My Subject: Product Design and Design Engineering: Life after University

Accessing Middlesex University Resources

You can continue to use some of our resources once you have left the University (see links below). This means that you can keep up-to-date with literature in your subject area.

However because you are no longer a student you will not be able to borrow material from the library or access the content of full-text electronic resources such as ebooks and ejournals.

Most material on our Research Repository will be available to you as this is an open access resource.

Library Search (Hendon) This link opens in a new window Use Library Search to find and access quality academic resources.

Library Subject Guides You can still access our Library Subject Guides even after you have left the University. They are a good way of finding the most relevant and useful resources in your subject area, although you will not be able to access the full-text of any of our electronic books and journals.
Middlesex University Research Repository Open access repository of research by Middlesex academic staff and alumni.

Events, conferences and workshops

Attending events, conferences and workshops is a good way to find out the latest information, make contacts and network with your peers.

Use the links below to discover what's on.

Access to resources for Alumni

Middlesex University offers a range of benefits for its Alumni including reference use of the library.

Membership of professional organisations

By taking out a personal subscription to a professional organisation, it is often possible to obtain partial access to key information sources, as well as professional support and development.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) The Library subscribes to the journal database IEEE Xplore which provides access to top quality publications from the IEEE. It is possible to maintain access to some of the IEEE resources plus receive other benefits, by taking out an individual membership once you graduate.
Chartered Society of Designers The CSD is the professional body for designers and the authority on professional design practice. CSD provides a membership category to suit every stage of a designer's career. Benefits include professional recognition, CPD, networking, job and project opportunities etc. http://www.csd.org.uk/index.aspx?id=88
Institution of Engineering Designers The UK’s only professional body representing those working in the field of Engineering Design including product design, architecture, mechanical, automotive and aircraft design, design education, IT and computing. PDE courses at MDX are IED accredited, so our students are eligible for student membership. Benefits include networking, CPD, access to Engineering Design Journal and IED Library http://www.ied.org.uk/member+benefits

Keeping up-to-date with your subject

A number of free online alert services exist to help you keep up-to-date with your area of interest and industry news in journals and on the Internet:

D-Zone: fresh links for developers DZone produces and publishes valuable content for a global audience of software developers and architects. For 15 years, DZone has cultivated trust and earned credibility with an active and engaged community by being honest, producing and sharing useful content where it will have the greatest impact.
Google Alerts Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.), based on your queries. Simply enter a subject that you wish to monitor and you will be sent regular updates.
TicTocs: journal tables of contents service Search for 1000s of journal table of contents (TOCs) RSS feeds by title, subject or publisher, export citations or link to full text, and then save TOCs in your ticTocs account.

Using other libraries and resources

British Library Catalogue
British Library Reader Services The British Library at St.Pancras (London), has 11 Reading Rooms, each specialising in a different subject area or type of material. Use this link to find out more information about facilities and services, opening times and how to apply for a reader ticket. The British Library is open to all.
COPAC
Google Scholar Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.
Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Library and Archives The IET Library is a world-class collection of digital and printed resources on all areas of engineering and technology. It specialise in electrical, electronic, control and manufacturing engineering, telecommunications, computing and IT. The collection contains 65,000 printed books and 3,500 journals and magazines on these subjects.
LibraryHub
Small Business Research + Enterprise Centre Leading public library for business information offering free access to the UK's most comprehensive collection of business databases and publications, including general start up advice, information on funding sources, market research, company data, business news.

Online Communities

Online communities are a useful tool for professionals to keep up-to-date with the latest news, trends, tools, techniques, as well as sharing best practice and advice. Here are a selection:

JISCmail-mailing lists JISCmail is a mailing list service sponsored by the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), for the UK Higher and Further education communities, enabling members to stay in touch and share information by e-mail or via the web.
LinkedIn Over 225 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and industry, find people and knowledge and control your professional identity online.
Product Design Hub Product Design Hub is the online community place, where industrial designers from all over the world come together to socialize and to create, share and find useful resources. Product Design Hub was born out of ProductDesignForums, which is the leading online discussion board for industrial design enthusiasts since 2004.The mission of Product Design Hub is to maintain a friendly and inspirational social environment, where a wide range of inspirational resources are shared with pleasure.

Product Design and Design Engineering: Life after University

Obtaining good quality information