It’s a tab format! And, no, it’s not a mistake.

As you may have noticed over the past year, the newspaper industry is tanking.

Are we?

No.

But, as student journalists, it falls to us to prepare ourselves for the news-media industry of the future, and the summer tab is one way we think we can achieve that end.

How?

By acknowledging two things:

1. That no one likes news that’s several days old. Why pick up a paper that’s covered in stories that were relevant 3 days, 7 hours and 52 minutes ago?

2. You need news all day, every day — not only when it’s convenient for us and our printer to deliver it to the stands.

So what does that mean for you?

As readers pursue constant updates on what’s going on around campus, the scoop on local businesses and the entertainment scene in Ames, we’re dedicated to meeting your needs online, at iowastatedaily.net, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In the refashioned summer tab, we hope to provide you with stories about lives on campus — stories that stick with you over the course of a weekend or a Wednesday and keep you coming back.  Because the goal is to meet your needs. Even if some uncomfortable evolution is in order.