Since 2018, the libraries at several Penn State campuses — Brandywine, Fayette, Mont Alto and University Park — have entered into collaborative agreements with their local public libraries to provide community members with access to Penn State library resources.
Brandywine Campus Library in Media was the first Penn State library beyond University Park to introduce such an agreement.
In 2022, the library entered a lending partnership with Delaware County Libraries. Now, users of any of the county library system’s 28 locations may use their public library card to check out books and other items from the Brandywine Campus Library and other locations.
“Just last week, I helped a Pennsylvania resident get an account when we had a book available that had a waiting list in the public library system,” said Teresa Slobuski, head librarian at Brandywine Campus Library.
She noted that the number of community borrowers has increased by more than 85 percent in the three years since the program was implemented.
Interested community members may visit the Brandywine Campus Library, where they can create an online account that will enable them to request and renew books.
In addition, the account will give them on-campus access to University Libraries-licensed digital content, including hundreds of library databases, when using designated public computer workstations in Brandywine Campus Library or any other University Libraries location.
All Pennsylvania residents, regardless of whether they have a reciprocal or shared borrowing program with their local public library, still have access to borrowing privileges for both physical and digital resources available through the Penn State University Libraries system.
Penn State University Libraries supports Penn State’s land-grant mission by providing library resources for all Pennsylvanians through participation in the State Library Resource Center program. The program offers a host of privileges to all Pennsylvania residents, such as the ability to sign up online for a Free Library of Philadelphia library card to access the Free Library’s e-book catalog through the Libby by Overdrive app.
Find out more about borrowing privileges with the Penn State University Library System.
