New Student Orientation: Library Snapshots

Top 3 Things:

• Check out our collections, which include rare historic and contemporary titles about architecture, historic preservation, fine arts, city planning, landscape architecture, and the history of art.
• Visit the Common Press, a letterpress and book arts studio.
• Contact our experienced staff to get your question answered! 

Did you know: Our Materials Library has a searchable database of over 7,000 samples, from Vantablack to 3D-printed concrete!

library.upenn.edu/finearts

Top 3 things:

• Access current news from the New York Times and other newspapers from across the globe.  
• Get help finding data on audiences and media industry, from broadcasts to podcasts.
• Study in our light and airy library at the Annenberg School for Communication. 

Did  you know: Our Television Script archive includes all of Miami Vice, several hundred pilots, thousands of soap operas, and many made-for-TV movies.

library.upenn.edu/annenberg

Top 3 Things:

• Borrow musical instruments and equipment.
• Record in our podcast studio and music studio.
• Stream music and videos for study or pleasure.

Did you know: We regularly host performances in the library and share our collections through online exhibits.

library.upenn.edu/music

Top 3 Things:

• Explore the Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica.
• See historical photos in the Holy Land Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
• View manuscripts from the Dropsie collection of Judaica and Semitica.

Did you know: You can transcribe medieval fragments through the Scribes of Cairo Genizah Project. Our downtown Philadelphia location, with its Rare Book Room (8,000+ printed books & 500+ manuscripts in 13 languages) and Archives Room (50+ collections), holds more than 600 original fragments.

library.upenn.edu/lkcajs

Top 3 Things:

• Check out our Libguides or contact one of our librarians to learn about bioinformatics or to explore important health-related student resources.
• The state-of-the-art Bollinger Digital Fabrication Lab houses 3D printing, laser cutting, and poster printing services, with expert staff available for consultations and collaboration.
• Learn about anatomy using our new Anatomage Table.

Did you know: The Holman Biotech Commons was renovated and reimagined in 2021 with new, state-of-the art features and facilities. Find the latest news on Twitter and the Biomeditations blog.

library.upenn.edu/holman

Top 3 Things:

• Borrow books and other materials in nearly 400 languages
• Study, conduct research, or attend a class in five specialized seminar rooms focused on individual world areas
• Find a wide variety of popular literature—including a dedicated Global Comics Collection

Did you know: Nine of nine global collections librarians are excellent at karaoke!

library.upenn.edu/cgc

Top 3 things:

• Use our contactless automated lockers to pick up reserved books and other materials whenever the library is open.
• Check out books with our Meescan app, now available for iOs and Android, or using kiosks found in many library locations.
• Not finding the books you want in Penn's collections? You can request it from a long list of other participating libraries across the country.

Did you know: The ground floor of Van Pelt is your best bet for late-night study. It's open 24/7 most of the school year!

library.upenn.edu/vanpelt

Top 3 Things:

• Learn LaTeX, the typesetting language for math and scientific articles, dissertations, and homework.
• Learn research techniques for specialty resources like MathSciNet.
• Find required textbooks for most math, physics, and astronomy courses and use them inside the library.

Did you know: Need a quiet space brimming with natural light to study or recharge? Visit the MPA Library on the third floor of the David Rittenhouse Laboratory.

library.upenn.edu/mpa
 

Top 3 Things:

• Help us translate the oldest dental book in the world! 
• Take classes on database searching, bibliographic managers, and evidence-based methodologies.
• Our beautiful and serene reading room is one of the quietest spaces on campus.

Did you know: Currently, the Dental Library is only open to dental students.

www.library.upenn.edu/dental

Top 3 Things:

• Make an appointment to use our materials, which include Shakespeare's First Folio, draft storyboards for The Simpsons, and much more.
• Explore the John Mauchly Papers. He invented the world's first electronic computer ENIAC right here at Penn.
• Visit the beautiful Henry Charles Lea Library.

Did you know: Our "Discovering Marian Anderson" website lets you explore digitized scrapbooks, diaries, photographs, sheet music, and recordings of famous opera singer and icon of African American history.

library.upenn.edu/kislak
 

Top 3 Things:

• Explore our veterinary anatomy software and collections, including dog anatomy flashcards.
• At our Kennett Square campus, you can visit The Horseshoe Museum at duPont Library.
• Check out VetLexicon portal puts clinical veterinary literature at your fingertips.

Did you know: Our veterinary anatomy computer-based learning programs and atlases allow you to examine, in 3D, a pig's stomach, a cat's skeleton, and much more.

library.upenn.edu/vet

Top 3 Things:

• Our Anthropology collections include the collection of Daniel Garrison Brinton, one of the founders of American Anthropology.
• Explore one of the premiere collections of published archaeology in the world. 
• Expand your research world when you take one of the Museum Library Workshops and Exhibits.

Did you know: Located in the Penn Museum, the quiet, studious Museum Library offers over 180 seats in a variety of styles, from ergonomic office chairs to comfy lounge chairs to graduate-student carrels.

library.upenn.edu/museum

Top 3 Things:

• Access key business publications like the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review.
• Get your research questions answered with our Business FAQ, a 24/7 knowledge bank.
• Use Document Delivery for Wharton students to request digital delivery of articles and chapters.

Did you know: We can help you locate business and economic datasets, consult about statistical procedures, and support analysis and visualization in Excel, R, and other software.

library.upenn.edu/lippincott/

Top 3 Things:

• Learn to (ethically!) access, visualize, and map data
• Jumpstart or build on your coding and GIS skills
• Expand your digital scholarship skills and portfolio

Did you know: RDDS hosts regular workshops, drop-in coding clubs, and office hours to help students at all levels meet their digital research goals.

library.upenn.edu/rdds

Top 3 things

• Searching the chemical literature can be tricky. We teach you to do it effectively.
• Search for chemicals by drawing their pictures (structures or sequences) using databases like Reaxys, SciFinderⁿ, and NCBI BLAST.
• Understand how to use the chemical information you retrieve ethically and the rationales behind ethics rules.

Did you know: Learning to search for chemical information is a part of many undergraduate chemistry classes.

library.upenn.edu/chemistry

Top 3 Things:

• The Education Commons is home to a crafting environment and makerspace with flexible study spaces and seminar rooms.
• Visit our calendar that includes ongoing series and pop-up events.
• Contact our experienced staff to ask questions about digital fabrication and learn how to get training on our equipment.

Did you know: We offer a variety of wellness programming in collaboration with the Vitale Digital Media Lab, the Weigle Information Commons (WIC), and other parts of the Libraries and Penn community.
 

library.upenn.edu/ec