Library videos and search tips

The Library Search is a single search engine which allows you to search across all the full text ebook and ejournal databases available to members online, as well as the physical items on our shelves.

For a list of individual databases that we subscribe to, visit our search our library resources page. 

No - although it does cover the vast majority of ebook and ejournal content for members, as well as all of our library's hard copy holdings, there is sometimes a delay in indexing new content. ASME conference papers and SAE global vehicle standards are not findable within Library Search. There are some interactive data tools like the Knovel Data Search for material properties that the Library Search doesn't capture. You can still search the individual databases or contact us if you can't find what you are looking for. The search also excludes our archive content, including the past member records freely available to members via Ancestry. You can explore these collections on our archive pages.

Enter a search term in the Library Search box. Any items with “View ebook”, “View PDF”, “View full text” you can enter your Institution login credentials to view the full text online.

Depending on the licence, some databases allow you to download whole books, e.g. Springer and others require an individual registration on the database for any PDF downloads, e.g. EBSCO. Our subscription to ScienceDirect allows you to download some content directly but the remainder is available via transactional licence. For these items you will have the option to "Order document", instead of the normal PDF download. There is a limit of 20 transactional items per member per year.

Yes there are - please see terms and conditions of use for library databases.

If you filter by “Material Type” “Print Book” you can find all the physical books held by the library. Click on the book title and select either “Pick up from the library” or “Request postal loan".  You will be asked to sign in with your IMechE credentials and can check your address details prior to submitting the request.  

Books are available for free postal loan to members within the EU and copies of individual papers can be supplied for a fee - for details of these services please see Library services.

Yes, the BrowZine app allows you to access our journal collections on your phone or tablet.

BrowZine is a user-friendly way to browse and read journals anywhere – online, on your phone or your tablet, or even offline. You can access it by going to www.browzine.com and selecting the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as your library. It will then ask you to log in with your IMechE details, but you will only need to do this once.

A collection of hard copy BSI, ISO, API, ASME and other standards are available for free postal loan to members within Europe. You can look up the standards we hold in our Library Search. Please contact us if you can't find the standard you need because we may be able to acquire it and can also borrow standards from other libraries on behalf of members.

We can't offer online access to most standards for licensing reasons, although members can download current SAE ground vehicle standards via the SAE Mobilus database, ASTM standards and view ASME Standards online and access a custom collection of EN, ISO standards via SAI global.

Please see the standards section on our resources page.

Yes, members can access other libraries across the UK via the Sconul scheme.

Yes - run a Library Search and then use the left-hand menu in the results page to restrict to "Full Text" under Content Type.

Yes - there is a list of links to all the databases for members.

Knovel Data Search allows you to find specific types of properties data for materials with on-the-fly unit conversion, while McGraw-Hill’s DataVis tool enables you to visually explore materials and their properties. The Library Search can also be used to find relevant ebook and ejournal content. If you can't find what you're looking for, please contact us.

Calculator tools are available from McGraw-Hill for fluid dynamics, heat transfer and other engineering problems - select ‘Spreadsheets’ in AccessEngineering. The Knovel database also includes practical equations with interactive worksheets and calculation software which allow you to manipulate and export technical data.

To log into library resources, a “cookie” is sent to your browser to enable access.  If you are using a firewall or network privacy program, you may need to reconfigure it to allow cookies to be sent from our databases.