How to borrow textbooks (required course texts):
There are multiple ways to make getting your textbooks affordable
- Talk with your student financial aid advisor
- Work with the staff of Penn First Plus
- Use your library!
The Libraries’ collections include nearly nine million print and electronic books. We might have one of the books that you need for your course! Books circulate for the semester.
You can also request books from our partner libraries. Have a question about connecting to course texts? Contact your librarian or submit a question or chat to find out more
Follow these steps:
- Log into the Libraries' collections catalog – this will allow you to see all of your options.
- Search Franklin catalog by book title (include author and edition if possible. Many textbooks have multiple editions and similar titles)
- If you find a record for a print book – it should have a location and call number
- Look for "available" in the status/location line as in illustrations above and below
- The record above shows the locations as LIBRA and the Holman Biotech Commons. If the book is in the stacks of any of our libraries on campus such as the Holman Biotech Commons or Van Pelt you are welcome to go to that library and retrieve it from the stacks yourself OR you can request the book and have it held for you at the library of your choosing.
- If the location of the book is LIBRA or the GIC Collection at Penn Libraries, you must request the book.
- See the illustration below: Click the space under "Select an Item"—you will choose the item and location and “Request in Print”
