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Electronic Highways
Chronicle available through institutional subscription
The University Libraries now have an institutional subscription to The Chronicle of Higher Education, so all UB faculty, staff and students can access the complete online contents of the self-described “top destination for news, advice and jobs for people in academe.” This includes current and back issues, daily updates and special issues and reports on topics ranging from distance education to campus architecture. There also are data compilations, such as the annual Almanac of Higher Education; numerous survey results on such topics as graduation rates and grad-student stipends; and searchable listings of faculty and administrative salaries, tuition and fees, and gender equity in athletics programs. Categorized sections can be targeted by clicking on a list offering, among others, “The Faculty,” “Students,” “Research & Books,” “Government & Politics,” “International” and “Athletics.”
A convenient alternative to monitoring The Chronicle is to get daily or weekly updates delivered automatically by email or an RSS feed. It’s not necessary to have a personal subscription to the print version to receive one or more; simply go to The Chronicle site and click on “Sign up now for email alerts” near the bottom of the left-side features list. You can then set up a free account and request periodic updates, customized job alerts or “The Wired Campus,” an online newsletter devoted to campus technology issues. There’s also the engaging “Chronicle Review,” a “magazine of ideas,” plus participatory forums and career advice services. An RSS link at the bottom of most pages facilitates signing up for “feeds,” article and blog updates that are channeled to Web-based feed readers. Note, however, that full text is not always accessible via the email links when you’re off campus. Then you’ll have to sign on through the Libraries connection for remote access to those articles.
Articles from issues back to 1989 are searchable by date or keyword(s) from the “Search the Site” box near the upper-left corner of The Chronicle home page. Other University Libraries databases that index The Chronicle and provide full-text coverage to varying years include Education Research Complete, Education Full Text and LexisNexis Academic. ERIC indexes The Chronicle, too, but tracking down full-text requires a few additional clicks via the “Check here to see if UB owns this item” link.
The online version of The Chronicle offers numerous advantages over the print edition. In addition to the convenience of receiving updates and accessing back issues, there are multimedia, such as podcasts, photo galleries and videos. A weekly crossword puzzle and cartoons are nice diversions tucked away in the “Opinions & Forums” section. It’s all available, thanks to UB’s institutional subscription.
—Will Hepfer, University Libraries