Exploring Engineering During
Semester at Sea:
Reflections from the Library
ELD Session 2641
ASEE, Portland, 2005
Kate Thomes, Bevier Engineering Library
University of Pittsburgh, kthomes@pitt.edu
Summer 2004
Outline:
Semester at Sea
Heightened Awareness of Global
Engineering
Developing Partnerships with East Asian
Librarians
Engineering Librarians Role in Global
Engineering Education
Semester at Sea Program
Semester of undergraduate education
Ship sails to various ports
Courses mapped to the itinerary
Multidisciplinary
400 students, 30 faculty, 40 staff, crew
Introduced engineering in Summer
2004
Summer 2004 Itinerary
Sitka, Alaska
Kodiak, Alaska
Petropavlosk
Russia
Pusan, Korea
Shanghai ,China
Hong Kong
Hanoi, Vietnam
Keelung, Taiwan
Kobe, Japan
Seattle,
Washington
Related Papers
Bopaya Bidanda et al – “Current Topics in IE
Education,” ASEE Session 1357, Portland
2005
Larry Shuman et al – “The Global and Societal
Challenge…” ASEE Session 3430, Portland
2005
Kate Thomes Library Hi Tech News,
v.21, no.9 2004. Describes library services.
Shipboard Library
Library of ~6000 volumes + Reserves
Most engineering material = Reserves
Some business & statistical info in
Reference
Limited electronic resources
Experiential Learning with limited support
Library Reference Service
Not a Land Based Research Library

Limited holdings
Renewed Appreciation of Encyclopedias

The right ones rock!
Electronic Longings

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s
gone
IE Courses
“Global Manufacturing Systems Engineering
- processes, principles, systems”
“Manufacturing Cultures in the Pacific Rim
- organizational dynamics”
Both courses utilized on-site Plant Visits
IE Information Needs:
Broad Topics
Demographics (#’s, ages, gender, location)
Geography/Geology (urban centers, physical
land issues)
Infrastructure (transportation, power sources,
water)
Business/Engineering culture (anthropology)
Government (who has power, regulatory
environment)
IE Information Needs:
Specific Issues
Work Ethic
Level of Technical/Engineering education
Economic Development Policies
Availability of Raw materials
Cyber infrastructure
Education level of shop floor employees
Environmental regulations
Climate for entrepreneurship
Familiarity with working in International Teams
Post Voyage,
Back on Land, the
Focus on Global Issues Remained





Not Just IE Anymore
CEE Courses
ChE courses
MSE courses
International Information Needed Across the
Board
Land or Sea – What Resources
Provide Global Engineering Info?
Question lead to collaboration with
University of Pittsburgh’s East Asian
Library
Focused on resources from China, Taiwan,
Japan, and Korea
Asked librarians to investigate 5 questions
on 1 company in each country
The Questions:
Estimate labor costs at each company
Transportation costs for their products to
Los Angeles
Company history
Company's in-house expertise
(engineering skills)
Their reputation and credibility within their
country.
The Companies:
Kennametal (Shanghai), Shanghai, China
Chroma ATE Inc., Taiwan, ROC
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan
Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan Korea
The Results: No Silver Bullet
National Statistics Available, but …

Organized differently, inconsistent categories
Business Data – Hit & Miss

Company websites useful, but doing PR
Language of Resources can be a Barrier
Resources by Country: China
National Bureau of Statistics of China
http://www.stats.gov.cn
Ministry of Communications of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.moc.gov.cn
Subscription Databases
China Data Online (China Data Center University of Michigan)
http://chinadatacenter.org/
China INFOBANK (China INFOBANK Limited in Hong Kong)
http://www.chinainfobank.com
Resources by Country: Japan
Statistics Bureau – Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications
http://www.stat.go.jp/english/index.htm
Web Japan - Statistics
http://web-jpn.org/stat/index.html
Web Japan – Gateway for all Japanese Information
http://web-jpn.org/index.html
J-Stage, Japan Science and Technology Aggregator (scholarly
articles/proceedings, some articles are bilingual)
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/
Japan Company Handbook
http://www.toyokeizai.co.jp/english/jch/index.html
Resources by Country: Korea
Korea National Statistics Office
http://www.nso.go.kr/eng/
Ministry of Labor
http://152.99.129.57/eng/ (http://laborstat.molab.go.kr/eng)
Additional International Resources
RBA (Rhodes-Blakeman Associates)
http://www.rba.co.uk/
http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/country.htm (country specific information)
This site links to various reports with country specific business information.
Some of the sources listed are fee-based services, some are bilingual.
Global Market Information Database (GMID)
Business & Company Resources Center
Business Source Premier
http://www.sois.uwm.edu/jeong/ceal/
University of Pittsburgh
East Asian Library: Services
www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/eal
Gateway Service Center for Chinese
and Korean Academic Journal
Publications
Japan Information Center
Engineering Trend Towards
Globalism
As engineering continues to be an
international activity, the need to obtain
information from a variety of countries will
increase.
Librarians will need to assist patrons with
issues of data standardization or lack of it,
types of data collected, how it is organized,
what is made public, what is proprietary.
“Globalism” Reference: Skill & Art
Vast numbers of Resources
Business and Statistical sources
Some resources very specialized
Language barriers
Cultivate Collaborations with Colleagues in
East Asian, Areas Studies, and Business
Libraries
Librarians’ Contribution to Globalism
in the Engineering Curriculum
Increase awareness/knowledge of
international information sources
Help students gather and use resources
from various countries
Share information with colleagues to help
engineering librarians’ skill set in this area
grow
Special Thanks To:
Hong Xu, Head, Pittsburgh’s EAL
Haihui Zhang-China specialist
Yoko Hirose- Japan specialist
Donghee Sinn & Joolynn Lee – Korea
specialists
Exploring Engineering During
Semester at Sea:
Reflections from the Library
ELD Session 2641
ASEE, Portland, 2005
Kate Thomes, Bevier Engineering Library
University of Pittsburgh, kthomes@pitt.edu