Penn State students can already get USA Today for free on campus, but they soon won't even have to leave their room to read it -- the newspaper will be delivered right to their e-mail inbox.

In a partnership with USA Today, Penn State is launching a pilot program of the "e-edition" of USA Today to extend its current Newspaper Readership Program.

Nancy Gromen, web developer in education resource development for USA Today Education, said the e-edition is being offered to all Penn State students, faculty and staff.

Students can also choose to receive their e-edition through "Campus Buzz," an e-mail notification that will be sent to the inbox of any student who signs up for the service.

"We want to know how people react to the online edition," Gromen said.

The e-edition has features that sets it apart from the newspaper's conventional Web site, she said. The Campus Buzz also has a direct link to the paper in its entirety, which students can click through as they would flip the pages of normal paper.

The new program will be up for evaluation in the 2010 spring semester, when student use will be compared to the circulation of the paper's hard copy on campus. Changes will be made based on the evaluation, Gromen said.

"We want to make sure people have access to the news and make sure everyone is informed and engaged about what's happening in the world," she said.

Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said she is glad to see a joint effort between the university and USA Today to both educate and provide information to the student body. She hopes students will take advantage of the Campus Buzz notification.

"It allows us to push national news to students," Powers said. "Students can gain more knowledge about what's happening."

Gromen said she is excited to be extending USA Today's partnership with Penn State -- their commitment to having an informed student body coincides with the mission of USA Today.

While he believes the e-edition is a positive effort, journalism professor Russell Frank said the numbers of both hard-copy circulation and online registration do not necessarily reflect the amount of students that are actually reading what's there -- which should be the ultimate goal.

"Any mechanism that gets the news into students' hands or in front of their eyes is worth a try," Frank said. "But the interest has to be there."