An unexpected discovery

I have been doing lots of research towards my information project over the past couple of weeks. I’ve mainly been searching for journal articles on the topic of library subject guides so far, but after quickly searching the catalogue at work, I found a great resource yesterday in reference section, that I didn’t realise the library owned:
http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/record=b2946649~S30
‘Information sources in engineering’ edited by Roderick A. MacLeod and Jim Corlett.

It is one of the funny things I have found about working in a library, I am surrounded by great resources and am involved in promoting and recommending the resources to patrons, but I don’t always remember to use them when I am doing my own work.

The book seems really useful as the first chapter discusses the information needs and seeking behaviours of engineering and subsequent chapters outline the different types of resources that engineers use, including:

• Journals, e-journals & e-books,
• Reports, theses & research in progress,
• Conference proceedings,
• Patents, standards & product information,
• Abstracting & indexing services,
• Bibliographies & reviews,
• The Internet,
• References sources and
• Information from Professional Societies.

It seems that engineers use a fascinating mix of different types of information and can’t wait to find out more about the specialised and harder-to-find types of information, such as patents, standards, conference proceedings and research in progress or ‘gray literature’.

I think ‘Information sources in engineering’ will also be valuable as it has chapters on the different engineering specialisations such as Chemical Engineering & Civil Engineering. The only problem is, it is in the reference section, so I can’t borrow it! It is also a little old, published in 2005, so it would be great to find a similar, newer book.

My plan over the next few days is to make a start on my project charter and to continue with my research. I think I really need to map out an overall plan for the project very soon, as I am concerned about running out of time! There seem to be lots of relevant useful information sources for my project and I think I am experiencing a bit of information overload at the moment. So I will try to focus on only the most relevant resources and set others aside.