Checking the news just got easier.

Students, staff and faculty now have free access to The New York Times online from a partnership with the Marywood University library, according to an email from Hong Miao, an associate professor who works for Research and Instruction at the Learning Commons.

Current students, faculty and staff can sign up for full access to NYTimes.com by using a Marywood email address.

Additionally, according to the email, the partnership allows for access to The New York Times in Education site, which includes faculty-developed classroom materials in disciplines such as psychology and business. The education site is designed to correlate news items with areas of study.

Maria Michelle Sitko, associate professor and head of Continuing Digital Resources Management and Scholarly Communications at the library, said she considered full access to the online version as an alternative to print copies of the paper.

According to Sitko, the online version costs “a little more than Marywood is currently paying for print,” but she said she expects the reach of the online access to be significantly wider.

“Students have access on all their devices, their tablets, their phones, obviously their computers,” said Sitko.

Sitko said students can get immediate updates, which she thinks makes the cost increase worth it.

According to Sitko, she received a lot of positive responses from students when she first announced the free access. She added that many students expressed interest in more online subscriptions to additional newspapers.

“One hundred thirty-four people have already subscribed on campus and it’s only been one week since I announced it,” said Sitko.

Students can access the archives of The New York Times, read articles in multiple different languages, view over 37,000 videos that are updated daily, use a virtual reality feature for iPhones and Androids with the ability to watch 360 degree videos and download The New York Times apps, according to Sitko.

“We’re sort of evolving into these new ways of learning and getting information,” explained Sitko.

Education Manager at The New York Times Laura Reino visited Marywood on Monday, Feb. 27 to teach faculty and staff how to incorporate The New York Times content into an academic setting.

According to Sitko, Reino said during her presentation that half of the colleges she has visited have dropped the subscription to the print version of The New York Times to move to online access only.

Sitko said the online access has proven to be very popular and is “taking off” as she had hoped.

“I’m really thrilled that it caught on and I think that by word of mouth it will continue to spread,” said Sitko.

Senior Advertising and Public Relations major Katie Wheeler said she is excited about the free access to The New York Times.

“I think it’s such a great resource to have because we need to know real news,” said Wheeler. “It’s just cool to have such a trustworthy source as The New York Times at my fingertips.”

Matthew Murphy, a junior English secondary education major, said he did not know about the free access, but thinks it is a “great idea.”

“Now the students can learn some news,” said Murphy. “They don’t have to pay for it, and that’s pretty awesome.”

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Twitter: @RLookerTWW