The BYU Student Advisory Council is encouraging students to take advantage of BYU's free online subscriptions in order to prevent the funding for these services from being cut.
The Harold B. Lee Library offers all BYU students free online subscriptions for a wide variety of digital newsprint sources, yet hardly any students take advantage of the opportunity.
Every year, the library pays for a variety of digital magazines and newspapers to provide students with free reading material and reliable news sources.
The Student Advisory Council has taken action to inform students of BYU's resources. Students on campus purchase personal subscriptions rather than using the school’s free sources.
“I never knew that the library offered free online subscriptions,” said Steve Funk, a senior studying finance. “Being able to read from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times for free and online will be so convenient.”
In order to raise awareness, the Student Advisory Council is posting advertisements around campus in hopes of increasing the number of students who use the service.
“We are putting ads around campus, trying to reach out to as many students as possible,” said Morgan Miller, a junior studying journalism. “Students will be better informed about the world around them and can become more involved with current events.”
Students interested in using the Harold B. Lee Library’s subscriptions can log onto the library’s website and follow a few simple steps: visit lib.byu.edu, click on the “Journal Finder” option, choose the “exact” option and type in the publication of choice.
“Basically, we are looking to help the library learn more about their students and what they can better do to serve them when it comes to providing reliable news sources,” said junior Latin American studies major Lucas Miller.