Penn Libraries

NSO is just a week away, and we can't wait to see you! While you're checking things out and settling in to your dorm, come say hello at any of our library locations, visit our table at the Resource Fair—or stop by Van Pelt Library 12pm-1pm on August 21 for our library showcase!

Check out our new student guide to learn more.

Guides: New Student Orientation: Welcome Guides: New Student Orientation: Welcome

Many library patrons know that they can explore new and different places through books, but the Penn Libraries can also transports you through music.

Explore Beyond Collections with Music in the Stacks Many library patrons know that they can explore new and different places through books, but the Penn Libraries can also transports you through music.

With more than a dozen locations across campus, the Penn Libraries has a lot of offer! Which one fits your personality best? Are you artsy and elegant like the Fisher Fine Arts Library, collaborative and forward-thinking like the Biotech Commons, or constantly busy like the Van Pelt Library? Take this quiz to find out!

Which of the Penn Libraries are you? The Penn Libraries' many locations are as varied as the members of the University of Pennsylvania community. Which one fits your personality best? Are you artsy and elegant like the Fisher Fine Arts Library, collaborative and forward-thinking like the Biotech Commons, or constantly busy like the Van...

While at the University of Pennsylvania, three engineering students worked with the Holman Biotech Commons' digital fabrication lab to prototype a microplastics filter. Today, that product has evolved into a full-blown company. Here’s how the Penn Libraries helped make it happen.

How a microplastic filter got its start in the Bollinger Digital Fabrication Lab The Penn Libraries' Digital Fabrication Lab served as the epicenter of innovation for the prototype that would launch the startup company Baleena.

With our Atlantic website subscription, students, faculty, and staff can enjoy everything has to offer, from cultural commentary to the Caleb’s Inferno crossword.

The Atlantic is Now Available to Penn Readers! With our Atlantic website subscription students, faculty, and staff can enjoy everything theatlantic.com has to offer, from cultural commentary to the Caleb’s Inferno crossword.

What counts as a book, anyway? That's the question artists and bookbinders are grappling with as they create works for our upcoming fall exhibition Material World. Produced in collaboration with the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, the results will be on view September 4 to December 9, 2024.

Material World Material World explores the concept of a book and encourages viewers to question the traditional understanding of what constitutes a book. Artists and bookbinders from the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers have been challenged to use non-traditional mediums to create their works.

The Penn Libraries offers access to the Community Health Data Base, which comprises decades' worth of survey results on health attitudes, practices, and conditions in the Delaware Valley.

The Community Health Data Base: Philadelphia health surveys available via analysis tool and microdata files The Penn Libraries offers access to the Community Health Data Base, which comprises decades' worth of survey results on health attitudes, practices, and conditions in the Delaware Valley.

Learn how the Vitale Digital Media Lab digitized old movie reels, bringing Philadelphia's past to life and offering Penn Libraries users the chance to revive their own memories.

Vintage Vibes - Digitizing Super 8 Film at Vitale Digital Media Lab Explore the magic of Super 8 film at Vitale Digital Media Lab. Learn how we digitized old movie reels, bringing Philadelphia's past to life and offering Penn Library users the chance to revive their own memories.

New Student Orientation is just around the corner, and we can't wait to meet you, Class of 2028! For the next month, we'll be regularly sharing tips and tricks that will help you get ready for your experience at Penn and show you all the Penn Libraries has to offer. Be sure to visit us during New Student Orientation to say hello in person!

We want your feedback! We are currently in the process of revamping and redesigning the Franklin catalog and are requesting feedback to ensure it meets your needs. Take a look and tell us what you think.

Find | Penn Libraries Manage your Library Account. Create and manage item requests, renew checked out items, bookmark individual titles, and request delivery from other libraries across the country.

Food: You need it. You love it. And so do we! For this month's Featured Books and DVDs, our librarians are recommending a selection of cookbooks, novels, documentaries, and more, all exploring the many facets of food.

Featured Books and DVDs: Snack-tacular! Check out this month's recommendations, which are focused on food.

Break up your summer with a Penn Flutes concert! This Thursday at 5pm, come to Van Pelt Library to hear a performance from one of the largest active flute choirs in the United States. Registration is required to attend.

Music in the Stacks: Penn Flutes Penn Flutes visits the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center for a public performance.

Ashley Bryan was born on July 13, 1923. Over the course of his long life, this artist, writer, and humanitarian created thousands of drawings, paintings, collages, and linoleum block prints. His archive was donated to us in 2019.

Ashley Bryan Archive Renowned artist, writer, storyteller, children's book creator, and humanitarian Ashley Bryan created thousands of drawings, paintings, collages, and linoleum block prints over the course of his long and productive life.

Ever wanted to learn to letterpress? Now's the time! This summer, the Common Press Studio is holding workshops to introduce Penn students, faculty, and staff to our Vandercook cylinder presses. After attending a workshop, you're free to book a time to work on your independent project during open studio hours!

Common Press The Common Press is the letterpress and book arts studio at the University of Pennsylvania. It offers workshops to students, faculty, and staff; provides studio access for independent projects; and provides curricular support.

Do you love old books? Grab a cup of coffee and take a peek inside a codex! Each Thursday on Zoom, curator Dot Porter shares a manuscript from our collections, offering a close-up look at what appears inside their pages.

Coffee with a Codex An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators.

The Penn Libraries recently collaborated with the Water Center at Penn to relaunch the open access International Journal for Water, Equity and Justice. Here's a look at the process.

Promoting sustainability through open journals publishing at the Penn Libraries The International Journal for Water, Equity and Justice (IJWEJ), an open access, digital publication of The Water Center at Penn and the Global Water Alliance (GWA), recently relaunched with a new scope, name, and digital platform, with the support of the Penn Libraries. With sustainability as a cor...

Every year the American Association of Medical Colleges releases a summer reading list for aspiring physicians. Explore personal accounts, fascinating histories, and current trends in healthcare, all via easy to read, popular science titles.

AAMC Summer Reading List Check out these popular science titles recommended by the American Association of Medical Colleges, all available through Penn Libraries!

In the very early hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City. For the next six days patrons fought back. A year later, advocacy groups commemorated the event with a demonstration now known as the first Pride Parade. Explore the LGBT experience with these recommendations from our librarians.

Featured Books and DVDs: Pride Celebrate by delving into LGBTQ+ stories this month.

Need to get your hot little hands on some beautiful books, but you're too far away from campus to stop by the library? Get them delivered to your off-campus address anywhere in the United States, all summer long. Just find what you're looking for in our library catalog, and then select "Books by Mail" as your delivery method at checkout.

On view now: stop by the Holman Biotech Commons reading room to explore a selection of ex-votos from the Penn Libraries' William H. Helfand collection. This fascinating display will be up through the summer and fall.

A Selection of Mexican Ex-Votos Gain insight into Mexican religious folk practices through ex-votos and devotional paintings on medical subjects.

Since this was going to be a summer of ungussed wonders, he wanted it all salvaged and labeled so that any time he wished, he might tiptoe down in this dank twilight and reach up his fingertips. --Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

Happy Summer Equinox, Penn!

On July 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to issue and enforce General Order Number 3, which stated that all enslaved people were free, and that freedmen would now work for wages instead of performing unpaid labor. Today, Juneteenth is commemorated as the day on which slavery was effectively ended in the United States.

Here are just some of the resource available in the Penn Libraries that tell the story of this world-changing event.

Diversity in the (Virtual) Stacks: Juneteenth The main entrance to the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center is now open. Van Pelt Library and the Fisher Fine Arts Library are currently open to Penn Card holders, Penn affiliates, and certain visitors. See our Service Alerts for details.

"So Thursday sixteenth June Patk. Dignam laid in clay of an apoplexy and after hard drought, please God, rained, a bargeman coming in by water a fifty mile or thereabout with turf saying the seed won’t sprout, fields athirst, very sadcoloured and stunk mightily, the quags and tofts too."

Happy (belated) Bloomsday! Celebrated all over the world on June 16, Bloomsday commemorates the day on which James Joyce's Ulysses takes place. The Penn Libraries is home to this beautiful first edition copy of the groundbreaking novel.

Got a music project you want to record this summer? Ready to finally start that podcast? Book one of the newly-renovated recording studios in our Music Library! Here's how.

Newly Renovated Recording Studios for Music and Spoken Word Open in the Penn Libraries Penn students, faculty, and staff can book appointments starting on June 3, 2024.

Separate from a grief or support group, a Death Cafe offers a space to get together and informally discuss death. Find out about the Death Cafe hosted last fall by the Holman Biotech Commons.

Destigmatizing death with our first Death Cafe Separate from a grief or support group, a Death Cafe offers a space to get together and informally discuss death.

Don't miss out: come visit the library this summer! We're currently on our summer schedule, but that still leaves plenty of time to work, study, and play in our library locations.

Visit our website to find out when your favorite library is open. 👇

Today's Hours Access to the College Green area of campus will be restricted until further notice. PennCard holders and some Penn affiliates may enter and exit Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center through the Rosengarten Undergraduate Study Center on the ground floor, and may enter and exit the Fisher Fine Arts Libra...

Happy from the Penn Libraries! Whether you want to explore classic q***r literature, find new q***r authors and filmmakers, or discover local LGBTQ+ history, our librarians are here to help! Check out our recommendations.

Featured Books and DVDs: Pride Celebrate by delving into LGBTQ+ stories this month.

"Libraries are not just about books or buildings; they are also about people." We're pleased to announce that Brigitte Weinsteiger has been named the new H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and director of the Penn Libraries.

Brigitte Weinsteiger named H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and director of the Penn Libraries Weinsteiger has been at Penn Libraries since 2008. She assumed the new role on June 1.

Think there's nothing to do at the library over the summer? Think again!

🔖 All summer long, the Common Press is offering beginner workshops on bookbinding, letterpress, and more.

🎵 On July 18, cool down with the Penn Flutes! They're returning for an afternoon concert in Van Pelt Library

📜 Can't make it to campus? Hop on Zoom each Thursday for Coffee with a Codex and get a peek inside one of our rare books or manuscripts.

Find out about these events and more on our website.

Events With engaging events, compelling lectures, and skill-building workshops, the Penn Libraries is a hub for cultural and educational activity at the University of Pennsylvania. Many library events and exhibitions are open to the public.

Did you know that there is a conservation facility on the 5th floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center? Head of Conservation Sarah Reidell explains what they do and how they seek to make their practices more environmentally sustainable.

Sustainability practices at the Steven Miller Conservation Laboratory Best practices in conservation help to protect the long-term health of cultural heritage and the planet.