Individual Article:
10 international newspapers printed daily by Library staff
Print newspapers that would formerly have taken anywhere from several days to several weeks to reach the Library through the mail are now available in the periodicals room on the same day they are published, thanks to a new subscription to NewspaperDirect. Papers from around the world can be downloaded through the service and printed at the Library’s print station at the same time the publisher is sending its print edition to press in its home country.
Each issue includes the articles, editorials, comics, crossword puzzles, advertisements, classified ads, and features found in the original edition. Newspapers are printed as they are formatted by the publisher, but on 11 X 17 inch paper, by a color laser printer. The resolution is outstanding, and though the paper is a bit smaller than most newspapers, the issues are easily readable.
Peter Burtch, newspaper coordinator in the Periodicals and Newspapers Reading Room, programs the Library’s selections into the print station, and comes in each morning to find that copies of Le Monde, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Jerusalem Post, and O Estado de Sao Paolo have printed during the night. All he has to do is place them on the current newspaper tables. “These international titles are now as up-to-date as the print titles of domestic papers that we receive through regular channels,” he says.
The Library is using the service to replace its print subscriptions to several international papers, since the NewspaperDirect subscription can be cheaper than the traditional one, and the paper is available the day it is published. (The service does not support the printing of back issues.) Among the other newspapers the Library currently receives through NewspaperDirect are the Mail and Guardian, a South African weekly that usually lagged by half a month before it arrived by mail, and Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic language paper from Saudi Arabia.
A big advantage of NewspaperDirect is its flexibility. The Library subscribes to particular newspapers, but the selection of titles can be changed at any time—subject, of course, to the money allocated for the service. Currently, the budget supports printing 10 titles through the service.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, NewspaperDirect was founded in 1999 with the goal of supplying newspapers for travelers. Its original intended market was hotels, cruise lines, and convention centers. In 2004, NewspaperDirect teamed with ProQuest Information and Learning of Ann Arbor, Michigan, to bring its product to the library and educational market. The service offers more than 350 newspaper titles from 67 countries in 30 languages.
Questions about NewspaperDirect at Northwestern University Library should be directed to Natalie Pelster at n-pelster@northwestern.edu or x1-8735.
Natalie Pelster,
Reference Librarian and Newspaper Selector