Subject Guides Revisited
Online library guides, how I love thee.
Ok, maybe that's a bit strong, but here's the reason: I will be graduating from library school next week and will also be starting my first post grad school job - a short contract at a local college to create subject and course guides using LibGuides.
I am oh so very excited.
Graham wrote a great post last fall titled Subject guides: an undervalued resource, which gives a bit of background to the advantages of subject guide use in academic libraries. Though it may be difficult to drive student traffic to these guides, I do believe library guides are very useful for students, and thus a good use of librarians' time.
I have overheard or read or been told a few things about library guides over the course of my schooling and work experience. Though not overly scholarly or backed up by any statistics, the librarians I've worked with seem to think:
- Course guides tend to be more popular than subject guides.
- Chat widgets rarely get used by students.
- A library must take advantage of the facebook and twitter integration in order to 'be where the students are'.
- Free/open source software is just as good as the paid services you get via subscriptions.
- It's all about marketing, marketing, marketing!
Do you agree?
In an effort to avoid reinventing the wheel, I would welcome any comments about library subject guides in your library. Do you think your students prefer subject or course guides? What software/format do you like? What add ons or extras work well for you library? How do you market these guides?
(Note: this will be the last blog post where, as a student, I solicit advice from all you wonderful experienced librarians in the field! However, it's highly probably that in my next blog post, as a newbie librarian, I will solicit advice from all you wonderful experienced librarians in the field...)
Labels: research tools, subject guides
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