These Powerpoint slides were used to co-present "Combining Instructional Tools and User-Centered Design in Improving Outreach and Navigation of Global Studies Research Guides" at the WPWVC/ACRL 2013 Spring Meeting. The presentation discussed strategies used to improve accessibility and visibility of LibGuides online research guides developed for academic global studies programs by WPWVC/ACRL members Lois Kepes and Dawnlyn Diehl

1. Combining Instruction Tools and User-Centered Design in
Improving Outreach and Navigation of
Global Studies Research Guides

2. Need
Image made available by Wiki Commons

3. To: Global Studies Liaison Librarians
From: University Center for
International Studies
RE: Need LibGuides for Area Studies

4. Challenge
Student navigation of complex LibGuides
Organization of hierarchical resources for
interdisciplinary subjects
Increased accessibility and visibility

5. Strategies
Expanding the LibGuide as instructional tool with:
Tutorial videos embedded in LibGuides
“User-centered” design
Writing for the web
Direct linkage with other instructional tools

6. University Library System Video Tutorials

7. Jing Video Tutorial for Statistical Database

8. Arab Spring & Beyond Page:
Combined use of video, text, and page title to present
complex chronology of information

9. User-Centered Design: Duplicate Navigation Elements

10. User-Centered Design: Duplicate Navigation Elements

11. User-Centered Design: Duplicate Links to Research Help
Tools on Getting Started Page of Muslims in a Global
Context LibGuide

12. User-Centered Design: Consistent Organization
African Guide Country Page
Asian Guide Country Page

13. Direct Linkage of LibGuides for Accessibility & Visibility
Improving outreach through direct linkage of LibGuides to:
• Academic department web sites
• Related LibGuides
• Blackboard

14. Direct Linkage to Related LibGuides

15. Link from Asian Country Research LibGuide to Subject
Specialist & Related LibGuides

16. Academic Program Web Site
Direct link to African Studies LibGuide

17. Link to LibGuides from CourseWeb/Blackboard

18. Best Practices
Universal web design:
• Consistent organization
• Less links to information
• Writing for the web
• Additional navigation elements
Combining instructional tools to present resources:
• Video
• LibGuides
• Blackboard
• Use with other instructional tools?

19. Bibliography
Miner, Jonathan, and Ross Alexander. 2010. "LibGuides in Political Science: Improving
Student Access, Research, and Information Literacy." Journal Of Information Literacy
4, no. 1: 40-54. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson),
EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2013).
Sonsteby, Alec, and Jennifer Dejonghe. 2013. "Usability Testing, User-Centered Design,
and LibGuides Subject Guides: A Case Study." Journal Of Web Librarianship 7, no. 1: 8394. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed January
20, 2014).
Pittsley, Kate A.1, kpittsle@emich.edu, and Sara2, smemmott@emich.edu Memmott.
2012. "Improving Independent Student Navigation of Complex Educational Web Sites:
An Analysis of Two Navigation Design Changes in LibGuides." Information Technology
& Libraries 31, no. 3: 52-64. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W.
Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2013).

20. Visit: Global Studies LibGuides at University of
Pittsburgh for Examples & Resources
African Studies and African Country Resources
Asian Country Research
Global Studies & GSPIA Databases
Muslims in a Global Context

21. Questions?
Lois Kepes
Liaison Librarian, GSPIA, Economics, Global Studies,
African Studies,
University of Pittsburgh
lois@pitt.edu
Dawnlyn Diehl
LibGuide Assistant , MLIS Student,
University of Pittsburgh
dawnlyn@pitt.edu