The two most relevant libraries at Penn are the Albrecht Music Library, inside the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, and the Museum Library. The music collection includes relevant materials in folksong and balladry. The Museum Library collects widely in oral literature, material culture, and field linguistics especially in Native American studies. Moreover, it has extensive collections in European ethnology, which has similar intellectual roots to folklore and still has many connections to it. Our East Asia materials also include extensive collections of folk literature. The Fisher Fine Arts Library contains materials in vernacular architecture and folk art so there is overlap with Van Pelt in these fields.
Locally, two important collections are those of the Balch Institute and the Contemporary Culture collections at Temple University. These collections consist of materials often thought to be ephemeral by most; yet for folklorists they provide what is often the only printed source material available. In the first case the Balch's concentration on ethnic studies provides materials on one of folklore's historical subjects. Likewise, many of many works collected at Temple are those often thought to be peripheral to academic libraries but for folklorists essential documentation.
Many specialized libraries are also of use to folklorists depending on their research interest. For example there are smaller libraries with specific collections; among them, the German Society of Pennsylvania and Swedish Historical Society. Another example of a library that would be of potential interest, although not necessarily on first glance, is that of Philadelphia University which has extensive collections in textile arts which are often the concern of folklorists.