Jazzing Up Next-Gen Librarians for Freshman Engineering Instruction Delivery

Because of the need for science and engineering librarians, both nationwide and at West Virginia University (WVU), a model of Introduction to STEM Disciplines’ Information Use and Mentoring occurred at WVU. The engineering librarians introduced new resident librarians and a graduate research assistant to the Freshman Engineering program and involved them in teaching several engineering information literacy sessions. The goal of engaging the new librarians into the educational activities was to motivate their learning, gain feedback on current teaching strategies and fresh ideas for possible future implementation, and facilitate buy-in of the need for and role of STEM-specific librarians. The new team members learned the specific information literacy resources for the engineering field, provided feedback on the teaching methods, offered new ideas for implementation, and engaged with the engineering faculty and current STEM librarians about possible modifications to the types of information offered and the timing of its delivery

Integration of Information Literacy Skills to Mechanical Engineering Capstone Projects

Searching for information and using that information appropriately is an essential part of every engineering design project. It has been reported that design engineers spend about 30% of their time searching for information. Experience shows that even senior level students have not received proper training, either directly or indirectly, in information literacy (IL). They usually search for information intuitively. For mechanical and aerospace engineering students at West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech), the Mechanical Engineering System Design I and II courses (MAE 480 and 481) are probably the last chance to teach students about IL. In this project, the information literacy outcomes were added to the course syllabus and activities and assignments were designed to instruct and evaluate IL- related skills. Three librarians from West Virginia University and WVU Tech were integrated into this course, each of which provided a workshop to present different IL skills to the students. The students’ feedback and course evaluation tools have confirmed an improvement in the IL related skills in the students

The 360° of Information Fluency Delivery to Freshman Engineering Students

For three years, engineering librarians from West Virginia University (WVU) have been teaching information fluency skills to 700-1000 freshman engineering students per year, using a specific information fluency cycle. The librarians’ responsibilities in the Fall 2013 course syllabus included teaching once in each section, providing a two-hour, in-library group sessions to accommodate almost 700 students, delivering an intellectual property Blackboard™ module for students to complete over a specific period of time, and requiring students to complete a Plagiarism Avoidance Tutorial with quiz. Some of these components are similar to those of past semesters. However, past collection of the data was difficult. Student participation and compliance were increased through greater buy-in by professors, moving the Plagiarism Avoidance Tutorial to the librarians’ control, librarians attending weekly faculty meetings, willingness of librarians to migrate a semester early to the new Blackboard™ with the engineering faculty, and a compressed schedule for the delivery of all information literacy parts (from eleven weeks to six). The increased student participation provides better indicators of earning and demonstrates areas for teaching improvement. Overall, the data have indicated the students’ understanding of the use of information and their beginning awareness of the importance of information tools for their success as engineers