NCompass Live - March 9, 2016. http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ncompasslive/ Librarians put hours into creating research guides, but usage studies show that they're often confusing, intimidating and generally under-used by students. Learn some effective techniques of instructional design and web usability that any librarian can apply to make online guides better and more useful to your students, whether you are using LibGuides or a home-brew system. Presenter: Jason Puckett of Georgia State University is the author of the new book Modern Pathfinders: Creating Better Research Guides from ACRL Publications.

1. Modern Pathfinders
Making research guides more effective
Jason Puckett
Georgia State University Library
NCompass Live, March 9 2016

2. About me
Librarian for Communication and Computer Science,
Virtual Services Librarian
GSU, Atlanta
Continuing education instructor, Simmons
research.library.gsu.edu/prf.php?account_id=936
Modern Pathfinders: Creating Better Research Guides (2015)
Zotero: a Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators (2011)
(2nd edition forthcoming, 2016)

3. Today’s session
Will be
• Instruction/public service POV
• Informal/interactive
• Biased toward academic libraries
Will not be
• How to use LibGuides
• Overly techy
• Systems librarian POV

4. What’s a research guide
• Web page created by librarians for library users as an aid to their
research
• Addresses a specific information need
• research guides, pathfinders, web guides, subject guides, LibGuides
flickr.com/photos/elo/2425302932

5. What’s a research guide
“Subject guides are lists of resources created to assist students with
their research needs.” (Staley 2007)
• Teaching tools
• Access points
• Substitute for class
• Contact point w/librarian
flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/1721982928

6. What do you use?
• LibGuides
• Library a la Carte
• Wiki-based system
• Home-grown system
• Don’t have research guides
• Other?
flickr.com/photos/rhodes/98801346

7. Rethinking your guides
• Not just a list of links
• Approach guide creation like class planning
• Guides as teaching tool
• Think like a student
• Focus on the assignment/task
• Don’t overload
• Design matters
flickr.com/photos/hurleygurley/4338767

8. Design
flickr.com/photos/40775084@N05/12573451034
• Instructional design
• User Experience (UX) design

9. Learning objectives
• No more “how to use the library”
• Specific
• Measurable
• Results-oriented
• Need-focused
flickr.com/photos/corscri/1320198723

10. Learning objectives: Why?
• Teaching aid/outline
• Findability (by search and eye)
• Relevance to students
• Instructor buy-in
flickr.com/photos/esparta/4503617594

11. Learning objectives
•What am I teaching in class
OR
•What would I teach if I had them in class
flickr.com/photos/dcjohn/74907741

12. Learning objectives
• “Students should be able to…”
• locate newspapers to use as a historical primary source
• distinguish between scholarly and non-scholarly sources
• create a literature review on their topic
• install Zotero
• Avoid “understand” and synonyms
flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/5422493992

13. Tailor to the assignment
flickr.com/photos/heartindustry/522073924
Examples
http://research.library.gsu.edu/sw7200
http://research.library.gsu.edu/jour1000
http://research.library.gsu.edu/jour4800

14. Don’t recreate the library website
(The library already has a website. This isn’t it.)
• TMI -> confusion
• Extra work/updates
flickr.com/photos/17258892@N05/2588347668

15. Curated content
• A selected subset of the info on the library site
• Selected resources specific to the task at hand
• Plus subject specialist expertise
flickr.com/photos/museumwales/2764499783

16. Subject guides vs course guides
• “students do not connect with general subject guides, but do find
use for guides that are focused on specific courses”
• “presenting sources based on a discipline was not helpful for
students as the students did not understand what a discipline really
was”1
• “course management systems … create learning environments
tailored specifically to the needs of the students enrolled in a
course”
• “undergraduate students’ mental model is one focused on
courses and coursework, rather than disciplines”2
1Roberts, S., & Hunter, D. (2011). New Library, New Librarian, New Student: Using LibGuides to Reach the Virtual Student. Journal of Library &
Information Services in Distance Learning, 5(1/2), 67-75. doi:10.1080/1533290X.2011.570552
2Reeb, B., & Gibbons, S. (2004). Students, Librarians, and Subject Guides: Improving a Poor Rate of Return. Portal : Libraries and the Academy,
4(1), 123-130.
flickr.com/photos/a_ninjamonkey/3295744362

17. Cognitive Overload
•Avoid TMI
•“Chunk” your content
into manageable
pieces
•Keep links to a
minimum
flickr.com/photos/documentingtrees/131547704

18. Reducing choices
• Too many options = overwhelming
• Minimize distraction/digressions
• Minimize clutter
flickr.com/photos/kb35/430976459

19. Write for your audience
• Think like a student
• Organizing by format makes sense to librarians
• Organizing by assignment/task makes sense to students
• Compare the assignment to the guide
flickr.com/photos/marfis75/3272079115

20. Write for your audience
• Think like a student
• Avoid jargon
• Consistent terminology
• Conversational style
• Get a fresh eye
• Concise and scannable text
• Annotate clearly
• What will they need to know?
flickr.com/photos/igorza76/8109506828

21. ______ ___ ___ ___Writing for the web
“The format is very clear and
neat. The first two [guides] just
make me feel dizzy. Too many
words on it – very messy.”
– student response to LibGuides
(Hintz et al)

22. ______ ___ ___ ___Writing for the web
• Minimal text
• Lists, not text blocks
• Web readers skim
• Critical content above the fold
• Avoid “click here.” Users know links when they
see them
• Use emphasis sparingly
• Good style guides from Yahoo:
• styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-web/get-point
• styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-web/shape-your-
text-online-reading

23. Writing for the web
Click here to access America: History and Life, a database that includes
articles that may be useful to you as secondary sources.
Search America: History and Life to find articles useful as secondary
sources.

24. Writing for the web
• Web readers skim: the F shape
• Above the fold
useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

25. User experience (UX)
Attractive objects
work better in
stressful situations
Decrease effort spent
understanding the
page
Free up mental
“bandwidth” to focus
on content
flickr.com/photos/38045070@N00/4883972918

26. Reworking a guide

27. Before
• research.library.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=135834
• Big text block
• Past the fold
• Organized by format
• Start page

28. Reworking a guide

29. After
• research.library.gsu.edu/jour4800
• Organized around assignment
• Directly based on learning objectives/class session
• Vertically shorter (but still above the fold)
• First page directly into content
• Text is more concise/skimmable to locate needed info

30. Visual design for non-designers
• Web pages are not print pages
• Less is more
• Simplicity and consistency matter
flickr.com/photos/100055991@N04/17222277171

31. Design and why it matters
Hintz, K., Farrar, P., Eshghi, S., Sobol, B., Naslund, J.-A., Lee, T., Stephens, T., et al. (2010). Letting students take the lead: A user-
centred approach to evaluating subject guides. Evidence based library and information practice, 5(4), 39-52.

32. Design and why it matters
Colors: simple and consistent
Images can direct attention

33. Entry points and focal areas
• Eye doesn’t go naturally to
text
• Squint!
• Secondary focal areas
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do
eiusmod tempor incididunt ut
labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut
enim ad minim veniam, quis
nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris
nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo
consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in
reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse
cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat
cupidatat non proident, sunt in
culpa qui officia deserunt mollit
anim id est laborum.
flickr.com/photos/88649611@N00/3018419587
flickr.com/photos/68187942@N00/3287986172
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste
natus error sit voluptatem
accusantium doloremque
laudantium, totam rem aperiam,
eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore
veritatis et quasi architecto beatae
vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo
enim ipsam voluptatem quia
voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut
fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni
dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem
sequi nesciunt.

34. Institutional style guides
• The content matters more than the container, but the container
matters
• Consistency
• Readability
• Familiarity
• Visual style
• Content guidelines
• Flexibility for creators
flickr.com/photos/wmode/3481125523

35. Institutional style guides
“The goal here should be that once a
person has used one of your library’s
guides, they intuitively know how to
use all your library’s guides because
each guide follows a similar structure,
even though the content varies
widely.”
(Ahmed 2013 p. 109)
flickr.com/photos/mbiebusch/5816398534

36. Recommended Reading
• Ahmed, N. (2013). Design: Why it is important and how to get it right. In A. W. Dobbs, R. Sittler, D. Cook, & Library and Information
Technology Association (U.S.) (Eds.), Using LibGuides to Enhance Library Services: A LITA Guide (pp. 103–119).
• Bielat, V., Befus, R., & Arnold, J. (2013). Integrating LibGuides into the teaching-learning process. In A. W. Dobbs, R. Sittler, D. Cook,
& Library and Information Technology Association (U.S.) (Eds.), Using LibGuides to Enhance Library Services: A LITA Guide (pp. 121–
142).
• Dewald, N. H. (1999). Transporting good library instruction practices into the web environment: An analysis of online tutorials. The
Journal of Academic Librarianship, 25(1), 26–31. doi:10.1016/S0099-1333(99)80172-4
• Little, J. J. (2010). Cognitive load theory and library research guides. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 15(1), 53–63.
• Reeb, B., & Gibbons, S. (2004). Students, librarians, and subject guides: Improving a poor rate of return. Portal: Libraries and the
Academy, 4(1), 123–130.
• Roberts, S., & Hunter, D. (2011). New Library, New Librarian, New Student: Using LibGuides to Reach the Virtual Student. Journal of
Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 5(1/2), 67–75. doi:10.1080/1533290X.2011.570552
• Schmidt, A., & Etches, A. (2012). User experience (UX) design for libraries. Chicago: ALA TechSource.
• Staley, S. M. (2007). Academic subject guides: A case study of use at San José State University. College & Research Libraries, 68(2),
119–139.
• University of New Mexico School of Medicine. (2005). Effective use of performance objectives for learning and assessment.
http://ccoe.umdnj.edu/forms/EffectiveUseofLearningObjectives.pdf

37. Discussion/questions
flickr.com/photos/sheila_dee/8128581138
Thank you
Available at
alastore.ala.org and amazon.com
ACRL Publications 2015