Penn Libraries
The Penn Libraries has always been a central pillar of the University, but today it is even more: it is the keystone of a new model for higher education where connectivity and access to knowledge are vital.
The Penn Libraries plays a vast and essential role in providing and supporting the use of information resources and technologies to advance the overall mission of Penn as a premier research, teaching, and learning institution. Through an unprecedented investment in digital content, the remarkable quality of our collections—which distinguish us among peers across the globe—and the outstanding resident expertise of our subject specialists, we are poised to leverage philanthropy in support of a visionary strategic plan that inspires impact and guides the scholars who will change the world.
Sam Duplessis
Director of Advancement
Did You Know?
Giving to the Orrery Society Fund is the best way to make an impact. Orrery Society members can direct their philanthropy to the most urgent areas of collection development, giving Penn Libraries curators and subject specialists the discretion to direct financial support as needed to grow and preserve our information resources as essential drivers of the long-term vitality of the Penn Libraries.
Highlighted Priorities
- Developing collections answers the constant need to broaden and deepen available information across disciplines and offsets the high cost of providing massive amounts of digital resources.
- Endowed positions ensure secure funding for salaries, programs, and projects—and bestow prestigious recognition of the holder’s expertise, helping Penn hire and keep leading experts who uphold our high standards of learning and information curation.
- Our digital resources are used by every facet of the institution. There is ongoing and urgent need for financial support for the educational and research technologies that enable students and faculty to find, evaluate, present, and share information.
- Funding for cutting-edge physical spaces will further fuel the groundbreaking work taking place within our walls. As the activities taking place within the Libraries have changed, so have the physical requirements of its buildings.
“An investment in the Penn Libraries is an investment in the future of the University, including all the lives it touches and all the knowledge it shapes.”
- Constantia Constantinou
H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost
and Director of Libraries
