Northern Today, the newsletter for faculty and staff at NIU, now is completely electronic.

In an effort to cut costs, all recipients will receive the newsletter by e-mail starting Monday.

In addition to making the newsletter more readily available, a large amount of money is being saved.

“It’s really more of a money-saving thing than a time-saving thing,” said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs, the office that produces the newsletter.

By turning Northern Today into an electronic source, the office will save about $15,000 in printing costs.

However, the cost is not the only reason the newsletter will be converted.

“It’s really two-fold,” she said. “Going electronic allows us to be timely. For most faculty, a computer is always nearby.”

Northern Today has been in print for more than 20 years, but Magara wants everyone to know that the change is not a step backward.

“It’s not going away,” she said. “It’s taking in a new incarnation that is more appropriate for how we work today.”

Anne Kaplan, vice president of administration and University Outreach, agreed.

“I think that increasingly a lot of people are getting their information electronically,” she said. “I get the Chronicle of Higher Education [in print], but I usually read it online … there are a lot of conveniences to it.”

The decision to make the change brought up some concerns from faculty, but they are uncommon.

“We have had some people who are not on GroupWise (the e-mail system), so they want to make sure they get it,” Magara said. “Some also wish that it didn’t have to come out of print, but they understand.”

Kaplan felt positive about the idea of improving communications with the new format.

“It will reach more people,” she said. “A lot of faculty are glued to their computer for eight hours a day.”

Magara also thinks the future of Northern Today online is bright.

“This will allow us to explore the idea of an intranet, or a faculty and staff portal,” she said. “We currently have a faculty and staff page that many of them use as a start page, and although it’s just an idea, this could be next.”

Faculty and staff that would like to receive the Northern Today by e-mail and are on systems other than GroupWise, as well as readers that receive the newsletter by mail, can send their e-mail addresses to [email protected], or call 753-1681.