This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 11 Jan 2008, by Wisely.
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11 Jan 08
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Specialized Remote User Education: Web-Based Tutorials for Engineering Graduate Students
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We have always believed that if you teach engineering students how to find information they will return, physically, mentally, bearing gifts for years to come.
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over the past 25 years the McKinney Engineering Library at the University of Texas has been involved in an active user education program
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This is important but even more important is the fact the in engineering graduate students form the "workforce" of research. Their library and information access experiences can influence how faculty feel about the library. We needed to find an efficient, exciting, dynamic, and relevant way to reach this important group. Whatever we do should also be fun.
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graduate students are the most politically and pedagogically important group because they make the most demands on our collections and services
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Today's engineering graduate students are part of a generation that has been using computer technology for a lifetime to communicate, for entertainment, and as an information source. A large number of students come to the library with experience using search engines such as Altavista.com or Google.com. Consequently, they are quite facile in using keywords. Thirdly, their use of search engines has firmly convinced them that finding information is easy--it's all just a couple of "clicks" away. Finally we have noticed that they have a tendency to give up if they cannot easily find what need. However, we know from experience that they often confuse search engines with online indexes and they have a limited idea of what specialized engineering tools exist, where to find them, or even how to use them.
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- educate them so that they understand the difference between the free web and library web sources. (Also a part of this is to remind users who "paid for the access.")
- improve actual usage; something not used may be a candidate for cancellation no matter how "word-of-mouth" important
- improve their information gathering skills
- improve faculty and administrators understanding of the nature of the resources. Why? Because they have a strong influence on our budgets--and they are influenced by what their students tell them.
- and finally the message should just ooze out that "the McKinney Engineering Library is the place to go, call, and e-mail for specific, individualized help".
Staff felt a strong obligation to share our experience and knowledge as well encourage usage of expensive tools. As a result we wanted some way to:
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- Searching the Internet
What's Free on the Web
Search Engines -- Overview and Advice
Search Tips
Evaluating Web Sites
What the Search Engines Do not Find - UT Library Online - UT Austin Library Web Site
UT Library Online (Information Excavation Extra! Libraries on the UT Austin Campus)
Using UT Library Online Resources to find Free Resources on the Web
UTNetCAT, Our Library Catalog
Finding Books (Information Excavation Extra! What Does a Reference Librarian Do?)
Finding Conference Proceedings
Scientific and Technical Articles
Finding Scientific and Technical Articles
Full-Text Online or On Paper in the Libraries
Taking the Guesswork out of Abbreviations
Journals - Full-Text vs. Paper (Information Excavation Extra! Sharpen your Research Skills with TILT) - Tips and Advice -- Resources to Keep in Mind
Patents -- A Great Source of Information
Finding Data and Specific Properties or Facts
Company Information/Proprietary Information
Product Information/Specifications
Industry Standards
Finding Images on the Web
What it covers:
Our tutorial, called Information Excavation, is divided into three parts. The first part covers searching the Internet to find information. The focus here is finding information that is freely available on the Internet. Part two covers using the resources of the UT Austin libraries. Here users will find information on finding books in the libraries, journal articles and conference papers, and using our full-text online resources. We have also added a couple of Information Excavation Extras to this section with additional useful information. The last portion provides some tips and suggestions for locating resources we have found to be helpful for engineering students. Topics covered in this section include finding industry standards, patents, finding specific data, and the nature of proprietary information.The complete table of contents for the session is as follows:
- Searching the Internet
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