Clair Sharpe (University of Liverpool)
This presentation was given by Clair Sharpe, the Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Chemistry Liaison Librarian at Liverpool University, and it recounted Clair’s experiences in collaboratively planning and delivering taught workshops for CIVE162.
CIVE162: Civil & Architectural Engineering Projects, is a first-year module taught across Architecture and Engineering undergraduate courses, by a combination of Architecture and Engineering Academics. The module examines sustainable design, using hand drawn sketching and considering employability. It also involves students working in groups, responding to the ‘There’s a place: Engineering for people’ design challenge, which looks at the provision of water, energy and sanitation in developing countries.
Clair explained that internal changes resulting from voluntary severances, including the appointment of a new Module Coordinator in 2024, created challenges in supporting the module. One of these was that the new coordinator was difficult to contact. As a result, Clair made additional efforts to advocate for the Library’s inclusion in the module’s teaching, which were ultimately successful.
The audience was given an account of Clair’s most recent teaching for CIVE162. In 2026, Clair and another Liaison Librarian delivered a two-hour workshop to a cohort of 154 students. Due to space restrictions, the students were divided into two groups, requiring the workshop to be delivered twice. The workshops involved teaching about information discovery and management, referencing, critical thinking and using AI technologies, all in the context of their live projects. The students were also shown how to create reading lists using Tallis (Aspire) and were briefed to create their own group reading lists incorporating library resources, such as books and journal articles, as well as websites which related to their topic. The workshop was succeeded by a follow-up workshop, again delivered in two groups, which allowed students additional time to work on their reading lists with the Librarian’s help.
Clair reported that 60% of the student groups populated their reading lists, whilst 40% did not. Through the workshops, Clair also promoted the Maker Space for 3D Modelling space in the Library and also liaised with the Technician to provide a workshop, to help students create visualisations for their CIVE162 submission. A third two-hour workshop was delivered towards the end of the module, again in two parts, where students showed their work in progress to the Librarians and Academics, who provided them with formative feedback ahead of their final submission.
When reflecting on their experiences, Clair provided the following positives:
- Greater opportunity to spend time with students
- Being more embedded as teachers on module
- Great opportunity to include collaboration with the Library’s Maker Space
Clair also reflected on the lessons learned:
- Not all students used reading lists
- When given a break, several students did not return to the workshop
- No models were made at the Maker Space
Antonis Sideras, Royal College of Art, London
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