During the pilot program, Van Pelt’s ground floor will open for studying from 6-10 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
Credit: Annie LuoA limited number of seats in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center is available for students living on campus to study individually.
In order to reserve seats, undergraduate, graduate, and professional students must be living in campus housing and participating in Penn’s COVID-19 surveillance testing program. Van Pelt’s ground floor is open for individual study from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday as part of the pilot program. Students are required to make an online reservation for a minimum of one hour and a maximum of four hours for the day they choose to visit.
Students must show a PennOpen Green Pass and confirmation of the reservation, which must be made at least four hours in advance, in order to enter the library. Students must follow all safety precautions outlined in the Student Campus Compact, including wearing face coverings and adhering to social distancing. Visitors must also wipe down their workspace after use. No food or drink is permitted, including water.
Contact-free printing, free of cost, as well as restrooms are available for anyone with a reserved seat. Each patron must stay in their assigned seat except when using the restroom or printer, according to Penn Libraries’ policies and procedures regarding seat reservations. No public access to book stacks will be granted.
Students do not have to be on campus to check out books from Penn Libraries this semester. Students in North America can have books mailed to them, while international requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The “PickUp@Penn” option allows students to retrieve their books from a no-contact pick-up location outside Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. Patrons can access materials reserved through PickUp@Penn during their seat reservations with prior confirmation from the Circulation Department.
Over the summer, Penn announced plans to open study spaces in Van Pelt to only graduate and professional students in October. The pilot program, however, will also include undergraduate students.
Penn's decision to re-open Van Pelt comes weeks after Penn Dining invited residential advisors and graduate associates to partake in a four-day indoor dining pilot program. Anyone with a dining plan is now eligible to eat inside 1920 Commons, Penn's only open dining hall this semester.
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