New Agreement Offers K-12 Schools in the School District of Philadelphia Free Access to Dozens of Digital Primary Source Collections

As part of a new agreement championed by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, all K-12 schools in the School District of Philadelphia will be given access to digital primary sources hosted by Adam Matthew Digital at no cost to the schools themselves. The agreement will allow teachers across all age ranges and subject areas to integrate primary sources into their students’ course of study.

The agreement is part of a larger access deal between Adam Matthew Digital and the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Inc. (PALCI), a membership organization that builds access to shared library collections and resources through collaboration among academic and research libraries in Pennsylvania and neighboring states. “This partnership offered us a unique opportunity to leverage our individual members’ previous investments in Adam Matthew Digital collections, opening up access to this distinctive collection of valuable primary source resources for faculty and students at every one of our 70 member libraries,” said Alison Bradley, Director of Strategic Initiatives at PALCI.

The deal will provide member institutions with complete access to the publisher’s range of primary source collections published through the end of 2018. From American History, 1493-1945 to Gender: Identity and Social Change, and Age of Exploration to Victorian Popular Culture, all PALCI member libraries, in addition to the School District of Philadelphia, will gain full access to nearly 100 individual products and millions of pages of primary source content.

Brigitte Weinsteiger, Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications at the Penn Libraries, had previously invested in purchasing the Adam Matthew Digital collections for the University of Pennsylvania faculty, staff and students, and served as a strong advocate in bringing these valuable materials to all other PALCI members and the School District of Philadelphia. "I'm delighted that PALCI and Adam Matthew Digital were able to reach an agreement that brings rich primary source collections, in a convenient, searchable digital format, to enhance student learning across the School District of Philadelphia and fuel faculty research at the many diverse institutions across the consortium," Weinsteiger said.

These new digital collections complement the Penn Libraries’ ongoing efforts to support teaching and learning in the Philadelphia community. “Our mission guides us to extend our reach beyond the University and make an impact on our local, national and global communities,” said Constantia Constantinou, H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of the Penn Libraries. “Our work includes partnering locally with organizations like the School District of Philadelphia to produce, preserve, and provide access to knowledge.” In this vein, the Penn Libraries’ community engagement program plays a central part in an established, multi-step process to reinvigorate libraries throughout the School District of Philadelphia, and many of the Penn Libraries’ digitized collections are made available to educators free of charge.

“Recent events have shown us all the value of providing high-quality digital content and the real impact it can have in supporting both in-person and e-learning across all ages and levels,” says Ben Cartwright, Executive Director of North American Sales at Adam Matthew Digital. “We are especially excited about the positive impact this deal will have on students across Philadelphia-area K-12 schools. The study of history and the social sciences provides so many important life skills, particularly around critical thinking, which we hope many will continue to build throughout their college careers and beyond.”

K-12 educators in the Philadelphia School District can register here for free access to all Adam Matthew Digital products published through 2018.

About the Penn Libraries

The Penn Libraries provides a network of information resources and knowledge services that are vital to teaching, research, and learning at the University of Pennsylvania. This network includes 14 physical libraries, recognized for their collections, and a digital library known for innovation and richness of content. Through exhibitions and lectures, and through the acquisition and preservation of literary and artistic artifacts, the Penn Libraries documents a wealth of social and historical periods, bringing scholarship to life at the University and in the various communities it serves. Learn more at https://www.library.upenn.edu/.

About Adam Matthew Digital

Adam Matthew Digital is an award-winning publisher of digital primary source collections for the humanities and social sciences. Sourced from leading libraries and archives around the world, these unique research and teaching collections cover a wide range of subject areas from medieval family life to twentieth century history, literature, and culture. Learn more at www.amdigital.co.uk

About PALCI

PALCI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization, originated in 1996 as the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc., a grassroots federation of 35 academic libraries in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Today, the PALCI membership consists of 70 academic and research libraries, private and public, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. PALCI’s mission is to build access to shared library collections and resources through collaboration among academic and research libraries in Pennsylvania and neighboring states. PALCI Members partner to serve over 800,000 students, faculty, and staff, through a variety of programs including the highly-regarded E-ZBorrow consortial borrowing service. PALCI also serves as the administrative home for the Affordable Learning PA initiative, to create  a community of practice for open educational resources (OER), including textbooks and related educational materials. Learn more at http://www.palci.org.