NyTimes.com Becomes Entirely Open

An O'Reilly Radar blog post reported yesterday that the New York Times has announced it will stop charging for access to parts of its web site, beginning today. The Times is also making available its archives from 1851-1922 and from 1987 to the present. (There will still be charges for some material from 1923-1986.) The publishers explain more in a "Letter to Readers."

This is great news for library users! The New York Times is one of the most useful sources for reading about historical and contemporary events. Now that the archives are available online for free, students, historians, genealogists, you (!) can use this remarkable resource anywhere you have Internet access.

So, what's the catch? You still need to register (free) at NYT in order to read the articles. But with your account, you can read, print, e-mail, or blog them. For free!

Civil War coverage, anyone? (Hint: select the archive from 1851-1986 and use the "advanced" search to limit the dates to 1860-1864.) Check it out!