InTrans / Oct 12, 2023
Technology News to transition to all-electronic edition
LTAP plans to publish final print copy in December 2024, seeks subscriber emails
After more than 40 years of printing a regular Technology News edition, the Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) is planning to transition to an all-electronic newsletter by the end of 2024.
While staff are still solidifying details of the transition, we’re announcing early and hoping readers will want to continue to hear from us after the printing ends.
For those who already receive the electronic edition of Technology News or who already receive our Iowa LTAP Biweekly Resource newsletter, you will automatically be added to our electronic edition.
For those not currently subscribed to our electronic editions but would like to continue to receive Technology News after printing ends, please fill out either of the following:
- The 2023 Training Needs Survey (https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3vISLL4zH5pTwX4), particularly answering questions related to the transition.
- Join the Biweekly Resource newsletter edition by going to the Iowa LTAP home page (https://iowaltap.iastate.edu/), clicking on the Subscribe to Our List link, and filling out the requisite information.
During this transition time period, please reach out to LTAP Director Keith Knapp (kknapp@iastate.edu or 515-294-8817) with any feedback or thoughts. We appreciate input on everything Iowa LTAP does, and we thank you in advance for bearing with us during this time.
Background on the transition
Within three months of the Iowa LTAP being established at Iowa State University in 1983, the staff had put together and printed its first Technology News newsletter, a publication that has been printed on a regular basis ever since.
From a high of about 3,000 print subscribers in 1999, Technology News still goes out to nearly 1,300 readers each quarter. However, new subscription requests during the past nearly 5 years skew toward preferring an electronic copy of the newsletter (82% prefer either electronic or both electronic and physical, just 17 percent only want a physical copy).
Additionally, since the COVID-19 pandemic required Iowa LTAP to take all of its efforts online and necessarily increase its electronic mailings, we now have a strong mailing list and a reader base accustomed to hearing from us online and in a timelier manner.
Iowa LTAP staff have been discussing this possible transition from print internally and with the advisory board for about the past 5 years, and put simply by Knapp, “It’s time.”