Insider's View of Changes, From Outside.

THE NEW YORK TIMES is the closest thing we have in this country to a ''newspaper of record.'' A year ago I suggested that the paper should do a better job, therefore, of maintaining a record of the articles it publishes. Because of the swift changes wrought by the Internet, I observed, Times articles drift out into digital space in multiple versions. Some articles disappear altogether. At the time, the newsroom's management told me that establishing a stronger historical record by tracking changes in articles and keeping them in a comprehensive archive was not a priority. So much for the newspaper of record, I thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]