Engineering Information for Non-engineers: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Application of the ACRL Framework

Conceptualization : Librarian Lecture & Background Information Active Experimentation: Librarian Assisted Work Time Concrete experience Reflective observation Abstract Conceptualization Active ExperimentationConceptualization Active Experimentation The instruction section was developed to start with the concrete experience of looking at and understanding the parts of patents and standards through worksheets (Appendix A and Appendix B). When introducing the worksheet many students are already with the parts of an scholarly article from prior information literacy and there is usually little explanation required. While little explanation is required for the worksheet the patents and standards have by preselected patents for in-class use by students to make sure that each one has components that can be answered by the worksheet. The patents selected for the exercise included unique products that the students are unlikely to have encountered before to increase interested in the understanding of the parts of the patent. Example patents used include a “high five machine”, an ice cream cone rotating machine, and a wind-powered bicycle. Similar to constricting the patent choices, standards presented to the students apply to everyday items the students are likely to have interacted with or have preexisting knowledge. Example standards include a baby monitor, clothing chest, and a child’s scooter from ASTM. Each student is given a patent or standard and worksheet and allowed to work independently for 5-10 minutes. Once the students have completed their worksheet, the student’s complete reflective observation by debriefing with a student with the opposite information type. Part of the reflective observation is also included on the worksheet when the students are asked to describe what other sections, besides the background, of the patent might be useful in understanding the development or creation of the product. Similarly, there is a question included in the standards worksheet that asks the students to reflect on the potential utility of a standard during a research project. Finally, students are asked if there are references included in the patent and after finding that many do have references to other patents, this leads students to ask different or deeper questions regarding the object they are researching. After the partner debriefing, the librarian debriefs the class while focusing on sections of importance including date, background, and claims. To fulfill the abstract conceptualization, the librarian gives a 10-minute presentation coupled with a searching demonstration. The presentation focuses on the types of patents and standards, background, and an example of the product evolution over time (Figure 2). Figure 2: Patents throughout history, example blender Additionally, during the presentation the librarian points out the claims differences in two patents, Figure 3. The instruction focuses on searching for patents through Google Patents. When introducing patents to students the Index to the United States Patent Classification System aids in understanding the terminology and subclasses for advanced searches. Another search strategy that the students have learned is following articles forward and backward which is transferrable to patents. Within Google patents, students can see the patent citations and the cited by. A short background on standards development and the purpose of standards in society is presented. Most of the student research projects are ordinary consumer products with applicable standards in the ASTM database. Students are instructed that one standard might not cover the entire product and individual standards would then need to be sought out. To finish the session, students are given the rest of the class time to research their product with librarian assistance. Most of the students leave class with one patent related to their product. Some areas where students struggle include choosing products with multiple components that are not covered by one patent and standard or they are overwhelmed with the amount of technical information. Instruction Methodology – Entrepreneurship Figure 3: Patent Claims Example Washington State University has a current emphasis towards entrepreneurship by students and faculty. Out of this need, a senior capstone program has been developed for engineering and business students. Students start in the entrepreneurship program during their third year and continue in the program until graduation. The students in the program are divided into groups of two to six students. Although the business students in the course are responsible for the finances, marketing, and promotion of the product, many attend the technical literature meeting to understand the product development. Both the business students and the engineering students receive information literacy instruction during their first year in an English course and history course. Outside of their first-year courses, both engineering and business students receive information literacy instruction regarding discipline-specific databases and literature from subject librarians. The entrepreneurship program requires that the teams meet with both the engineering and business librarian, collecting signatures from both to cover the technical information and market information regarding their product design. Before coming to the meeting, the students provide a brief explanation and background of their product design. Along with developing their idea they also compete in a business competition at least once during their time in the program. As stated above many of the students have had information literacy instruction within their discipline, but during the product design many ideas fall into multiple subject areas. The topic discussed during the consultation is to understand the proposed design of the product and need for the product. After the basics functionality of the product are understood the students are referred on the databases and online locations of information. Database and online locations vary greatly depending on the type of product the students are developing but some examples are Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, UpToDate, SciFinder, Google Scholar, and company or government websites. Along with exploration of databases, specifics of database are covered to ensure effective searching included limiters, Boolean searching, and finding full-text. One area that needs reiterating during the consultations is the different types of information, including reviews, conference proceedings, patents, and standards. An area of frustration for students is finding that their product design currently exists. Other frustrations include being overwhelmed with information and the use of standards in the design of their product. To combat the frustration of currently existing products is shifting the perspective to using patents to finding information regarding manufacturers, exploring the claims in current patents to better what the patent covers or how a product has changed throughout time, and looking at the references section for other patents and/or sources of information. Many time finding a patent similar to the students’ current idea reinforces the iterative nature of research and thinking about the problem in a different context. When looking at patents related to their design, it is made to clear to the students that the librarian cannot provide legal advice and that they need to contact the Office of Commercialization. Secondly, to help students with the overwhelming amount of information and the different places to find information the librarian focuses the attention on limiters in databases and the types of information they might include in their searching. While the students have received information literacy during their first two years, the focus has usually been on peer-reviewed articles. Business students are not as familiar with review articles, reports, and conference proceedings. Finally, engineering and business students have little to no experience with standards. Taking the background information in to account, relevant standards are located prior to the consultation. While the students are presented with a standard that fits their potential product, standards resources are also covered. Included in the overview of standards is the use of consumer safety standards and standards referenced by federal code.