I hope people will continue the discussion as outlined by my question and Andrew's post.

Andrew Witte:

It seems that undergrad engineering and science courses rarely, if ever, require or even recommend the reading of primary sources...

I understand that often the basic needs for a class are provided by a textbook or professor handouts. It worries me that assignments are not requiring students to use the library materials that are common to the jobs that they will attain in the future or just promote further personal exploration. I also cannot believe such a statement is relevant to research, which it appears most classes have a component.

I hope others will share their thoughts.

Brian Gray:

I hope people will continue the discussion as outlined by my question and Andrew's post.

Andrew Witte:

It seems that undergrad engineering and science courses rarely, if ever, require or even recommend the reading of primary sources...

I understand that often the basic needs for a class are provided by a textbook or professor handouts. It worries me that assignments are not requiring students to use the library materials that are common to the jobs that they will attain in the future or just promote further personal exploration. I also cannot believe such a statement is relevant to research, which it appears most classes have a component.

I hope others will share their thoughts.

For Astronomy,

A) All the relevant astronomy journals and databases are online, and the need for reviewing a source which is not online is pretty rare.

and

B) (Best of all) For the rare case where I do need a printed source, the Astronomy Library is located in the department!

I don't think that a single one of the engineering core classes recommend using library materials. Granted, these classes mostly serve the purpose of developing problem-solving skills centered around basic engineering concepts, so it wouldn't entirely be relevant/necessary within the context of these classes. None of these classes involve any sort of outside research. Often, the professors do a fantastic job of compiling outside sources and lecture on many things beyond the scope of the textbook.

Classes within my major do occasionally require outside research. I've found that the trend is that one can generally do an ample amount of research using online journals and do just fine, but that more in-depth research using the library would be beneficial.

In general (ever since the middle of high school, by the way) I've noticed that there is certainly much less emphasis on thorough library research in science classes than, say, in English classes. I do think this is a shame, since it doesn't really encourage students to keep up with what is going on research-wise in their field.

Jane Spikowski:

Classes within my major do occasionally require outside research. I've found that the trend is that one can generally do an ample amount of research using online journals and do just fine, but that more in-depth research using the library would be beneficial.

Just a comment that using online journals in most cases means that you are using library resources, whether you know it or not. The library is providing the access to those journals!

We're trying (and to some extent succeeding) to provide instruction on how to use these resources and others within the context of the science and engineering curriculum. This instruction, particularly in upper level classes, is more of an awareness service- students can plug and chug topics using Google or Google Scholar just fine without us. We like to point out the even better stuff that students- and frequently faculty- aren't aware of. Even Mihos thinks it is worthwhile! :-)

Here's a freebie for you sci/tech types. Did you know that you can create research publication alerts and citation alerts using ISI's Web of Science? Want to be alerted whenever someone cites your papers? Want to get an email (or RSS alert) every time a paper on hydrogen fuel cells is published? Web of Science does it for you! Here's a short screencast I created that will show you how to do it:

http://filer.case.edu/wpc/wos/wosflash.html

(Note the use of the name of a prolific and highly cited faculty member at the end of the screencast.)

William Claspy:

(Note the use of the name of a prolific and highly cited faculty member at the end of the screencast.)

You forgot "good looking".

I think that just about every semester except my first I had at least one engineering based project/assignment that required use of a primary source. I have used some sort of library resource (Knovel especially) in at least half of my courses.

In some cases I used resources to write a paper, complete extra credit assignment, etc, but found the assignments designed to mimic the industrial setting most challenging/rewarding/educational. A number of times I was given fairly open ended problem sets that required the use of literature property values or derivations to solve. Granted I was EMSE and the small classes afforded the option of open ended assignment/lab reports but I think it is a worthwhile exercise regardless of how it is incorporated into curriculum.

Chris Mihos:

William Claspy:

(Note the use of the name of a prolific and highly cited faculty member at the end of the screencast.)

You forgot "good looking".

That picture in Case Daily WAS awfully good.

I am a polymer science student. I took a polymer lab course where recommended references were given at the end of each lab procedure. Sometimes the references were journal articles, other times they were actual books covering topics in polymer science. Sometimes it was useful to consult these sources when writing the report.

I would say that I occasionally use primary sources available at the library as part of my engineering coursework. Maybe not as much as humanities students, but the library is there when I need it.

As an engineering student, I have gone to the library to:

-write SAGES or otherwise non-technical papers and needed the alone + quiet factor to concentrate and get my non-technical juices flowing

-look up and scan to pdf journal articles not available online

-find out how to request material (e.g. master's thesis from a different university) from the online request page

-drop off OhioLink books

These are literally the only reasons I go to the library - although I have done plenty of literature reviewing, most is available online these days.