Whether you’re looking for materials to support your classwork, further your career, or if you just want to enjoy a good book or movie, the Penn Libraries can help.

Borrowing is Back!

Book lovers have something to celebrate: earlier this summer, the Penn Libraries mobilized to re-connect faculty, students, and staff with physical collections.

Through Pickup@Penn, you can now request books and pick them up at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center using your PennCard.

Books by Mail is available to current Penn students, staff, and faculty. After completing online registration, you can request that circulating materials listed as “available” in the Libraries’ Franklin catalog be shipped to your home address.

FacultyEXPRESS provides mailed delivery of books and documents for all standing tenured and tenure-track Penn faculty, with a cap of five articles per day.

Find the latest service updates at https://www.library.upenn.edu/blogs/libraries-news/covid-19-faq

Read, Search, and Stream

The Penn Libraries gives you immediate access to ebooks, streaming videos, and more, whether you’re on campus or working remotely.

The Franklin Catalog is a good place to start your search for online books, journals, and databases.

Use subscription streaming services, including Alexander Street Press and Kanopy, to access concerts, operas, movies, documentaries, and educational videos.

Download the Lean Library browser extension for off-campus access to Penn Libraries’ licensed content, like scholarly articles and newspaper websites, from any laptop or desktop computer. 

Use PressReader to view digital copies of newspapers and magazines and read them online from cover to cover, just the way they were printed.

Get virtual support, find expanded digital offerings due to COVID closures, and get in touch with a librarian at https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/covid-19

More to Explore

There’s plenty to pique your interest in the Penn Libraries’ network of 14 distinct libraries, recognized for their literary and artistic artifacts, and the network’s digital library covers a wealth of social and historical periods.

The Libraries and its collaborators have curated dozens of online exhibits you can access from the comfort of your couch. Discover 1960s protest drawings from Ashley Bryan, a World War II veteran, author, and artist; explore the archive of Philadelphia’s own Marian Anderson, a world-renowned singer; and reflect on Jewish domestic culture in a global context.

The world’s oldest dental book, published in 1530, is undergoing a thorough examination by the Levy Dental Medicine Library. You can join the crowdsourced effort to translate the toothy tome, Die Arzney Buchlein wider allerlei kranckeyten und gebrechen der tzeen (“booklet of remedies against all sorts of diseases and infirmities of the teeth”) into English.

Mintel’s Global New Products Database, available through the Lippincott Library of the Wharton School, lets you track trends in consumer products across the globe. Find out the most and least common flavors of spoonable yogurt (strawberry and orange, respectively) and track down information about antibacterial claims on cleaning products.

Find more information about each library and its collections and services at https://www.library.upenn.edu/penn-libraries