Bloomsbury announces digital partnership with Jessica Kingsley Publishers  

Bloomsbury Publishing and Jessica Kingsley Publishers (JKP), an imprint of Hachette UK, have announced a multi-year licensing agreement to deliver the JKP Library to academic institutions worldwide. This is the first time that Bloomsbury Digital Resources has entered into such a partnership with a trade publishing house. 

The partnership will enable the creation of a JKP digital library, launching later this year, which Bloomsbury will host as part of Bloomsbury Digital Resources. 

JKP has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion and publishes for specialist markets. It also commissions authors with expertise and lived experience of the subjects they write about.  

Bloomsbury and JKP said the new digital library “will enable higher-education libraries to support courses where students need an understanding of diverse identities and life experience and to apply this context to their studies”.  

It will include modules on gender and sexuality, autism and neurodiversity, mental health and well-being, and inclusive teaching and learning. The library will be “an invaluable resource to support the learning and teaching of up-to-date best practice in these areas and an essential reference to help the faculty understand and support the diverse needs of learners,” the publishers said. 

The digital library will be the first time that JKP titles have been hosted on a single platform. “This will enable JKP to widen its reach into international higher-education libraries through Bloomsbury’s global sales and marketing, while extending Bloomsbury’s digital portfolio with content of high value to the educational community,” the company said.

Kathryn Earle, managing director of Bloomsbury Digital Resources, said: “Jessica Kingsley’s publications in areas that support diversity, equity and inclusion are unparalleled – the books are authored by people whose lived experiences enrich and provide an authoritative framework for conveying understanding. We know that our librarian customers are actively seeking to acquire content that covers diversity, equity and inclusion topics, and that this content can be hard to find. We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with JKP to bring its outstanding content to a broader readership of students and academics across the world through an institutional model that democratises access. Our partnership couldn’t be more timely.” 

The publishers said the partnership “is potentially scalable to other Hachette imprints”. Sanphy Thomas, JKP managing director, said: “Partnering with Bloomsbury Digital Resources means our content will reach the global academic community, the nucleus of education. Our books, authored by people who have experience of the conditions and topics they write about, will enable educators and students to gain a deeper insight and understanding of those who actually live these lives: the issues that are important to them, the challenges they face and the opportunities that they see.

"Bloomsbury’s state-of-the-art platform and global sales and marketing reach into the higher-education market will be a vehicle through which we can further the voices of those who are currently underserved, and I’m thrilled to be able to support our communities in this way.”