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Examines how engineers communicate and explore the factors that affect their communication choices. This book identifies differences in communication among engineering specialities. It also explains how their information use affects their work and how the best engineers use information resources.

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Knowledge is a building block, an essential ingredient of technological innovation. The rate at which knowledge is created, diffused, absorbed, or utilized influences the rate of technological innovation. Engineers and engineering are at the very core of technological innovation. Therefore, understanding how engineers produce, transfer, and use knowledge is a critical element of innovation, technological progress, and economic competitiveness. Carol Tenopir and Don King offer an astute presentation and analysis of what is known about the production, transfer, and use of knowledge by engineers. Their book offers the most current thought and thinking about the communication patterns of engineers. Individuals interested in knowledge as an intellectual asset should find this book worthwhile. It should broaden the view of students; serve as a valuable resource for scholars and researchers; and help practitioners shape policy, manage knowledge, and provide information services. Professors Tenopir and King are to be congratulated and complimented for producing a well-crafted book. - Dr. Thomas E. Pinelli, NASA Langley Research Center.