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
03/27
SP2 launches social work affiliate program with HUP and CHOP
Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), in an innovative partnership with the Departments of Social Work at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), has established a first-of-its-kind social work affiliate program.
News
Student Life
03/27
SP2 announces alumnus Dr. Shadrack Osei Frimpong as 2026 commencement speaker
Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) has announced that SP2 alumnus Dr. Shadrack Osei Frimpong, NPL’19, a global health leader and scholar whose work focuses on occupational neurology, will deliver the School’s 2026 Commencement speech on May 16.
News
Alumni
03/24
Building pathways to opportunity: A Q&A with Lori Margolin, MSW’82
In this Q&A, MSW graduate Lori Margolin reflects on what drew her to SP2’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program, the accomplishments she’s most proud of, and what she looks forward to in the next chapter of her work.
Contact Us
Sam Kirk
she/her/hers
Social Sciences Librarian, Penn Libraries
215 746 6052