June 1, 2016 Library Releases New Student Discovery Sets for Tablets

The first periodic table of chemical elements. Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten record of temperatures at Monticello. Eye-popping posters documenting public programs during the Great Depression.

The Library of Congress is putting all of these historical documents, along with many more, in the hands of students and teachers through its three newest free, interactive ebooks for tablets.

The Library of Congress Student Discovery Sets bring together historical artifacts and one-of-a-kind documents on a wide range of topics, from history and science to literature. Interactive tools let students zoom in for close examination, draw to highlight interesting details and make notes about what they discover.

The Library’s latest Student Discovery Sets are available now for the iPad and can be downloaded free of charge on iBooks. These sets feature Scientific Data, Weather Forecasting and the New Deal.

"We are particularly excited about the science-related sets," explained Lee Ann Potter, director of educational outreach at the Library. "Primary sources can play an important role in engaging student interest in the history and nature of science."

The new sets join 12 previously published sets on the U.S. Constitution, Symbols of the United States, Immigration, the Dust Bowl, the Harlem Renaissance, Understanding the Cosmos, the Industrial Revolution, Jim Crow and Segregation, Children’s Lives at the Turn of the 20th Century, Japanese American Internment, Women’s Suffrage and Political Cartoons.

Through a set of interactive tools, learners can zoom in on diagrams drawn by Isaac Newton, circle details of early weather instruments and listen to music recorded in camps for migrant farm workers.

The objects in the Student Discovery Sets are primary sources—items created by eyewitnesses to history. From Galileo’s drawings of the moon to Zora Neale Hurston’s plays to Thomas Edison’s films, these maps, songs, posters, pages of sheet music and iconic images immerse students in history, culture and science and give them the power to explore.

The sets are designed for students, providing easy access to open-ended exploration. A teacher’s guide for each set—with background information, teaching ideas, and additional resources—is one click away in the Primary Source Set section of the Library’s website for teachers, loc.gov/teachers/. Tips and resources for teachers are available on the Teaching with the Library of Congress Twitter feed, @TeachingLC.

The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, holds more than 162 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its website at loc.gov.