Presented by Emily Frigo, Laura Harris, Ken Liss, and Maura Seale at the ACRL 14th National Conference, 2009.

1. Reinventing Research Guides:
LibGuides at Two Academic
Libraries
Emily Frigo & Laura Harris,
Grand Valley State University
Ken Liss, Boston College
Maura Seale, Georgetown University

2. Overview of presentation
• History of research guides
• Questions raised in the literature
• Implementing LibGuides at GVSU and BC
• Student survey
• Next steps

3. The Beginning: MIT Pathfinders

4. The Beginning: MIT Pathfinders

5. The Beginning: MIT Pathfinders

6. Persistent Questions: Scope
How broad or narrow in scope should research guides be?
Narrow Subjects…

7. Persistent Questions: Scope
How broad or narrow in scope should research guides be?
Broad Subjects…

8. Persistent Questions: Scope
How broad or narrow in scope should research guides be?
Course Guides…

9. Persistent Questions: Guidance
Should guides lead students to the research sources or help them find their own
paths?
MIT Pathfinder…

10. Persistent Questions: Guidance
Should guides lead students to the research sources or help them find their own
paths?
Lists of sources…

11. Persistent Questions: Guidance
Should guides lead students to the research sources or help them find their own
paths?
How to search…

12. Persistent Questions: Guidance
Should guides lead students to the research sources or help them find their own
paths?

13. Persistent Questions: Design/Terminology
What kinds of design and terminology will make the guides most readable?

14. Persistent Questions: Design/Terminology
What kinds of design and terminology will make the guides most readable?
Library Jargon

15. Persistent Questions
Design/Terminology

16. Persistent Questions
Standardization
How much standardization can and should there be among guides?
Standard Look

17. Persistent Questions
Standardization
How much standardization can and should there be among guides?
Standard Color Scheme

18. Persistent Questions
Standardization
How much standardization can and should there be among guides?
Standard Format

19. Persistent Questions: Workload
What impact does guide management and maintenance have on librarians'
workload?

20. Persistent Questions: Promotion
How can guides best be brought to the attention of those
for whom they are intended?

21. Persistent Questions: Promotion
How can guides best be brought to the attention of those
for whom they are intended?

22. Persistent Questions: Promotion
How can guides best be brought to the attention of those
for whom they are intended?

23. Persistent Questions:Promotion
How can guides best be brought to the attention of those
for whom they are intended?
Picture used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user umwdtit.

24. The Missing Ingredient:
What Do Users Think?
Picture used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user NJLA (New Jersey Library Assocaition).

25. The librarians at GVSU and BC were frustrated with the
systems they used to create subject guides!
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrazrblog/97360035/

26. Implementation
Why LibGuides?
 Workload
 Easier to use
 Boxes and pages can be copied
 Community
 Boxes and pages can be copied from other institutions – are we moving
back towards MIT‟s model?
 http://springsharelounge.com
 Web 2.0 features
 RSS feeds (including podcasts)
 Books from the catalog
 Videos
 Files
 Delicious tag clouds
 Google search boxes (including Google Scholar)

27. Implementation
What should LibGuides be used for? What shouldn‟t it be used for?
quot;It is tempting, if the only tool you
have is a hammer, to treat
everything as if it were a nail.quot;
- Abraham Maslow
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cayusa/2756149674

28. Implementation
Librarians continue to
be enthusiastic about
using LibGuides
Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mllerustad/2486134394/

29. Survey Results & Analysis
• Lack of information about users of research guides in
library literature
• Survey conducted at GVSU and BC
o Questions addressed persistent issues around research
guides
 Scope
 Guidance
 Design and terminology
 Promotion
 A caveat....

30. Survey Results & Analysis
Scope: Non-users
• Prefer more specific • “info departmentalized”
guides at both BC and • “information regarding
GVSU each major”
• GVSU non-users expect • “where to look for certain
to find subject topics of research, or for
resources; many certain classes”
mentioned courses and • “information about
majors particular books or
references to use in a
specific field”

31. Survey Results & Analysis
Scope: Users
• “I think it would be
• “Right” amount of
cool to narrow down
information the resources you
• Descriptions offer even more”
preferred (over 90%) • “Descriptions are
• Differences between useful because it was
BC and GVSU only just this past
preferences for types week I learned
of guides JSTOR is more of an
archive site”

32. Survey Results & Analysis
Guidance: Non-users
• Significant number • “„How-tos‟ to use the
expect help, how-tos, information online”
explicit guidance at • “„how to‟ kinds of
both BC and GVSU things related to
• Some expectation of typical academic
credible, reliable, work”
high quality • “where to look for
information at GVSU credible information”

33. Survey Results & Analysis
Guidance: Users
• “How to do research” and descriptions desired
in addition to lists of resources at BC
(75%) and GVSU (77%)
• Majorities at BC and GVSU had not used
librarian profiles to contact librarians
o But is the percentage that have higher than those who
have contacted a librarian at all (31% and 26%
respectively?)
o Or are students as hesitant to approach librarians
through the guides as they are to approach the
reference desk? (a.k.a “library anxiety”)

34. Survey Results & Analysis
Design/Terminology: Users
• Close to 90% found tabs at top of page
helpful at GVSU and BC
• 92% at GVSU and 82% at BC found
individual guides quot;very easyquot; or quot;fairly easyquot;
to find from the main LibGuides page
What's in a name?
• 97% at BC liked quot;research guidesquot;
• 75% at GVSU liked quot;library guidesquot;

35. Survey Results & Analysis
Design/Terminology
What users and non-users expect to find under a tab labeled “Databases”…

36. Survey Results & Analysis
Design/Terminology
What users and non-users expect to find under a tab labeled “Reference Books”…

37. Survey Results & Analysis
Promotion: Users
Where to link from?
• Strong response for Blackboard and
syllabus
• Facebook ranked lower, ~20%
- quot;If it's on Facebook...people will know
about it!quot;
- quot;NOT Facebook that is unprofessionalquot;

38. Survey Results & Analysis
Promotion: Users
Should you link from library website?
GVSU (link on library home page)
• 50/50 split between those who had or had not
used guides
BC (link several layers in)
• 20% had used guides, 80% had not
* But how did users hear about the guides?
• only 35% from the library website at GVSU

39. Survey Results & Analysis
Promotion: Users

40. Survey Results & Analysis
Promotion: Users
How do you hear about these pages/guides?
GVSU BC
Blackboard 7.6% 5.9%
Few users accessed guides from Blackboard,
but ~90% recommended we link from it.
= Opportunity for marketing

41. Survey Results & Analysis
Promotion: Non-users
Where to link from?
• similar preferences to users
• other suggestions:
o library homepage (45%)
o university website
o email reminders
o department website

42. Next steps…
quot;This sounds like a really, really cool tool! I wish it
would have been created a few years ago instead of
now when I am about to graduate.quot;
quot;To be honest, I'd never heard of them before, but I wish
I had. It seems like the most helpful thing right now
would be getting the word out, encouraging professors,
TAs, and tutors to mention them as a resource.”
quot;This is the first I have heard of them, but they sound
very helpful. Do you do class presentations?quot;

43. Next steps…
Promotion and Design:
• market to major stakeholders at university
• get on Blackboard and syllabi
• integrate with instruction
• more course guides
• more guidance and 'how-to'
To do:
• Deeper analysis of survey data
• User testing (2009-10)

44. Many options…

45. Many programs

46. Questions?
Comments?
For more information, go to:
http://libguides.gvsu.edu/acrl09