, director of the Central Library. “The library continues to maintain digital access through numerous subscription databases to content—both current and archival—from a wide range of major newspapers and historical publications.”
She noted that content from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, one of the premier sources for archival footage of news broadcasts for the past 50 years from ABC, CBS and NBC—with additional coverage of CNN and Fox News—is now available across campus via one of the buttons on the libraries’ News Desk portal.
“Another win-win with The Times digital subscription is access to the inEducation section, an invaluable resource for educators across disciplines to help students develop skills in critical thinking, analysis, information literacy, writing and communications,” Gonnerman said.
Vanderbilt Library’s collections are especially robust in the area of news and journalism. Users will find research guides and more information about the collections on the library’s website or by emailing Frank Lester, the subject librarian for Political Science/Government Information, Communication Studies, and Cinema and Media Arts.