The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 32, August 12, 2007, Article 5

NEW YORK TIMES MAY MAKE ONLINE ARCHIVE AVAILABLE FREE

Speaking og online archives, Dick Johnson forwarded an article from
the New York Post noting that the New York Times may soon open up
its online article archive.  He writes: "This is good news for
numismatic researchers. I have passed on quoting New York Times
articles in past because I didn't pay for their Internet news items."
Here are some excerpts from the article:

"The New York Times is poised to stop charging readers for online
access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content, The Post has learned.

"After much internal debate, Times executives - including publisher
Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision to end the subscription-only
TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement,
according to a source briefed on the matter.

"While other online publications were abandoning subscriptions, the
Times took the opposite approach in 2005 and began charging for access
to well-known writers, including Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Thomas
L. Friedman.

"The decision, which also walled off access to archives and other
content, was controversial almost from the start, with some of the
paper's own columnists complaining that it limited their Web
readership."

[Back issues of The New York Times are invaluable for numismatic
research, and not just U.S. numismatics.  As the newspaper of record
its reporters cover important stories from around the world, and
much useful information can be found in its archives.  I found the
Times especially helpful in my research on emergency monies of the
U.S. Civil War.  Researchers and anyone interested in particular
numismatic topics should watch for this development and try their
favorite queries once the archive becomes freely available. -Editor]

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

Dick adds: "Remember that recently New York Times publisher Arthur O.
Sulzberger Jr. stated he did not know if there would even be a print
edition in the future (mentioned here in The E-Sylum March 4, 2007).

"Most major libraries have microfilm runs of New York Times (the
larger the library the further back they go), and printed yearly
indexes.  These are especially useful in that other newspapers
typically carry similar articles near the date first published in
the Times, so it is, in effect, an index to all newspapers.

"Also, don't overlook the Obituary index since 1851 (two volumes
last time I looked). There is also a Personal Name Index to the New
York Times since 1975 (now in 7 volumes). There are even special
subject indexes for sports and theater."

[As more of the back issue archive becomes available freely online,
the microfilms will be much less necessary.  But the human-generated
indexes should continue to prove very valuable; keyword search only
goes so far, and unless the Times digitizes the indexes the hardcopies
found in your local library will continue to be very useful. -Editor]

 THE INTERNET - NUMISMATIC INFORMATION FORMAT OF FUTURE?
 esylum_v10n09a10.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum