LIBRARIES AT PENN
A world of social work, social welfare, and policy knowledge at your fingertips
From the large Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center to special collections in social work, social policy, and nonprofit leadership, the University of Pennsylvania offers extensive library resources for students and scholars.
Search the Penn Library System
The Library’s online catalog, Franklin, is searchable both on and off campus.
Libraries for SP2 Students
SP2 students have access to libraries throughout the University system. Here are some that are particularly relevant and helpful to our students.
- The Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center is the University’s central social sciences and humanities library.
- Annenberg School for Communication Library has extensive collections focused on mass media effects, cultural studies, political and health communication, and communication in the developing world.
- Biotech Commons supports research, education, and patient care decisions for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
- Fisher Fine Arts Library features collections covering architecture, city planning, historic preservation, history of art, landscape architecture, the studio arts, and urban design.
- Biddle Law Library houses American primary materials (cases, statutes, regulations, etc.) and secondary sources such as journals, scholarly monographs, loose-leaf services, and federal legislative histories.
- Center for Judaic Studies’ collections include Biblical and rabbinic literature, Jewish history and thought, and Judaica Americana.
- Wharton School Lippincott Library offers world-class resources focused on management and business, including access to data, journals, news, analyst reports, market research and more
Collections
SP’s core collections of databases, reference work, research guides, and e-resources offer a wealth of information around high-impact themes.
Other Resources
- The Interlibrary loan/document delivery service enables students and faculty to borrow books and request scans of journal articles which are not in the University’s collections
- Penn Libraries Chat allows students to ask Penn librarians for guidance and support.
- Schedule a research consultation with a librarian.
- Connect with the library’s social science subject specialists
News
Faculty & Research
02/13
Groundbreaking experiments with guaranteed income for formerly incarcerated individuals show promising results
Research from the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) reveals the profound potential of guaranteed income for individuals reentering communities after incarceration.
News
Faculty & Research
02/12
Health capability profile offers public health tool for clinicians, health care professionals, social workers, policy makers, and individuals
With the goal of helping individuals, communities, and professionals identify how to promote people’s ability to be healthy and flourish, a new article coauthored by Dr. Jennifer Prah of SP2 and Perelman School of Medicine presents a methodology applied to major causes of death in the United States and other pressing public health issues.
News
Faculty & Research
02/07
Improving lives through data: SP2’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy boosts national impact through students and alumni
Like a number of SP2 students and alumni, Sharon Zanti, PhD in Social Welfare ’24, has taken a path that is interwoven with SP2’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP). An initiative co-founded by Professor Dennis Culhane, AISP has paved the way for state and local governments to better support residents by responsibly connecting data.
Contact Us
Sam Kirk
she/her/hers
Social Sciences Librarian, Penn Libraries
215 746 6052