Center for Global Collections
8:30am - 12am | Library Hours
Van-Pelt Dietrich Library Center
3420 Walnut Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
| Directions
The Center for Global Collections is an intellectual hub for engagement with the world. Students and scholars can explore the diversity of cultures and societies around the world — their histories, languages, perspectives, narratives, and cultural contributions — through the Center’s vast information resources, the expertise of a dedicated team of librarians, and dynamic programming.
News and Events
Revolutionary Aesthetics and Graphic Solidarities
This panel discussion brings together an assemblage of experts to discuss why we create, collect, and study popular graphic arts as forms of political engagement.
February 22, 2024, 4:00pm - 7:00pm
Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Building a Global Environmental Poster Collection: A Conversation Between Curators
Curators Tim Medland and Angelina Lippert from Poster House, the first poster museum in the United States, will discuss their current exhibit, "We Tried to Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970-2020." They'll delve into visual culture from around the world, exploring images that have helped shape discourse and narratives about environmental issues for the past 50 years. While charting this global history of environmental activism through posters, they'll also explain their approach to locating, acquiring, showcasing, and preserving such a rich variety of print materials.
February 28, 2024, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Class of 1955 Conference Room #241, 2nd Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
University of Pennsylvania Libraries Launches Renovation of the Center for Global Collections Following Two Major Gifts
The $15M renovation project will transform the fifth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center.
University of Pennsylvania Libraries Receives Major Gift of Kenneth and Joyce Robbins Collection of South Asia History
Kenneth and Joyce Robbins designated the Penn Libraries as the recipient of the Kenneth and Joyce Robbins Collection of South Asia History in their estate planning.
Diversity in the Stacks: Collecting as Resistance: Khajistan and the Shaping of Pakistani Cultural Histories
The Penn Libraries and Khajistan have collaborated to bring several groupings of ephemera, popular magazines, pulp fiction, and rare books to campus, and we're currently working to make these available to researchers from around the world.
Diversity in the Stacks: Nova khata: A Ukrainian Folk Art Journal in Interwar Galicia
The Penn Libraries has recently acquired several issues of the women's journal Nova khata (New Home), which offer a unique window into Ukrainian culture as it existed a century ago.
Diversity in the Stacks: Exploring Chinese Internet Literature
To more accurately reflect the diversity of literature in China, the Penn Libraries has made a special effort to add recent internet novels that have been published in print form to our collection.
Diversity in the Stacks: Sources on Taiwanese Indigenous Populations
Collecting materials related to the history of Taiwan's indigenous people presents unique challenges and exciting opportunities.
Diversity in the Stacks: New Acquisitions From and About Colonial Korea
The Penn Libraries has recently acquired or made newly accessible a range of materials relating to colonial Korea that include a variety of primary and secondary sources in both Korean and Japanese.
Support the New Center for Global Collections
We invite you to enhance global studies at Penn with a gift to name a space in the new Center for Global Collections
Staff
Jef Pierce
Assistant Director of the Center for Global Collections and South Asian Studies Librarian jfpierce@upenn.eduMercy Ayilo
Africana Studies Librarian kayilo@upenn.eduAnna-Alexandra Fodde-Reguer
Chinese Studies Librarian afodd@upenn.eduBrie Gettleson
Latin American Studies Librarian brieg@upenn.eduHeather Hughes
Middle Eastern Studies Librarian hkhughes@upenn.eduArthur Kiron
Schottenstein-Jesselson Curator of Judaica Collections kiron@pobox.upenn.eduRebecca Mendelson
Japanese Studies Librarian rmendel@upenn.eduKirsten Painter
Slavic and East European Studies Librarian kpaint@upenn.eduLocation and Accessibility
Accessibility
The accessible entrance of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center opens into the Goldstein Undergraduate Study Center. This entrance is on the ground floor of the building facing Blanche P. Levy Park and College Hall. A wheelchair accessible doorbell is located on the railing leading toward the door.