Larger public libraries also hold many academic and technical journals, and also frequently provide web access to their card catalogs. Start with the libraries in your geographic area. If they don't have the material themselves, they may be able to direct you to a library consortium listing, or may be able to tell you which libraries in your area do carry the required journal. Many university and public libraries now also subscribe to the electronic versions of periodicals and provide them to authorized users over the web. Libraries may directly subscribe to specific publications or may use a service such as InfoTrac which aggregates thousands of publications.
Library consortia are very common and usually based on geographic areas.
For example, all of the libraries in the eastern half of a state may pool their card catalogs into a single listing, or may have pooled listings for periodicals. There may be dozens of such organizations in a relatively small and nearby geographic area. They are usually listed on any member library's web site. Dissertations and internal academic reports can often be obtained from the institution granting the degree or where the work was carried out. There will be a modest copying fee.