Information Use Skills in the Engineering Program Accreditation Criteria of Four Countries

Abstract

The need for 21st century information skills in engineering practice, combined with the importance for engineering programs of meeting accreditation requirements, suggests that it may be worthwhile to explore the potential for closer alignment between librarians and their work with information literacy competencies to assist in meeting accreditation standards and graduating students with high-level information skills. This article explores whether and how information use skills are reflected in engineering program accreditation standards of four countries: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Results indicate that there is significant overlap between the information use skills required of students by engineering accreditation processes and librarians’ efforts to develop information literacy competencies in students, despite differences in terms used to describe these skills. Increased collaboration between engineering faculty and librarians has the potential to raise student information literacy levels and fulfil the information use-related requirements of accreditation processes.