The majority of the fifth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center is currently closed for construction. Learn more about this renovation to the Zilberman Family Center for Global Collections, including how to request materials.

Collection Overview

This collection consists of materials in Chinese in traditional and simplified characters, largely housed in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center on the fifth floor. The rest of the collection is spread among the Libraries, most noticeably in Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Penn Museum Library, Lippincott Library, and the LIBRA storage facility.

The focus of the Chinese collection is on the humanities and social sciences, supporting faculty and students across the School of Arts & Sciences (East Asian Languages & Civilizations, History, History of Art, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology, Linguistics, Music, History and Sociology of Science, Anthropology, and Archaeology departments), the Weitzman School of Design (Architecture, City Planning, Fine Arts) and other schools at Penn. We collect a wide range of materials, from primary and secondary sources to graphic novels and comics and contemporary fiction. 

Contact

Spaces

Doing Research

When using the Libraries to search for Chinese studies materials, we recommend using the library catalog. You can search in Chinese characters (traditional and simplified) and you can search in Pinyin, but for the latter, be sure to make spaces in between every single Chinese character unless it is a place name or a name. [Example: "Beijing da xue xue bao" where Beijing is a place name; Xi Jinping]

Our databases are varied and have their own particularities, but the linked Research Guides should provide a good starting point (see below). 

Please feel free to reach out to the subject librarian for more help. 

Maps and More

Campus Libraries Map

Staff Information

Resources for Staff Committees