The Griffon News

The faster and more compact the better. At least that is what many students are looking for when doing research. JSTOR, the new Internet archive, offers just that.

The program stores a list of journals on a variety of subjects and a search engine to find particular articles in a given journal. JSTOR is new this semester and is available on all campus computers. It holds 119 titles and can be accessed and printed with a click of the mouse.

These journals deal with subjects such as ecology, history and statistics.

The installment of the archive came at no small price. At a one time archival fee of $10,000 and an annual fee of $2,000, it has taken Western three to four years and $12,000 total to implement one section of the program.

“This is only one piece of the JSTOR database,” library Director Julia Schneider said. “JSTOR is broken down into six or seven different pieces. We have the JSTOR Arts and Sciences I collection.” Additional programs are expected in the future.

While this may have been no easy task, the library staff hopes it will be beneficial for years to come. They intend to use grant funds to purchase the additional sections. As the students use this program and give positive feedback, the more the university will want to renew the annual subscription.

Some students have yet to use the program but like the sound of it.

“With EBSCO Host, a lot of material you need wasn’t available, and it gave you a runaround,” student Gretchen Kunkle said. “My understanding of JSTOR is that it’s to the point and more organized.”

Sophomore Jesse West feels similarly.

“It would be an interesting idea for the patrons; it would help them pinpoint what they are looking for more accurately,” he said.

Student Governor, Harold Callaway III also weighed in on JSTOR.

“JSTOR is used for a specific emphasis,” he said. “ESBCO Host is a very wide umbrella that encapsulates many different things.”

JSTOR does not have recent publications but instead archives older journals. If JSTOR does not have the information a particular student needs, the journal maybe found in the bound section or received through inter library loan.