Welcoming students to the Penn Libraries: An interview with Brigitte Weinsteiger

Brigitte Weinsteiger joined the Penn Libraries in 2008 and held a number of key leadership roles before being named H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director in June 2024. At Penn and nationally, she has been a leading voice for sustainable scholarly publishing, equitable access, and the preservation of global heritage. She is also a passionate advocate for the importance of libraries in student life at Penn. One week into the fall semester, we sat down with her to talk about modern research libraries, third places, and the Libraries' new Don't Study Alone campaign.

How do you describe the Penn Libraries to new students who have just arrived on campus?

I tell them that the Libraries are one of the best places at Penn to learn, explore, meet people, and even have some fun. We saw that during New Student Orientation, when hundreds of new students came to Van Pelt for our Treats and Treasures party. We had a silent disco, Quizzo, letterpress printing, and all kinds of other activities.

I also tell students that there really is something here for everyone. You can find a beautiful, quiet room to study, meet friends to work on a project, record a podcast, try out new technology, explore remarkable collections, or get help figuring out how to do research.

There are lots of places on campus where you can sit with a laptop. A library is different. You are in a place devoted to learning, surrounded by other people who are learning too, by librarians who can help you, and, quite literally, by the world’s knowledge. I think there is something incredibly inspiring about that. 

What surprises students when they walk into a research library for the first time?

One thing that surprises students is that we actually let them make noise! We certainly have quiet reading rooms, but we also have lots of spaces where students can talk, work together on projects, or gather for a late-night study session. Last year, our group study rooms were booked more than 100,000 times!

Students are also often surprised by how hands-on the Libraries can be. You can work directly with centuries-old manuscripts and rare books. You can put on a VR headset, record a podcast, use a virtual dissection table, or turn an idea into a physical object with a 3D printer.

I love that combination. You can encounter something made thousands of years ago and cutting-edge technology in the same library system. Libraries bring the old and the new together in ways that can spark entirely new ideas.

Penn's libraries seem more popular than ever, with students filling the spaces every day. What makes them such an important part of student life and community?

They really are more popular than ever. Last year, more than one million people walked through our doors!

I think part of the reason is that students need what sociologists call a “third place,” somewhere that is neither the dorm nor the classroom, where they can spend time, run into people, and feel part of a community. I think the Libraries serve that role at Penn. They are one of the few places on campus that truly belong to everyone. Every student, in every School and at every point in their Penn journey, has a place here.

That is also the idea behind our new “Don’t Study Alone” campaign. At a time when we are hearing so much about loneliness, including on college campuses, I think it is especially important to create places where students can be around one another and feel connected.

And there is almost always something exciting happening in the Libraries! On any given day, a student might come to a workshop on AI or research skills, see one of our exhibitions, hear a visiting speaker or author, or simply study alongside hundreds of other students.

A student’s experience at Penn is about much more than what happens in the classroom. So much of that experience is shaped by the conversations you have, the people you meet, and the relationships you form along the way. I want the Libraries to be one of the places where those connections happen.

What do you wish every student knew about Penn’s librarians?

I wish every student knew just how much our librarians know and how much they want students to succeed.

They are experts in everything from finance and biomedicine to medieval manuscripts and artificial intelligence. And they are here to help you do your best work, without judging you. They’re not even grading you!

Photo by Eric Sucar, University Communications.