Penn Libraries

06/20/2026

On this day in 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to issue and enforce General Order Number 3, which stated that all enslaved people were free, and that freedmen would now work for wages instead of performing unpaid labor. Today, Juneteenth is commemorated as the day on which slavery was effectively ended in the United States.

Want to learn more about the holiday that's often called America's second Independence Day? Check out these recommendations from our librarians.

Specialists from Penn Libraries offer seven resources to learn more about and celebrate Juneteenth.

06/17/2026

There's just something special about Penn during the summer.

Come for the quiet study spaces and summer reads, stay for the librarians who can find exactly the database you need for your research project, the citation guide that will help you ace your summer class, the camera that will take your passion for photography to the next level, and so much more.

Visit www.library.upenn.edu to discover everything the Penn Libraries has to offer this summer, and all year long.

06/16/2026

“So Thursday sixteenth June Patk. Dignam laid in clay of an apoplexy and after hard drought, please God, rained, a bargeman coming in by water a fifty mile or thereabout with turf saying the seed won’t sprout, fields athirst, very sad coloured and stunk mightily, the quags and tofts too.”

Happy Bloomsday! Celebrated all over the world, Bloomsday commemorates the day on which James Joyce’s Ulysses takes place. The Penn Libraries is home to this beautiful first edition copy of the groundbreaking novel. Always better experienced read aloud, you can listen to Ulysses on audiobook or hear it read live at The Rosenbach Museum & Library or another gathering near you.

(Audio via LibriVox.)

06/12/2026

The Penn Libraries, the Penn Price Lab, and other regional partners welcome folks to Philadelphia to join us for the in-person Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub of the Association for Computing and the Humanities’ 2026 conference, which explores how we create and collaborate through moments of exigency in the conference theme of Emergence/ia. The event will take place between Wednesday, June 24th and Friday, June 26th, and is free-of-cost for attendees.

Visit our website to see the full schedule and register. https://www.library.upenn.edu/events/ach-2026-regional-hub

06/10/2026

Looking for something new to read, watch, or listen to this month? Try these recommendations from our librarians!

🎧 📖 The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
🎬 Soundless Wind Chime, directed by Kit Hung
📖 Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (ebook, physical book)
📖 Fringe of the Fringe: Queering Punk Media History, edited by Kathrin Dreckmann, Elfi Vomberg, and Linnea Semmerling (book)
🎬 Rafiki, directed by Wanuri Kahiu (streaming and DVD)
📖 Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman by Laura Kate Dale (book)

Borrow ebooks and audiobooks using Libby, stream films through Academic Video Online and Projectr, or check out physical books and DVDs from the Featured Books display in Van Pelt Library, all at no cost to the Penn community! Just search find.library.upenn.edu to discover all your access options.

06/08/2026

06/08/2026

We still can't get over this amazing photo we took of the Fisher Fine Arts Library a couple of years ago. Happy Pride, all! 🌈

As a reminder, the exterior of the Fisher Fine Arts Library is still being renovated, but you're welcome to come inside.

Looking for a new q***r film to stream this month? Wherever you are in the world, Penn students, faculty, and staff can watch films using Kanopy! Check out their Pride Month collection, featuring Oscar-winners like Everything Everywhere All At Once and Moonlight, international films like Le Nino Pez an Daken, q***r classics like But I'm a Cheerleader and Paris is Burning, and so much more.

06/05/2026

A number of periodicals cropped up in 1920s Cairo that offered artistic critique, gossip, and cultural commentary. Check out some of the examples in our collection.

A number of periodicals cropped up in 1920s Cairo that offered artistic critique, gossip, and cultural commentary.

06/03/2026

Summer is here, so why not plan your research trip to visit the Kislak Center? Our collections have a wide scope ranging from 12th century manuscript fragments from the Cairo Genizah, to the records of local institutions like the Philadelphia Orchestra, and everything in between. Just be sure to make your appointment via email at least 24 hour in advance.

Find out about visiting the Kislak Center Reading Room to use our materials. https://www.library.upenn.edu/kislak/kislak-center-reading-room

06/01/2026

Looking for something to do this month? Check out these events happening at the Penn Libraries:

JUNE 2: Hear from author Emily Sneff about how the Declaration was communicated to people in the new nation and around the Atlantic world.
JUNE 3: In this advanced bookbinding course, learn about Bradel Binding and in-boards binding techniques.
JUNE 4: At this week’s Coffee with a Codex, Dot Porter will bring out Ms. Codex 2141, a 16th century collection of approximately 20 prayers with calligraphic ornamentation.
JUNE 11: Take a virtual trip to Rochester, New York and get a look at 15th c. copy of Sacrobosco’s De sphaera mundi (On the Sphere of the World) from the Cary Graphic Arts Collection.
JUNE 18: Hop on Zoom to get a peek inside one of the Penn Libraries rare books, the Penitential Psalms in French, written in the 17th century.
JUNE 24-26: Attending the Association for Computers and the Humanities conference? The Penn Libraries will serve as a Regional Hub for the conference, providing a space for participants to network and watch the virtual conference sessions.

Visit our website to register for these events and more. https://www.library.upenn.edu/events