How do I connect from off-campus?

All currently registered Stevens students, faculty, and staff are eligible for access to Library subscription databases. Your Stevens Pipeline username and password are required for setting up a VPN (virtual private network) to access them from off campus.

Instructions to assist you with setting up a VPN can be found at the Library Databases Information Technology Itwiki page.

If you have reviewed all of the IT instructions and still cannot connect, please notify an Information Technology consultant at (201)-216-5500 or helpdesk@stevens.edu.

How do I find a journal article?

There are several methods you can use to find a journal article, magazine article, or newspaper article.

• If you have the reference or citation information (including author, title of article, title of journal, volume, issue, date, page numbers), try these two methods first:
1. The Full-Text Journal Finder, if you have a citation to an article and want to get the full text fast.  The full text may be available in one of the research databases – find out by entering the title of the publication in the search box.
2. The Stevens Library Online Catalog, to find out if the Stevens Library owns a print copy of the publication in the bound periodicals section on the third floor.  Enter the title of the publication and specify Periodical Title in the drop-down menu.
• If you do not have a specific reference or citation and you are doing a literature search to find some articles on your topic, you should first try the Multisearch tool to identify some databases that contain articles on your topic.  Then you can try some more searches in the individual databases to gather relevant documents to support your project or paper.

If you cannot find the full text of a desired document in any of the databases nor on the shelves of the library, you should request the document through Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services.

If you have any questions, please contact a Reference and Research Librarian.

How do I find a book?

To find a book in the S. C. Williams Llibrary collection, use the online catalog to identify and locate books.  The online catalog provides information about books physically located on the library shelves, and also for books available electronically through various e-Book collections to which the library subscribes, like Knovel engineering & scientific online reference, Engineering Handbooks Online, Referex, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, etc.  For more information, ask a Reference and Research Librarian.

If the S.C. Williams Library does not have the book you need, you can look for books using the WorldCat online catalog.  Books from other libraries can be borrowed; please see the section below, How do I borrow a book from anotherlibrary .  

How do I borrow a book from another library?

You may borrow books at no charge from other libraries using the Interlibrary Loan service.  Details and instructions can be found in the library services section.

How do I submit my thesis or dissertation?

Submissions of completed theses, dissertations and Senior Reports are to be made directly to the Library to Doris Oliver. Students should be sure and review the specifications below for the specific type of report listed below prior to submitting their report. Reports that do not meet set guidelines will not be accepted.  Further details can be found in the Thesis/Dissertation Submission section.

How do I renew books?

In general, circulating books can be renewed for 28-day periods (or 7-day periods for new books). Faculty may renew all books for 120-day periods. However, a book may not be renewed if it meets either of the following conditions:

   1. The book has a hold placed on it;
   2. The patron owes a total of $1.00 in overdue fines.

For further details about book renewals, please see the Circulation Services section.

Get a job in the Library?

The library hires students year round to work in three different departments.  For more information please see the employment page.

Donate books?

The Library accepts donations of books (but not text books) in good condition. Items such as journals, newspapers, reprints of journal articles and newsletters are NOT accepted unless part of a unique collection of documents pertinent to the Institute. After checking our holdings and referring to our selection policy, the Acquisitions and Collection Development librarian will decide whether to add the items to the collection, discard them or sell them. All proceeds made from the sale of donated items will be used to buy new titles for the collection. Please note that the Library cannot offer appraisals for donations, or provide a list of the items donated for tax purposes (as per IRS rules, this is the responsibility of the donor).

Get a tour?

Library tours are offered on an appointment basis only to groups or individuals. Tours of Special Collections (da Vinci, Taylor, art collections, etc) or General Library tours are available to meet your needs.
For more information or to arrange for a tour, please contact either Doris Oliver, Assistant Curator of Special Collections, or Ourida Oubraham, Director of the Library.

Recommend books?

The Library welcomes book suggestions to help keep our collection up-to-date.  Please use the book suggestion form to suggest titles.

Cite my sources?

For help on how to cite sources in papers, please see the section on citing sources in our tutorials page.

Find patents?

Patents can be found online in a variety of ways.  U.S. patents can be found in the United States Patent & Trademark Office Web Patent Databases.  European patents can be found in the European Patent Office database.  In addition, the Scopus database allows for searching across the U.S.P.T.O., the European Patent Office site, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Japanese Patent Office, and the UK Patent Office.  Access the Scopus database through the Research Tools section.  For further information on finding patents, please see the patent section of the tutorials and guides page of our website. 

Print?

A Stevens ID card or a guest copy/printing card + value is required for printing. You may add value to your card at the machine located near the library photocopiers. The cost of printing is $0.04 per page. Printing to the color printer costs $0.60 per page.  For more information about copying and printing in the library, please see the Library Services section.

Make a photocopy?

Photocopiers are located on the first floor of the library.  Photocopies cost $0.04 per page, and can be paid for either by using Duckbill$ or a copycard that can be purchased using the black wall-mounted machine located next to the copier.  Further information can be found in the copy services section of the library website.

Add to my Duckbills?

Money can be added to your Duckbill$ by using the black box machine located on the wall near the copiers and the entrance to Sam's Place in the library.  

Get research help?

To ask a question about your library research, please contact a Reference and Research Services Librarian.