April 26, 2007

Start the day with croissant, Le Monde

University Library now carries current day’s hard copy of many foreign newspapers

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to read an overseas newspaper on the day of publication without having to go online?

If you feel that way, you might consider taking your morning coffee to University Library’s periodicals and newspapers room. There you can drink your coffee and read a print copy of the day’s Le Monde, Guardian, Asharq Al-Awsat or one of seven other foreign dailies.

Through a service called NewspaperDirect, print editions of newspapers that normally would have taken from several days to several weeks to reach University Library by mail now are available on the very day they are published.

The papers are downloaded through the services of a Canadian-based company called NewspaperDirect and printed at a print station in the periodicals room at the very same time that the overseas publishers are sending their print editions to press in the home country.

The newspapers are printed just as they are formatted by the publisher, but on 11 by 17 inch paper. “The resolution is outstanding,” says Natalie Pelster, who is a University Library reference librarian and newspaper selector.

So even though the newspaper may be smaller than the original paper, it is easily readable. “In fact,” Pelster says, ”sometimes it’s even more legible than the paper is in newsprint, given the quality of the paper that we print it on.”

At least the first page of each paper is printed in color.

Since the beginning of the academic year, the Library has used the service to replace its print subscriptions to several international papers, since a NewspaperDirect subscription can be cheaper than a traditional mail subscription and has the advantage of arriving on the day it comes out.

If, say, someone is interested in finding out how a particular news event is playing out around the world, he or she can go to the periodicals room and compare the news coverage of the event in the 10 foreign newspapers that the library subscribes to through NewspaperDirect.

Originally established with the goal of supplying newspapers for travelers, NewspaperDirect targeted hotels, cruise lines and convention centers. In 2004, the Canadian-based company teamed up with Ann Arbor’s ProQuest Information and Learning to bring its product to the library and education market.

Other papers that the Library subscribes to via NewspaperDirect are the Daily Telegraph (England), O Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Irish Times, Jerusalem Post, Mail & Guardian (South Africa), El Pais (Spain) and La Stampa (Italy). Due to problems with mail subscriptions, the Library also receives the Los Angeles Times via NewspaperDirect.