ProQuest Digital Collections is designed for today’s challenges and evolving for what’s next

Academic libraries are under increasing pressure to meet the evolving demands of research, teaching and learning — often with constrained budgets and unpredictable content costs. Smaller institutions can face even greater challenges in access and staffing, while all libraries are adapting to emerging technologies like AI.

In early 2025, ProQuest Digital Collections was launched to help libraries meet the challenge of providing broad access to high-quality, varied types of content across curricula.

Spanning nine disciplines, ProQuest Digital Collections is composed of exceptional content resources, including the primary sources for which ProQuest is renowned. The content is hand-selected by experts to serve interdisciplinary needs and ignite student and researcher curiosity. Aligned with today’s budget landscape, it enables academic libraries to provide access to a rich and varied collection of resources, with continually expanding content and technology tools that evolve with the needs of students, researchers and faculty.

Shaped By Librarians and Faculty to Address Real Curriculum and Research Needs

ProQuest Digital Collections components have been carefully shaped with input from faculty and librarian advisory boards to define collection priorities, platform improvements and instructional support. This ensures that ProQuest Digital Collections evolves with the real needs of educators and researchers.

• • It helps instructors and researchers quickly find relevant materials for lectures, assignments and research projects
  • Thematically linked content across disciplines supports student engagement with complex topics
  • Content can be integrated directly into syllabi and course modules, and supports learners at all levels, from first-year seminars to graduate-level research
  • Students gain hands-on experience with authentic primary sources, while faculty benefit from curated collections that align with instructional goals

Fueling Research and Classroom Success – 2025 Platform and Content Roadmap

Delivering the technology experiences expected by users can be a challenge for libraries. ProQuest Digital Collections offers continued growth to make sure libraries can meet evolving demands.

• • The AI-powered ProQuest Research Assistant now summarizes a full-text document’s essential details. This allows users to quickly identify and understand important background such as research method, population studied or main themes. Each summary includes a supporting quote from the document to give clear context.
  • Later in 2025, ProQuest Research Assistant will introduce chat functionality that enables users to ask questions and receive answers directly based on their full-text document. Later, Research Assistant Visualizations will provide faster insights by presenting key ideas and data graphically.

Together, these features strengthen students’ skills in source literacy and critical analysis while complementing the essential role of educators. By combining these tools with rich content, institutions can elevate the research and learning experience across all academic levels.

2025 Content Additions

Along with ongoing updates to academic journals, 2025 content expands via collaborations with world-class partners, including the British Library, University College London Library and Royal Anthropological Institute among others. The 2025 roadmap also includes the following new database additions. Read on to learn about these additions.

• Anthropology
  • Ethnographic Video Online, Vol. V: Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival
• Global Studies & International Relations
  • Digital National Security Archive modules: U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation 2: Nixon-Ford Years and CIA Covert Operations: Truman Years
• History
  • Early European Books Collection 26: Spanish Drama & Literature
  • Early European Books Collection 27: Jewish Cultural Life
  • ProQuest History Vault modules: American Jewish Congress Records; Catholic Church and Interracial Justice; and NAACP Papers: The Crisis
• Black Studies
  • The Houston Informer and Texas Freeman
  • Minority Business Development & Slavery Sources
  • ProQuest History Vault: NAACP Papers: The Crisis
• Women’s Studies
  • Queer Pasts & Women and Social Movements in the U.S.
• Performing Arts
  • Music Online: Classical Music in Video, Vol. IV - iClassical Academy
  • Music Online: Rock and Pop Music in Video
  • The Broadway on Demand Collection, Vol. II
  • Popular Theatre: Circus Performance and History
  • Ongoing: Qwest TV EDU
• Entertainment & Popular Culture
  • Le Film Français
  • The Rolling Stone Archive from Penske Media Corporation (Monthly updates)
• Visual Arts & Design
  • Ongoing Archives: Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue (including Vogue Italia), House Beautiful, GQ, Women’s Wear Daily, from Condé Nast as well as Footwear News from Penske Media Corporation

Get Started with ProQuest Digital Collections

Start your trial today to see how ProQuest Digital Collections can support learning, instruction and research at your institution.

Contact us to learn more.