An investigation of factors affecting how engineers and scientists seek information

Anderson, C. Jane; Glassman, Myron; McAfee, R. Bruce; Pinelli, Thomas E.

doi:10.1016/s0923-4748(01)00032-7

Cited by 109 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…12 Lishi Kwasitsu examined the information sources used by design, process, and manufacturing engineers within one corporate environment. The researcher discovered that the higher the respondents' academic degree, the less likely they were to rely on colleagues or their own personal files for information and the more likely they were to rely on the corporate library.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Information-Seeking Habits of Engineering Faculty

Engel

Robbins²,

Kulp³

2011

CRL

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Many studies of information-seeking habits of engineers focus on understanding the similarities and differences between scientists and engineers. This study explores the information-seeking behavior of academic engineering faculty from twenty public research universities. This investigation includes an examination of how frequently engineering faculty seek or access information, how they keep abreast of current developments in the field and find less recent journal articles, how often they visit the library in person, and how important library services and resources are in meeting their information needs. The responses from the survey participants emphasize the importance of electronic access to current and archived scholarly journals for meeting the research and information needs of engineering faculty.cademic librarians continuously strive to meet the information needs of their users. This requires an understanding of their users' information needs and information-seeking behaviors. This study examines the information-seeking behavior of engineering faculty at twenty academic institutions from across the United States. To better understand how engineering faculty are responding to changes in the information environment, the researchers examined how frequently engineering faculty seek or access information to complete specific tasks, how engineering faculty keep abreast of current developments, how they discover less recent journal articles in their field, how often they visit the library in person, and how important library resources and services are in meeting their information needs.Understanding the nature of the user community and the information-seeking habits and practices of the users are common themes in library literature. With improved understanding of the information-seeking behavior of engineers in academic environments, librarians can better develop information services and resources, implement policies that help engineering faculty access quality information, and improve collection development practices. Literature Review Engineers as PractitionersKing, Casto, and Jones compiled a comprehensive literature review of engineers' information needs, noting that "the 1960s yielded a plethora of STI [scientific and technical information] user studies and surveys largely funded by the federal government."1 The information-seeking crl-155

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confidence: 99%

The Information-Seeking Habits of Engineering Faculty

Engel

Robbins²,

Kulp³

2011

CRL

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“…Engineering students perceive that Internet as a speedy, current information source which satisfied their information need quickly and they also identified that the students turned to Internet to get a general idea of the topic initially (Brindesi et al, 2013, Kerins et al, 2004. Some studies (Ercegovac 2009, Kerins et al, 2004and Ward 2001 have also established that they tend to rely heavily on informal information sources and consult one another within their own social spheres (Ellis and Haugan 1997) in their information seeking process and engineers tend to prefer oral communication over written communication (Anderson et al, 2001). These findings explain why 89% and 73% turn to search engines and Wikipedia respectively, why 73% turn towards their classmates, 51% towards their lecturers and 43% to their family and friends to satisfy their information needs.…”

Section: Information Resources Consultedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital information resources preferences and evaluation criteria used by the final year engineering undergraduates: a case study

Wijetunge

Peiris

2017

Jnl Univ. Librarians Assoc. Sri Lanka

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“…Panelists' emphasis on disciplineaffiliated colleagues in this informal process reflected the findings of informationseeking research in the sciences. 36 …”

Section: Research Question 2: How Do Graduate Students Learn Data Infmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Librarians in Data Information Literacy Instruction: A Case Study in Meteorology

Frank

Pharo

2016

CRL

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E-science has reshaped meteorology due to the rate data is generated, collected, analyzed, and stored and brought data skills to a new prominence. Data information literacy-the skills needed to understand, use, manage, share, work with, and produce data-reflects the confluence of data skills with information literacy competencies. This research assessed perceptions of data information literacy and attitudes on its instruction for graduate students in meteorology. As academic librarians have traditionally provided information literacy instruction, the research determined if they were perceived as having a role in data information literacy instruction. The modified Delphi method was applied to obtain the perspectives of a panel of experts, representing students, librarians, professors, and researchers, for the purpose of forecasting and consensus-making. Through the consideration of the University of Oslo's Department of Geosciences' Meteorology Section, the research found that data information literacy skills were relevant to the work of meteorology students. Stakeholders perceived that academic librarians could play a future role in general instruction but that they would have to overcome obstacles to be involved in data information literacy instruction. For librarians to enter this domain, they would need to improve their technical skills, enhance their discipline-specific knowledge, or rely on collaborations. The significance of these findings was limited by the modest target population under examination; as a consequence, the results were strongly linked to the specific setting. Further studies would be necessary to determine their generalizability.cademic librarians have a history of facing changes in technology that vastly reshape their work. The digital age has brought incredible changes in the way information and data are produced, consumed, adapted, and shared, requiring a transformation of resources and services. At the same time, the meteorological community has undergone significant shifts as a consequence of e-science. E-science represents the unprecedented collection and analysis of data thanks to advances in high performance computational technology and networked environments. The scale of these data has accelerated scientific innovation and discovery but doi:10.5860/crl.77.4.536 crl16-828 Academic Librarians in Data Information Literacy Instruction 537has resulted in a deluge of data, some of which are messy and unstructured, and all of which are beyond the scope of manual control. Modern meteorology requires dealing with vast quantities of atmospheric measurements and running computation-and data-intensive models. For students in the field to engage with e-science data, they must have data skills to a degree not previously required. These skills-data information literacy skills-are the competencies needed to participate in the data-intensive research of e-science.We have explored perceptions of data information literacy skills and attitudes on their instruction for graduate students in meteorolog...

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An investigation of factors affecting how engineers and scientists seek information

Cited by 109 publications

References 38 publications

The Information-Seeking Habits of Engineering Faculty

The Information-Seeking Habits of Engineering Faculty

Digital information resources preferences and evaluation criteria used by the final year engineering undergraduates: a case study

Academic Librarians in Data Information Literacy Instruction: A Case Study in Meteorology

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