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

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American Society for Engineering Education

Abstract

Description

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 return rate was 21.8% (n=109). The findings indicated that 74.4% of responding design firms do not employ a degreed librarian. In 79% of those firms engineers get information on their own. This situation, along with other results to be presented, seems to suggest that information literacy instruction should be included in the engineering curriculum. Previously published in: Journal of Engineering Education (2004), vol. 93, no. 3, pp.247-292

Keywords

academic libraries, Library and Information Science, Engineering education, engineering libraries, librarians

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