In 2013, an aviation management student named William Kirksey ’13 was so impressed with Evans Library that he wrote an article about it for the library’s newsletter (“Beyond Words,” a condensed version).
The article details how Kirksey utilized the library’s vast resources and services, which he learned about in depth during a spring course taught at the library, to write a research paper on aviation safety. He was later selected to present the paper to a distinguished group of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps test pilots at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots sixth annual Southeast Symposium at Eglin Air Force Base.
“I still to this day use the skills learned at the Evans Library, in particular the skills learned by attending the Research Sources and Systems Course (COM 2012) during the spring semester of 2011,” Kirksey said.
The article is published in its entirety below in honor of Evans Library’s 40th anniversary.
Have You Ever Been in a Gold Mine?
By William Kirksey
No I’m not talking about the kind of gold mine that produces the precious metal used in crafting fine jewelry. I’m talking about the kind of gold mine that has a repository of knowledge which is always made available to the average person, or in this case, the average student roaming the campus at Florida Institute of Technology.
This Gold Mine is known to most of us students as “Evans Library”. During the spring semester in 2011, I was given an opportunity to dig deep into the rich veins of this treasure of knowledge. I registered to attend a course taught at the library known as “Research Sources and Systems Course (COM 2012)”.
I had a preconceived idea of what this course would be like, but I could not have ever imagined what I was about to get myself into.
This course emphasized the methods for digging for the gold by teaching a variety of research strategies to the student. These strategies are designed to acquaint students with an assortment of services that are available at the Evans Library.
The services include print and electronic information resources that can be used to match a student’s information needs with the appropriate information source. This system provides a very effective and efficient way of finding information related to each specific student’s field of study. The overall goal of the course is to enable students to find, evaluate, and use information resources effectively in the pursuit of lifelong learning.
My field of study is Aviation Management. I’ve been able to conduct valuable research concerning various topics in aviation including Airline Operations, Aviation Technological Advancements, Aviation Security, Aviation Planning, Airport Design, and Aviation Safety.
In fact, a research paper that I wrote for an Aviation Safety course, in the fall of 2012, is the main reason why I wrote this article. The research paper titled “Enhanced Flight Vision System,” dealt with the subject of improving Aviation Safety by integrating forward looking infrared (FLIR) technology into the avionics systems of air transport, business, and general aviation aircraft including helicopters.
This technology provides a pilot the means of viewing vital airport features that cannot be seen by the human eye when environmental conditions such as clouds, fog, rain, snow, and darkness of night effectively degrade a pilot’s field of view.
In fact, pilots state that this is the best technological advancement in aviation safety since the invention of the instrument landing system.
I gained a thorough understanding of how this technology was made available to the civilian aviation industry after it was first developed for military use and later released by the Department of Defense for commercial applications.
The knowledge obtained while writing this paper would not have been possible without having the research skills needed to access the appropriate resources of information.
Without a doubt, the research material needed to write this paper could not have been accessed without the research tools provided by the Evans Library. Furthermore, I would not have been able to access the appropriate sources of information needed to write this paper without the help provided by the talented group of Instruction Librarians at the Evans Library. They are the embodiment of true professionalism and raw talent that deserves mentioning in this article. I would also like to mention that my paper was given an A+ grade by my Aviation Safety Professor, Dr. Stephen Cusick.
He liked my paper so much, that he decided to submit it to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) for evaluation.
On February 8, 2013, I was informed that the Society of Experimental Test Pilots selected my paper for presentation at the 6th annual Southeast Symposium being held at Eglin Air Force Base.
This was a great opportunity for me to present my research material to a distinguished group of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps Test Pilots. I got my chance to present on February 22, 2013. My presentation went very well and I received quite a few questions after completing the portion of my briefing which lasted about twenty minutes.
After my presentation, I was presented with the Graduate Academic Flight Safety Award for taking First Place Honors at the 3rd Annual Intercollegiate Flight Safety Competition for 2013.
It was indeed an honor to represent Florida Institute of Technology at such an event and it was made even sweeter by the fact that I had such wonderful people from the university who helped me in achieving such an Honor.
