Services for Graduate Students

Students in the Graduate Studies programs at FIT, like graduate students everywhere, will want and need to go beyond the walls of the physical library to conduct their research. Here are some services of special interest to our grad students. See Services for Students for a wider range of services that are available to FIT graduate and undergraduate students alike.

During the Spring 2022 semester, COVID-19 regulations still limit access and hours of some services and collections. Note that they are subject to change at any time due to FIT, SUNY, NYC or NYS mandates.

  • Getting books, DVDs etc from other libraries:
    • First check OneSearch to confirm that the item is not owned by the FIT Library.
    • Use Interlibrary loan (ILL) (available through OneSearch) to have materials from other libraries sent to our library for you to borrow
    • Check WorldCat to verify your citation information (e.g. are the author, title, publisher and date information you have accurate?) and also see if the item you want is available at other libraries.
    • If an item is available at a nearby library and you want to see it ASAP, ask a librarian about getting a METRO library referral or other ways to visit another library.  Some libraries may still have limited or no current access to their collections other than for their own students and employees.
    • You can't borrow from other libraries directly except from public library systems you might belong to (e.g. NYPL, BPL or QPL), or from other SUNY Libraries.

 Finding/seeing theses of other graduate students:

  • Copies of FIT students' graduate theses are collected by the FIT Library.
    • Almost all are available digitally through the Dissertations and Theses @ FIT (ProQuest) database.
    • You can also search OneSearch by author, title, and/or subject.  To browse, search for the phrase "Dissertations Academic Fashion Institute of Technology", and you can also include the year and/or name of the department you're interested in. 
  • Use WorldCat or WorldCat Dissertations to see what else has been written on your proposed topic, including theses and dissertations of students at other universities.
  • If we don't have the item, you can request it through ILL(InterLibrary Loan) or visit another library that has it.

 Scholarly / peer-reviewed / academic journals

  • Many of the databases we make available to our students include peer-reviewed journals. See the list of all scholarly journal databases or choose ones that specialize in your discipline.
  • If you have a citation and want to know if you can access the full-text of the article through one of the FIT Library's databases (or to see if we have a print copy of the magazine/newspaper/journal), use the Journal Search feature of OneSearch.
  • If we don't have the item, you can request it through  ILL (Interlibrary Loan))  or visit another library that has it
  • Google Scholar is another great resource for finding scholarly material on any topic. Although it will help you identify relevant articles, papers, proceedings etc. not everything will link to a full-text version of the item. Increase your success getting what you need by setting preferences to include FIT and other libraries you are connected to.
  • Don't forget to check the databases of other institutions where you maintain an affiliation. For example, some universities have select databases available remotely for their alumni. Public library systems you are connected to may also have databases that supplement what you can use through FIT.

 Research source and citation management

 Ask the Library!