Libraries | Penn Today

Arthur Tress with camera and one of his subjects

Penn Libraries receives gift of works by renowned photographer Arthur Tress

A gift of works by the renowned American contemporary photographer Arthur Tress to the Penn Libraries will join another recent gift of Tress photography for a combined 2,500 photographic prints, the largest collection of Tress photographic prints in the United States.

Challenging and transforming everyday experiences on Penn’s campus

The Penn and Slavery Project will host a launch event Friday for its new augmented reality app, which unveils the University’s historical ties to slavery.

John Pollack uses a document camera to scan a pop-up book from the Kislak Center onto a laptop on a table he is seated at.

Penn Libraries prepares for a new semester

The Libraries’ goals for the spring semester remains the same as before the pandemic—to get materials into the hands of library users, either literally or virtually.

Ancil George leans on The Button sculpture in daylight in front of Van Pelt Library.

Ancil George’s legacy reaches outside the stacks

After retiring in 2019, the long-serving Penn figure continues his work in community outreach in West Philadelphia.

John Mark Ockerbloom (left) and Rachelle R. Nelson

Libraries scour the stacks for copyright free content

Known as the Deep Backfile project, a team of Penn Libraries staff has been analyzing an accumulated history of periodicals in the collection to determine which are no longer restricted by copyright, making them available for free and unrestricted use.

Inside a reading room in the Fisher Fine Arts Library

Penn Libraries releases its strategic plan through 2025

After an 18-month process that entailed gathering and synthesizing information from the Penn community and beyond, the Penn Libraries has released a strategic plan to guide its work through 2025.

Two all-white birds on gray pavement, with blurred leaves in the foreground.

Rare sparrows make guest appearance at Penn

Earlier this year, Penn Medicine epidemiologist Doug Wiebe glimpsed two small all-white birds outside Van Pelt Library that turned out to be albino house sparrows. Their coloration is likely the result of a genetic condition in which a bird’s feathers lack pigment.

Mapping the Mughal empire

This summer, professor of South Asia studies Ramya Sreenivasan worked with four undergraduates to get behind the façade of the Mughal military conquest state, using GIS and deep mapping to ascertain how the empire was formed and maintained.

An old book is displays poultry butchering on one side; Italian text on the other

‘Italian history on the table’

Eva Del Soldato of the School of Arts & Sciences teaches Italian culture and language through the history of food.

Smithsonian Magazine

Explore the newly digitized diaries and letters of Marian Anderson

Andrea Nuñez and April James of the Libraries spoke about the newly digitized Marian Anderson collection housed in Penn’s Libraries. “I hope students gain a newfound respect for the challenging realities of Marian Anderson’s career,” said James. “Like countless other Black artists and writers of her time, she negotiated segregation at home and freedom abroad. Music allowed her to transcend these barriers and help her audiences see the possibility of a more inclusive future.”

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