Exploration of "prior art"--the state of a technology's development, as manifested in literature, documentation, and artifacts--has many benefits for engineering students. It expands their understanding of the design problem, reveals a range of possible solutions, and develops research skills important to professional practice. While…

Video tutorials were designed for students working on a General Chemistry scientific inquiry laboratory in 2008, as a supplement to in-class instruction from a librarian. In 2010, with no opportunity to provide in-class instruction, one of the videos was redesigned and offered to assist students with the exercise. In both years, students were…

Librarians at Rice and Purdue Universities created novel assignments to teach students important information literacy skills. The assignments required the students to use a third-party web site, PageFlakes and NetVibes, respectively, to create a dynamically updated portal to information they needed for their research and class projects. The use of…