After two years of campaigning, debates, and media coverage, Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States. Not only was this a tight race, but it brought out the best and worst in people.

Over 130 million Americans voted in this election (some estimate 138 million, depending on the day) and for swing states like Pennsylvania, we saw an increase in voter turnout. Now, as we regroup and prepare for Trump to take office on Friday, January 20th, 2017, we can take this time to reflect on the election. President Barron has asked our Penn State Community to "reflect upon who we are as Penn Staters" (email, 11/10/16). We as a library are here to help you process and work together to locate information on the election, our democratic process, and resources in our community. Please think of this guide as a virtual space to learn, debate, listen, and engage.

We are all processing this election in different ways. No matter what side of the aisle we are on, we are probably searching for answers, looking for facts, and trying to have discussions with those we don't agree with. Does the library have resources for you to use? Of course. But we also know that we go to Google, Facebook, and our favorite news outlet for the latest dish on

How do I use this guide?

This guide has tried to capture the election and how America responded after November 8th. It has a combination of library resources and links to our various databases as well as hyperlinks to current media content that has frame this election. When the Internet is our source, we will need to help each other think about where the story is coming from, who wrote it, and what biases are coloring their article (because nothing is every really neutral). You'll definitely want to check out Media Influence page if you're curious in knowing more about this.

This guide is also set up like a long article you might find on the internet; we've broken it down by headers and pages, but also sprinkle in hyperlinks. We encourage you to click on the blue links and see where you end up. We try to showcase many perspectives so we as a community can broaden how we see this election.

We hope you find what you're looking for here. 

After the election, some of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy researchers sat down to discuss the election. The video below explains what happened (in their eyes) and you can also explore more videos at the Election 2016: Research Behind the Race website.