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Celebrate National News Literacy Week with the Libraries!

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Guest post by Kristina De Voe, English and communication librarian

Temple University Libraries is celebrating National News Literacy Week from January 22 to January 26, 2024. National News Literacy Week is an annual initiative that turns a spotlight on local news and its role in a healthy democracy.

What is News Literacy?

News literacy, according to News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, is “the ability to determine the credibility of news and other information and to recognize the standards of fact-based journalism to know what to trust, share and act on.”

In our current era of mis-and disinformation, news literacy is a critical skill. It teaches you how to think about the news and information you come across daily but not necessarily what to think about any particular source. News literacy also helps you develop a healthy skepticism about the quality of news and information you encounter, without becoming cynical about it.

Access Digital Newspapers and Magazines

Do you know that the Libraries offer access to many digital newspapers and magazines? Titles including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Washington Post are freely available to the Temple community via our library databases. These digital resources can help you stay up to date on news, current events, and timely conversations all from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Discover our news-focused databases using our Find Newspapers guide.

Pro Tip: Curious whether the Libraries offer access to a particular magazine or newspaper online? You can search Library Search by title to find out. If the library has a particular publication, there will be a list of the databases to which the library provides access along with a link to the publication.

National News Literacy Events at Temple

To mark National News Literacy Week, the Libraries will offer the following online workshops:

Using Newspapers in Historical Research

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | 12 pm | Register

Newspapers are like “the first rough draft of history” and are an invaluable resource when researching events, individuals, and issues in the context of their time. Join us to gain strategies for conducting historical newspaper research with a discerning eye, using the Libraries’ newly expanded historical newspaper database collections.

All the News That’s Fit to Read Online

Wednesday, January 24, 2024 | 12 pm | Register

Tired of hitting paywalls when you go to read a newspaper or magazine article? Looking to avoid those subscription fees or one-time payments? In this session you’ll learn how to use the Temple Libraries databases to connect to popular newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsweek and many international favorites. You’ll learn how to quickly navigate to these publications and use the embedded tools to enhance your reading and research experience.

Fact-checking in an Era of Misinformation

Thursday, January 25, 2024 | 12 pm | Register

Join us to gain strategies and tools for fact-checking news stories based on methods the pros use so that you can identify accurate and factual information and avoid falling victim to disinformation.

Making Sense of Data in an Era of Misinformation

Friday, January 26, 2024 | 12 pm | Register

We live in a world of big data. Get tips on making sense of the charts, graphs, tables, polls, and statistics that appear in the news, journals, books and websites that you read, and view their validity with a critical eye.

We hope you will join us for our National News Literacy Week events!

Check Our New Webpage to See if the Library Has Your Textbook! 

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Guest post by Kristina De Voe, English and communication librarian with the Open Education Group 

Did you know that each semester Temple University Libraries provide a list of textbooks that are available as library ebooks? The list is based on information Temple faculty submit to the campus bookstore. These materials are free for Temple students. Use our Etextbooks Available Through the Libraries page to find your course and see if your textbook is on the list! 

Why the Libraries Collect Textbooks 

Since 2017, the Libraries have purchased ebook copies of course texts whenever possible. The Libraries are committed to reducing barriers to access a rich array of resources for our campus and the wider community. One way we work to achieve this is by supporting textbook affordability. For example, in the 2022-23 academic year, the Libraries offered electronic access to 33% of course texts, saving students an estimated $732,500. 

The number of ebooks that the Libraries acquire each semester varies as not everything is available in electronic format. Textbook publishers like Pearson or Cengage usually do not sell ebooks to libraries. When an ebook is available to us, we prefer to get licenses that allow multiple simultaneous users, however, in some cases, we need to purchase single-user licenses, which means they can only be read or used by one person at a time.  

Get Help 

Students: Have questions about whether a textbook for your Temple class is available via the Libraries? Contact us!

Faculty: Did you know you can use the Barnes & Noble Adoption Insight Portal (AIP) to adopt a library ebook for your course? Have questions about whether the Libraries can purchase materials for your class? Need help determining what is already available? Looking for instructions on how to link a library ebook in Canvas? Contact your subject librarian or specialist.