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
06/25
Study by SP2 examines potential of direct cash for cancer patients from low-income households
The three-year randomized controlled trial by SP2 is examining the potential of direct cash assistance for patients from low-income households receiving care in Philadelphia, along with their families. The study is supported by funding from actor Bradley Cooper’s One Family Foundation and a grant awarded through the Independence Blue Cross Foundation Institute for Health Equity.
News
Faculty & Research
06/21
DeMarcus Jenkins to explore links between housing policies and school integration and desegregation
SP2 Assistant Professor DeMarcus A. Jenkins will serve as co-principal investigator of a $442,340 grant from the American Institutes for Research Equity Initiative in the Behavioral Sciences for the project “Moving in Motown: Examining Promise of Integrated Neighborhoods and Schools Through Detroit’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative.”
News
Faculty & Research
06/05
SP2 professor Jennifer Prah inducted into St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame
Themes of health, gender equity, hard work, and discipline have been at the core of Dr. Jennifer Prah’s work — not only in her career as an academic and SP2 faculty member, but also during her years as an accomplished tennis player, for which she was honored on April 28 as a 2024 inductee to the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame.
Contact Us
Sam Kirk
she/her/hers
Social Sciences Librarian, Penn Libraries
215 746 6052