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

Journal of Engineering Education, Jul 2004 by Napp, John B

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.

Keywords: information literacy, libraries

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

There is considerable literature on engineering libraries and librarianship in the academic setting. There is also considerable literature on the information-seeking behavior of engineers. No study to date has looked in detail at librarians in consulting engineering firms.

Leckie and Fullerton surveyed science and engineering faculty at two large Canadian universities for their perceptions of student information literacy skills [1]. The authors also questioned their subjects about their own pedagogical practices regarding those skills. The authors point out that faculty recognize the need and value of such instruction and offer ideas for providing it.

Ward surveyed twenty-seven "Principal Engineers" at Ricardo Consulting Engineers in Shoreham-by-the Sea in West Sussex, England [2]. While the author discusses the ways in which engineers at one firm obtain information, the role of the librarian is not addressed in detail. The engineers used a combination of a homegrown database, networking with internal peers, and departmental and corporate library resources. This survey was undertaken in 1996-1997 prior to Internet access at the firm, so informationgathering behavior may be substantially different today.

Hertzum and Pejtersen interviewed engineers at two Danish product development firms [3]. They found that the engineers used published documents as well as "networks of informed people" to meet their information needs.

Rodrigues explored the expectations the corporate world has of new engineers [4]. The author found that new engineers are expected to be able to locate and manage information resources on their own. He further states that the skills needed to do these tasks are best learned as part of the engineering education.

Brown and Krumholz sought to measure library/information literacy among students in a senior-level geomicrobiology class [5]. The authors had the students read and discuss articles the students located through a literature search. The students improved their library skills over the course of the study by using a wider variety of library resources. They also were able to evaluate information sources more effectively.

Schwarzwalder examined how technology has changed the corporate engineering library [6]. The Internet has changed the way information is delivered and sought. Intranets have changed the way engineers communicate, and also have provided new ways of delivering information from librarians to engineers. This article does not discuss the types of information engineers seek or whether firms have degreed librarians.

Smalley, an academic librarian in California, took temporary jobs in the Silicon Valley to determine information literacy needs in the workplace [7], The observations she made which are most relevant to the current study are "Employees know that they need good information...," and "...Information Age skills are critical to success - not only in making a life, but also in making a living."

There is a final classification of literature that should be considered. There are numerous guides and directories to information sources for engineers. Lord wrote a recent example of this type of publication [8], As an introduction to engineering resources it serves well. However, as with many books in the sciences, such books are out of date almost as soon as they are published. Internet resources move or disappear, and new resources come out and supersede what is listed in guidebooks. Another problem with resources of this type is that they are only a listing of what is available. Knowing which resource is best for which type of question necessitates being information literate.

II. METHODOLOGY

For the purposes of this study, the term "degreed librarian" refers to a person with a Masters in Library Science (MLS) or its equivalent. This is the usual minimum qualification for librarians in the United States and Canada. Some degreed librarians have an additional Masters degree in a subject area. Engineering librarians, especially those in academic settings, may have a degree in engineering in addition to their library degree. A librarian could provide quality services without such a degree. For this study, only degreed librarians were asked to participate since having the degree provides a common background in terms of training. It was hoped that requiring the degree would eliminate from the study those who only have library duties as a part of their job, while primarily being responsible for non-library work.