Reading period access: From May 1 to May 13, access to the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center and the Fisher Fine Arts Library will be limited to PennCard holders and other Penn affiliates. Find more information.

Penn’s 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. Initially prompted by 19th-century Orientalist linguistic interests in select languages such as Arabic, Sanskrit, and Chinese, historical collection strengths in archaeology, anthropology, history, literature, and religious studies have broadened to include design, performance, political science, international business, traditional medicine, and indigenous peoples from around the globe. Incorporating materials of visual culture, audio/visual recording, chapbooks, personal documents, and other forms of popular dissemination presents contributions from all strata of societies around the world.

Anchor Collections

Collage of Hindi film, books, and DVDs.

Hindi and Bollywood Film

The Van Pelt Video Collection is home to more than 1,400 Hindi-language films as well as scholarly and popular books about Hindi and Bollywood film culture.

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Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection

The Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection is an important repository of Indigenous language materials and other documents, primarily from colonial-era Central America.

Korean fiction.

Korean Contemporary Fiction

The Penn Libraries actively collects contemporary literature from South Korea for study and enjoyment by international students, language learners, and researchers at Penn.

Three Swahili-language textbooks sitting on a wooden table.

Swahili-Language Materials

While Malagasy has become the most-enrolled African language taught at Penn since 2013, the Penn Libraries have strong collections in other African languages.

Title page detail from Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi, Kitab Shamail al-Mustafa (Fez, Morocco, 1865)

Fez Lithographs Collection

This collection of over 170 titles documents the earliest printing in Morocco. The bulk of the collection dates from 1865 to 1936, covering most of the span of Moroccan lithographic printing from its beginning in the city of Fez to its end during the French Protectorate.

Collage of Manuscripts from the Collection.

South Asian Manuscript Collection

Penn Libraries holds more than 3,000 manuscripts from South Asia, making it one of the largest collections of its kind in the Americas.

Maps and More

Campus Libraries Map

Staff Information

Resources for Staff Committees