Interlibrary Loans

Here are some search tips you can use before requesting in item via ILL:

• Look up your document in Sofia by using the advance search.
• Search first in Google Scholar. A simple search in Google Scholar will allow you to find some information about your document and even maybe be able to access it full-text.

• If you are looking for Proceedings, look on the conference host website. More often then not, past proceedings are available for free on these sites and can be downloaded. You can also use resources like ProQuest or Compendex.
• If you are looking for a dissertation, look on the university library website where the author has graduated. For Polytechnique's students, dissertation can be found in PolyPublie.
• Don't hesitate to visit our Databases page to look for your article in one of those. As a member of the Polytechnique communauty, you have access to these databases for free.

Search tips in Sofia:

• When searching in Sofia, don't include stopwords like "a", "the", "and" as they will slow your search. 
• A truncation is automatically applied. For example : « global » will also bring you « globalisation »;
• Save your search by clicking on Save in the results list. Your search will be saved in My Account, under Saved searches.

Here are a few resources used by library staff to find books and articles:

Dissertations

• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) : dissertations from around the world.
• MIT Theses : dissertations from MIT.

Technical reports:

• Contrails : technical reports in aeronautics from the US.
• Canadian Nuclear Laboratories: technical reports from the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
• NASA Technical Reports Server
• National Technical Reports Library
• The Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) : technical reports from the american government. 

Articles in foreign languages:

• SciELO : scientifiques articles in latin languages.
• SciFinder
• Viniti : scientific literature in russian.

Please also visit our list of databases and guides related to all the fields in engineering.