Biddle has a New Catalog: Search Center

Earlier this month, the Biddle Law Library launched its new catalog—Search Center. The new system offers enhanced search capabilities and integrated interlibrary loan services. Patrons can locate materials in Biddle’s collection, as well as at Penn Libraries, Drexel, and libraries worldwide. Patrons can access their catalog account by using their Pennkey login credentials. 

Search Center is named in honor of Margaret Center Klingelsmith (1852 –1931).

Klingelsmith was a pioneer in the field of law librarianship and an extraordinary figure—

third Head Librarian of Penn Law’s Biddle Library (1899–1931), legal author and translator, suffragette, sole female charter member of the American Association of Law Libraries (1906), and second woman attorney licensed in Philadelphia.

Klingelsmith graduated in 1898 from University of Pennsylvania, the first class to admit women. She received an honorary Master of Law degree from the University in 1916.

During her tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, Klingelsmith embarked on several successful buying trips overseas, significantly expanding and transforming the law library’s collection.