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New Student Orientation

Welcome, New Students!

Visit us in person and explore a dedicated online hub to discover the library collections, expertise, and services available to you as a Penn student.

Learn More
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Using the Library

Quick Start Guide

Search the Franklin Catalog

Use Franklin to find books, journal articles, databases, CDs and DVDs, and anything else in the Penn Libraries collections.

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Get Off-Campus Access

Need to access subscription materials like journals, databases, and e-books when you’re not on campus? Check out our cheat sheet.

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Request Scans

Our library staff can scan book chapters and articles for quick delivery directly to your inbox.

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Receive Books by Mail

When you register for Books By Mail, you can request to have books sent to your off-campus address anywhere in the United States.

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Ask a Question Anytime

Explore our archive of Frequently Asked Questions. Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Submit your question anytime, and we’ll respond within 24 hours.

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Book a Consultation

Book an in-person or virtual consultation with a librarian or technology consultant with expertise in your field of study, copyright, digital fabrication, or statistical and design software.

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Excel Basics: Visualize Data

September 08, 2022 12:00pm - 1:30pm | Yablon Financial Resources Lab, room 244

Want images that speak louder than words? Practice a process for visualizing data in Microsoft Excel so you can communicate your findings in class and on the job. 

User Experience Design for Scholarly Storytelling

September 14, 2022 1:00pm - 2:00pm | Goldstein Electronic Classroom (Room 114)

What is user experience design, and why should scholars working in digital scholarship care about it? This introduction-level workshop will introduce participants to key concepts in UX design, including wireframing, prototyping, iteration, and user testing.

Penn Mapping & GIS Club

September 15, 2022 - 3:00pm - 5:00pm | Goldstein Electronic Classroom (Room 114)

The Penn Libraries Mapping & GIS club meets to discuss, learn, and collaborate on topics and projects related to mapping, geospatial data processing, visualization, and analysis tools through hands-on tutorials, workshops, and presentations. The first hour will feature workshops, talks, and discussions, and the second hour will be reserved for co-working and collaborative project work.

Build a Digital Exhibit with Omeka

September 21, 2022 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Goldstein Electronic Classroom (Room 114)

Omeka is an open-source web publishing platform ideal for sharing digital collections and curating online exhibits. This workshop will walk attendees through building digital exhibits and using Omeka for their work.

Featured Collections

The Penn Libraries' global collections encompass hundreds of languages and scripts across a broad range of subject areas, preserving the rich cultural and scholarly record from Africa, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia. Read about some of our unique recent acquisitions.

A stack of issues of the comic book 'Zring!' showing a colorful cartoon of a person getting punched in the face.

Kurdish Language Books And More

Our Kurdish collecting efforts build upon previous work from Middle East bibliographers, seeking to ensure greater representation for the peoples and languages of Kurdistan.

Four books sitting on a white table, all of them with titles in French.

North African Books in French

To this day, the French language plays an important role in North African countries like Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia—but that role is complex and contested.

A sample drawing of South Asian Folk Arts.

Folk and Tribal Arts in South Asia

In the last year, the Penn Libraries has purchase of several hundred volumes related to South Asian painting, textiles, music, and dance.
 

Upcoming Events

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A box of letterpress stamps.
August 18, 2022

Intro to Letterpress Workshop / Press Training

Learn the fundamentals of setting type and letterpress printing on our Vandercook cylinder presses. We will also discuss alternatives to setting type for printing on the press (photopolymer plates, linoleum, pressure printing).

1:00pm - 4:00pm | Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts, Lower Level
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August 24, 2022

New Student Orientation: Penn Libraries Showcase

New to Penn? Stop by our main building, the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, for a showcase of our libraries and services. Chat with our librarians, discover library resources, and take a moment to explore the building. No reservations necessary. Light refreshments will be served.

12:00pm - 2:00pm | Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Oversize Ms. Codex 722
August 24, 2022

Coffee with a Codex: Grammar and Definitions

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak Curator Dot Porter and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. This week's featured item is Oversize Ms. Codex 722, a 14th century French dictionary of grammatical forms and definitions of theological, religious, and secular terms, arranged alphabetically.

12:00pm - 12:30pm | Virtual