Survey of Library Services at Engineering News Record Top 500 Design Firms: What Has Changed Since 2004?

In October 2002 a survey was mailed to Engineering News Record’s Top 500 Design 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 librarian if the firm employed one. Goals of the survey were to gather information about how engineers in design firms obtain needed information without a librarian, if engineers could find information without assistance, and what types of information were typically sought. Librarians were asked if they have a master’s degree in library science and whether it was a requirement for their job, what databases they use and the types of information they are asked to find, and if they serve more than one office and if these offices were within one state, multi-state, or multinational. In October 2014 a similar survey was sent to Engineering News Record's Top 500 Design Firms. The purpose of both surveys was to assess the prevalence of degreed librarians and the types of resources available in engineering design firms. In the decade since 2004, when the article describing the survey results was published 1 , the U.S. experienced an economic crisis. With this in mind, the author of the original survey wanted to repeat the study to learn what, if anything had changed at the engineering firms in the preceding decade. In October 2014 a survey was mailed to 500 engineering design firms using the most recent version of the Engineering News Record’s Top 500 Design Firm list. Background As in 2004, there is still no other detailed study of librarians in consulting engineering firms. There is, however considerable literature on engineering libraries and librarianship in the academic setting. Much is also written about the information-seeking behavior of engineering students and faculty. The following are three recent examples. Waters, Kasuto and McNaughton, two academic engineering librarians and a librarian at an engineering firm, collaborated on a study of the information needs of working engineers. It was hoped that this collaboration would help the academic librarians better prepare their students for life after graduation when information resources, including librarians would likely be less than was available at their university. The authors found that "...to best use the limited time available for instruction we will concentrate less on tools, such as specific databases, and more on transferable skills." 2 A skill such as the evaluation of information found without the use of specialized databases was determined to be particularly useful for students transitioning to the workplace. Jeffryes and Lafferty explored the workplace readiness of engineering co-op students at the University of Minnesota. Thirty-six co-op students completed an online survey dealing with P ge 26445.2 information seeking while on the job. Every student reported needing to locate at least one type of information. Standards were deemed most difficult to find by the respondents. The authors suggest that more assignments requiring the use of information sources in the engineering curriculum would be helpful. 3 Wertz, Purzer, Fosmire and Cardella conducted a content analysis of memos written by teams of engineering students. The purpose of their study was to assess the information literacy skills of the students. The authors found that the student teams relied most often on Web resources and that their documentation skills were weak. 4 In October 2014, with the tenth anniversary of the original survey and the 2007 economic crisis having passed, the decision was made to mail another survey to the Engineering News Record Top 500 Design Firms. The economic crisis was assumed to have had a negative effect on the number of firms who would report employing a degreed librarian. Methodology The survey was in two parts (see Appendix). One part was to be completed by a principal of the firm. The other part was to be completed by the degreed librarian, if the firm had such a position. For the purposes of this study, the term “degreed librarian” refers to a person with a Masters in Library Science (MLS) or its equivalent. A "principal" is often an owner of the firm. Always they are in senior management positions and are in charge of projects. Since a principal would likely have more knowledge of the firm as a whole than a junior engineer, it was decided that a principal should complete a survey. The minimum qualification for librarians in the United States is the MLS, although some librarians have an additional Masters degree in a subject area. Most often librarians with dual Masters degrees are employed in academic libraries. Busy engineering executives might be disinclined to complete a lengthy survey about library services therefore it was felt that keeping the survey short, while providing less detail, would result in a higher return rate. Principals were asked eleven questions and librarians were asked seven. Both the principal and librarian survey instruments were limited to the front and back of one sheet. This was the same design used in the 2004 survey. The mailing list was purchased from Engineering News Record. This mailing list was chosen because it was composed of the most profitable engineering design firms in the United States. The most profitable firms would be most likely to have a full complement of services such as a library staffed by a Master's degreed librarian. An online survey was considered but rejected due to the difficulty in obtaining email addresses for employees of private companies. The return rate was 16.4%, or 82 responses. The 2004 survey had a return rate of 21.8%. Since both surveys were anonymous it is impossible to know with certainty the reasons for non-returns. Some firms have a policy of not responding to surveys that do not relate directly to engineering. The response rate for principals was calculated based on the 82 responses received, with 2 P ge 26445.3 surveys being returned as “undeliverable as addressed.” The response rate for librarians was calculated based on the 20 responses received. Survey Results The firms ranged in size from 130-12,400 employees, including all employees at all office locations. The average size of the firms was 476 employees. The survey instrument asked principals if their firm had a library. Principals were free to define “library” for themselves. Responses indicated that some “libraries” consisted mainly of supplier catalogs or regulations related the firm’s work. Of the principals responding, 69.5% indicated that they had a library. Of all the respondents, 13.4% have a librarian. One firm reported that their librarian had an orientation program for newly hired engineers. In 91.3% of firms without a degreed librarian engineers obtain information on their own. In 37.6% of firms without a degreed librarian a secretary or other employee has the library as part of their duties. Local libraries are used by engineers in 21.7% of firms without a degreed librarian. The reasons most often given for not having a librarian were “financial” in 44.2% of firms and “no need” in 40% of firms Of principals responding, 25.6% indicated that they felt newly hired engineers were able to locate information on their own. When asked how engineers obtain information in firms without a librarian principals who said they did not employ a librarian because they didn’t need one were compared with those who said newly hired engineers are not able to find needed information on their own. There was an overlap of 45.7% between the two groups. Of the principals responding, the types of information most often needed by their engineers was standards 92.4% of firms, regulations 63.2% of firms, journals 46.8% of firms, laws 37.9% of firms, company information 30.3% of firms (see Figure 1). At 83.5% of firms responding there 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00% Standards Regulations Journals Laws Company Information Figure 1. Information types needed at firms without a degreed librarian