CRC Press Using the Engineering Literature

With the encroachment of the Internet into nearly all aspects of work and life, it seems as though information is everywhere. However, there is information and then there is correct, appropriate, and timely information. While we might love being able to turn to Wikipedia® for encyclopedia-like information or search Google® for the thousands of links on a topic, engineers need the best information, information that is evaluated, up-to-date, and complete. Accurate, vetted information is necessary when building new skyscrapers or developing new prosthetics for returning military veterans While the award-winning first edition of Using the Engineering Literature used a roadmap analogy, we now need a three-dimensional analysis reflecting the complex and dynamic nature of research in the information age. Using the Engineering Literature, Second Edition provides a guide to the wide range of resources available in all fields of engineering. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and features new sections on nanotechnology as well as green engineering. The information age has greatly impacted the way engineers find information. Engineers have an effect, directly and indirectly, on almost all aspects of our lives, and it is vital that they find the right information at the right time to create better products and processes. Comprehensive and up to date, with expert chapter authors, this book fills a gap in the literature, providing critical information in a user-friendly format. Review Praise for Previous Editions Winner of the 2007 Best Reference Work Award of the American Society for Engineering Education This title aims to be selective rather than exhaustive in its survey of the engineering literature, highlighting the most useful resources. An even more selective list might have benefited the average engineering information seeker (some entries are quite extensive), but as a library instruction tool and collection development guide, this update to the 2006 edition shines. The book is organized into chapters by engineering specialty. Each chapter starts with a short history of the discipline and provides bibliographies (most annotated) for a variety of literature types (monographs, directories, journals, etc.), curated and annotated by discipline-specific experts (mostly librarians). The annotations that accompany citations vary from the descriptive to the evaluative. New to the second edition is a subchapter, "Minorities in Engineering," along with the inclusion of more recently published titles. The densely packed pages make scanning somewhat difficult, but the information is valuable. The book is an excellent acquisition for any engineering library or professional collection; it is accessible for undergraduates, but may prove most useful to more seasoned researchers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above. ―J. N. Jeffryes, University of Minnesota "… this would be a good reference to start for those seeking references in an engineering field they are not familiar with."―American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) Online, 2008 "As Bonnie Osif, the editor of this impressive work, points out, quality information retrieval skills are often lacking in the engineering profession. This publication will hopefully go some way to rectifying this situation, and will help those within, and without, the profession to discover and exploit the many information tools that exist―some of which are at present unfortunately underused. … The basics are covered very well. There are hints on searching library catalogues … A lot of work has gone into compiling this book, and the result is an extremely useful reference work which should be purchased by all libraries serving engineers of any kind."―Internet Resources Newsletter, Issue 146, December 2006 "… this reference guide[s] readers to engineering information resources with the goal of avoiding information overkill by pointing to good