Reading period access: From April 30-May 12, access to the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center and the Fisher Fine Arts Library will be limited to PennCard holders and other Penn affiliates. See our Service Alerts for more information.

Books on the move: Materials on the fifth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center are being temporarily moved to our off-site storage facility. For your safety, please avoid browsing the fifth-floor stacks. See our Service Alerts for information about requesting books during the transition. 

Materials Library Collection

The Fisher Fine Arts Materials Library hosts thousands of material samples ranging from traditional construction materials to emergent and novel materials.

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Collection Overview

The Fisher Fine Arts Materials Library hosts thousands of samples ranging from traditional construction materials to emergent and novel samples such as Vanta Black, electronic paint, and seaweed insulation. The aim of the collection is to bring together innovation and creativity in order to advance conceptualization through tactile exploration. We are as much of a lab or studio as we are a library collection and we draw from disciplines across campus, making us a diverse and unique resource. We also offer 3D scanning technology to further explore and examine objects large and small. 

For more information:

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