Ahhh, the Beauty of Free Information Systems...

So, the students in Professor Farley's Creative Nonfiction class were given the opportunity to search for the full online text of Andrei Sakharov's essay "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom." Needless to say, I succeeded. But it was not an easy task. Oh no, it was far from it. My first instinct ( as well as that of many others, I'm sure) was to search Google or Dogpile because they are like the ultimate in finding any information you could possibly be searching for. Not this time, though. I got absolutely nothing but what our professor had originally found, the opening paragraphs and nothing more. Not one to throw in the towel too easily, I began to explore options for finding what I needed. Then, I remembered a lesson I had received in my Discover New York class on utilizing the databases provided by St. John's University which are filled with more information than can be imagined. I figured since it hadn't failed me then, maybe it wouldn't fail me now. The rest of the story is unimportant because obviously I found the full text of the essay so, without further ado, this is how one would go about accessing it in the form of the original article published in the New York Times on July 22, 1968 (I wasn't able to post it here because it is copyrighted and is thus immune to copy and pasting):

1.) Go to the St. John's University home page at www.stjohns.edu

2.) Click on the link near the top of the page that says Academics & Schools

3.) Click on the Libraries link

4.) Click on Databases A-Z

5.) The databases are listed in alphabetical order so just find the letter N and click on New York Times Historical (Proquest)

6.) You will see search boxes with a variety of different options...In the Date Range field, click On This Date and enter 7/22/1968 in the box

7.) In the long search box at the top enter keywords Russian Nuclear Physicist and hit the Search button

8.) Click on the third result that starts off Text of Essay by Russian Nuclear Physicist

9.) The file should automatically start downloading when you click the link but if your computer blocks it, just click the bar at the top and choose Download File and click Open

10.) The article will finish downloading...peruse at your leisure.

I was not prompted for a password at any time during this process. I am not sure if the databases are only available to St. John's University students, faculty, staff, and alumni but, if they are and others are denied access...sorry but that is the beauty of higher education.