The Penn Libraries

Founded in 1750 by Benjamin Franklin and members of his circle, the Penn Libraries is one of the oldest university libraries in America.

Today, the Penn Libraries and its staff continue to partner with the worldclass faculty and students of Penn’s 12 schools. The mission of the Penn Libraries is to provide services vital to teaching, research, and learning and high-quality information resources — both print and digital — in a manner that is reliable, timely, responsive to the needs of our constituents, and delivered with expertise while stewarding and preserving the knowledge contained in our holdings. The Penn Libraries is a force for the democratization of access to information and hands-on scholarly experimentation, equally available to all at the University and, increasingly, to the world. Collections at the Penn Libraries comprise more than 8.6 million volumes, including print and e-books, hundreds of thousands of serials, and extraordinarily rare and unique materials that document the intellectual and cultural experience of ancient and modern civilizations. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Penn Libraries has sharply increased efforts to acquire and provide digital content and to support research and pedagogy through completely virtual means. The Virtual Support page on our website provides the most up-todate directory of remote services, such as information on accessing digital collections, collaborating with research partners, and directly consulting with librarians. When in-person campus operations are fully possible, the Penn Libraries also offers on-site instructional courses and workshops for a host of programs, as well as equipment rental and drop-in assistance. There are multiple library locations on campus from the Van PeltDietrich Library Center on College Green to the Education Commons at Franklin Field. Students can enjoy quiet study in the beautiful Fisher Fine Arts Library or check out the view from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. With plenty of group and individual study spaces, as well as numerous resources for research support, the Penn Libraries provides the ideal environment for all Penn scholars.

The Penn Libraries Office of the Vice Provost and Director Ȱ 3420 Walnut St

Philadelphia, PA 19104 Л (215) 898-7555 ƍ friends@pobox.upenn.edu î library.upenn.edu