From Capstone to Gemstone to Keystone: And Now Marquee Courses?

Abstract

The librarians at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library (EPSL) have enhanced many engineering-oriented programs at the University of Maryland in College Park over the years. But it is most rewarding when a new program comes along. It takes tact and a different strategy to ferret out the best way(s) to be of assistance. A good example is EPSL librarians’ efforts to get in on the “ground floor” of a new set of introductory core classes for non-technical/non-science majors, Marquee Courses in Science and Technology, which began in the fall of 2007. The Gemstone Program, a unique multidisciplinary four-year research team-based Honors Program in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, has significantly involved UM librarians since its inception in 1996. Dr. William Destler derived this now very successful and nationally noted program from the “old” Capstone concept, under which senior UM engineering students are still being instructed on patent and other advanced searching by EPSL librarians. In fall 2006 at the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the UM Keystone Program was created to encourage the best faculty to teach the most fundamental engineering courses. The Engineering departments discontinued the librarians’ instruction part of ENES 100 “Introduction to Engineering Design”. We had given these ENES 100 sessions, involving hands-on experience, to nearly every section of new freshmen engineering students for about fifteen years. But the EPSL librarians persevered; and created a strong web presence for the UM Libraries via our Blackboard(TM) system ELMS (Enterprise Learning Management System.) In summer 2006, when we heard about the new Marquee Courses program, EPSL librarians wasted no time in an aggressive marketing campaign to the professors of these classes, to demonstrate UM Library resources to their students. This presentation will cover our efforts and strategy, such as communicating with the Marquee Courses professors to successfully secure time slots with their students not only for fall 2007, but for future classes. We will especially focus on spring 2008 classes, and other classes that we picked up on short notice. The material we present in these classes differs from traditional library instruction sessions, which often do not closely match the topics the professors cover in class.