Survey of Library Services at Engineering News Record's Top 500 Design Firms: Implications for Engineering Education

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a national survey of the library services available at Engineering News Record's Top 500 Designs Firms. In mid‐October 2002, a survey was mailed to all 500 firms. The survey was in two parts. One part was to be completed by a principal in the firm. The second part was to be completed by the degreed librarian (holding a Masters in Library Science or its equivalent) if the firm employed one. The findings indicated that 74.4 percent of responding design firms do not employ a degreed librarian. In 79 percent of those firms, engineers obtain information on their own. This situation, along with other results, seems to suggest that more information literacy instruction may need to be included in the engineering curriculum.

Information literacy of doctoral students in engineering and the librarian’s role

“…This means that more self-sufficiency among engineers is required, as they cannot expect to receive good research assistance from a librarian, often they cannot expect any assistance at information retrieval from the professional staff. Often senior engineers with many experiences teach their younger colleagues about information sources retrieval (Napp, 2004). Kim and Sin (2007) realized that trustworthiness, accessibility, and ease of use are high-ranked criteria of information gathering by students.…”

Library Smart House Collaboration For Information Literacy Development

“…The need for engineers to be competent in finding, evaluating, and using different types of information is becoming increasingly apparent. As Napp found in his 2004 survey, engineers were responsible for their own information needs at 79 percent of surveyed engineering design firms 13 . This helps support the idea that information literacy instruction is crucial in preparing future engineers for the workforce.…”