Did you know that your PennCard is also your Library Card?
There are two ways to access the books, articles, and other formats that you need to start your research at Penn:
Electronic Access: connect to digital and digitized collections from home
Physical Access: materials available in our campus libraries (known as "the stacks")
Step 1: Login to the Libraries website with your PennKey information.
If you need help logging in, first contact campus support to make sure that your PennKey is activated. If your PennKey is active and you still can't connect, call (215) 898-7555 or visit this guide for information about your library account.
Step 2: Use your library account to access article databases, e-books, and more.
From the Franklin Catalog, you can browse millions of research materials right from home.
Step 3: Visit Your Subject Library Website
From Fine Arts and Music to Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences, the Penn Libraries are here to provide world class expertise and access to the materials you need to be successful in your major.
Always make sure that you are logged in to the libraries website with your PennKey.
Q: I clicked on the article I'm looking for, now I'm on a different page that looks like this.
How do I access the article?
A: Welcome to Penn Text, Penn Libraries connection to full-text availability across our many search platforms.
If you're still having trouble, call Circulation Desk for help at (215) 898-7555, send in a request via email, or live chat with a librarian to get back on track.
When you come into the Libraries we're here to help with finding research materials, like physical books, and connecting you to technology in our labs, makerspace, and study commons areas across
Try out our new spaces finder! Search all of our available group study rooms and more below:
View interactive floor plans and stacks locations:
All books and articles in the libraries are assigned identifying information called call numbers that will tell you where they are located on the shelves, also called the stacks.
Call numbers: a combination of letters and numbers assigned to a library book to indicate its place on a shelf
The stacks: the rows of shelves where books are stored in the libraries
Franklin: the Penn Libraries catalog, a searchable database of all the books, serials, and other formats in the libraries
1. Search for your book in Franklin. You can use your own device, or a look up station located in the libraries.
You can select "At the Library" to filter for physical materials only. You can also search for materials by subject, author, and more.
2. A call number in the library catalog, Franklin, will look like this:
3. Click on "see shelf location" to open a map of which floor the book you're looking for is located, or ask for help at the Information Desk at the Circulation Services Center ( at the main entrance of the library you're searching in).
This book is in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, your central campus library. From the map, we can see that it will be on the 3rd floor in the P range, section of the stacks that starts with P:
4. On the 3rd floor, the stacks will be labeled to help you find the book you're looking for. With the call number above, you'll be looking first for the P range, and then for the shelving that starts with PR.
The call number that read horizontally in Franklin:
PR4167.J5.J36 2015
Will read vertically on the book itself:
5. To find your book, you will need to go to the PR 4000 range and locate 4167. Next you'll look for the J section to find .J5. J.36.
Watch a brief video on the shelf reading, or finding materials in the libraries:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Visit the Information Desk at the Circulation Services Center ( at the main entrance of the library you're searching in), or send in a request via email or live chat.
