Sustainability Engineering Collection Assessment: A Mixed-Method Analysis

ABSTRACT

Sustainability is a growing concept across many disciplines and has recently drawn attention from engineers. This study aims to assess the research materials used by faculty members in the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED) at McGill University using a mixed-method approach of citation analysis and interviews. While citation analysis reveals important citations behaviors of TISED members and suggests top journals for engineering collections, interviews further identified faculty’s perceptions and expectations of the library’s collection and service. These findings can be useful for engineering librarians to develop the collections and services that are relevant to faculty’s research needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Citation analysis
• collection assessment
• collection development
• mixed-method approach
• sustainability engineering collection

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to Tara Mawhinney for reviewing the draft of this article and providing her feedback.