Video resources for the engineering curriculum

The incorporation of video recordings into college and university curricula has become almost total. The most recent survey of media collections in Association of Research Libraries member institutions shows that 84% of survey respondents collect video within their library and an additional ten percent of the respondents state that while the library does not collect video, another department on campus does (Brancolini and Provine 1993, 4). Videos relevant to every discipline are being produced and most academic libraries are collecting them. One area of study, however, seems to be lagging behind in volume of video titles produced, in library acquisitions and in faculty use in the classroom. That subject is engineering. This article explores the topic of engineering videos by reviewing the literature, categorizing types of engineering videos, considering why engineering instructors choose to use or not use videos in the classroom, and discussing collecting patterns of videos by academic engineering librarians. Although it is a common practice to videotape lectures for asynchronous learning and distance education purposes, the focus of this article is on commercially produced video materials.