Embedding Guides Where Students Learn: Do Design Choices and Librarian Behavior Make a Difference?

Murphy, Sarah Anne; Black, Elizabeth L.

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2013.06.007

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Contrary to much of the literature, Murphy and Black (2013) challenged the popular assertion that course guides are more useful. They concluded that the value of course guides is discipline-specific.…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 44%

“…The simplest and most widely-used method for assessing guides and for which data is readily available is the tracking of usage statistics which are generated automatically by the system in which the guide is built (2010: 653). A number of authors have utilised usage statistics to assess their guides (Dalton & Pan 2014;Leighton & May 2013;Murphy & Black 2013;Yeo 2011;Adebonojo 2010;Strutin 2008). However, in instances where statistics are used alone, the assessment is limited in that it does not give any feedback on whether students were able to use the guides or whether they found the guides useful.…”

Section: Guide Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Originally created as printed pathfinders, guides have adopted emerging technologies, evolving into online interactive resources. Some libraries are developing guides in-house (Murphy & Black 2013;Leighton & May 2013;Barr 2010) while others use commercial products such as the LibGuides platform (Bowen 2012;Yeo 2011;Quellette 2011;Gonzalez & Westbrock 2010). The structure and focus of guides vary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The efficacy of course-specific library guides to support essay writing at the University of Cape Town

Chiware

2015

South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 44%

Section: Guide Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The efficacy of course-specific library guides to support essay writing at the University of Cape Town

Chiware

2015

South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bowen (2012) presents the first published instructions documenting how to embed a LibGuide into the BlackBoard learning management system (LMS), paired with a student evaluation of accessing their guide via BlackBoard. Murphy and Black (2013) follow up with their own study of student response to library guides in their LMS. Drawing from CLT, Baker (2014) advocates a need for IL tutorials done via LibGuides.…”

Section: Libguidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long Nav or Short Nav?: Student Responses to Two Different Navigational Interface Designs in LibGuides Version 2

Bowen

Ellis

Chaparro

2018

The Journal of Academic Librarianship

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R A C TThis study used two successive phases of usability testing to evaluate two different versions of a Communication 430 course LibGuide. The first version of this guide had a longer, more visually complex navigation menu, with more course-related research information directly accessible through this menu. The second version had a shorter, less complex menu that offered less directly accessible information. Twenty-four of the 33 students enrolled in the class (73%) tested either one version or the other for usability in completing tasks that simulate course-related research assignments, ultimately indicating they found the longer navigation menu more usable. This paper may be the first to describe the engagement of students enrolled in a course in testing a LibGuide dedicated specifically to that course. As such, it will be of interest to many academic librarians and instructional design professionals.Inspired by increased interest among librarians from the 1970s onward in helping their patrons both access library resources and become information literate, many university libraries include research guides on their Web sites. With some exceptions, these guides are typically either course guides or subject guides -in other words, tailored to the research needs or assignments of an individual course, or to the research needs of a broad field of study. The content they present and architecture of how they present it may change accordingly. Though they are often created using the Springshare company's LibGuides software package, these guides are almost always designed or customized by individual librarians and tailored to individual courses and curricula at the university. Consequently, the questions of what to put on a guide and how best to arrange that material have driven an entire research agenda for the better part of a decade.A typical course-based information literacy (IL) guide, including those discussed in this study, is designed to assist students in finding information for their coursework. Most librarians, however, do not believe that simply creating a guide to do this is enough. Most librarians make some amount of effort to design their guides to be user-friendly, or, to use another word, usable. As defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO 9241-11:1998), usability is the "extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use" (International Standards Organization, 1998).1 A usable guide accordingly fulfills the goal of assisting students in finding information for their class in several ways, such as situating the user's coursework needs in a broader research process, placing searchable sources of information in a context that ties in to these needs, and offering guidance on how best to utilize these sources to find the most targeted, relevant, and valuable information relating to these needs. Design measures to address these needs can help maximize student ability to sea...

show abstract

“…(Black 2008;Black and Blankenship 2010;Murphy and Black) To better understand trends in student uptake of library guides embedded within the university's LMS, the transaction logs for the 2009 to 2012 academic years were pulled. These logs provide usage information for each library guide and include the name and number of the course to which the guide was assigned, the library guide name and ID, the date and time for each instance the guide was used, and the email address for the librarian responsible for maintaining the guide.…”

Section: Carmen Library Link: Visualizing Uptake Of Library Guides Emmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data Visualization and Rapid Analytics: Applying Tableau Desktop to Support Library Decision-Making

Murphy

2013

Journal of Web Librarianship

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Data visualization offers librarians the ability to better manage, explore and present information collected by various individuals throughout a library organization. This article discussesFurther, what if data analysis answered the original question and generated many more? Rapid analytic and data-visualization software offers librarians the flexibility to explore and make-sense of large quantities of data. No expert knowledge of computer programming or tools such as Google Charts or Microsoft Excel is required. As libraries seek to capitalize on the opportunities provided by big data, such software offers librarians the ability to efficiently and effectively make sense of large data sets with limited human and financial resources. This article will explore The Ohio State University Libraries experiments with Tableau Desktop, a rapid-fire business intelligence software, in effort to better manage and present data collected by various individuals across a number of library departments. It will begin by defining data-visualization, emphasizing its benefits, and investigating its current application within the academic library community. It will continue by providing context for the incorporation of datavisualization into the OSU libraries' assessment program. Visualizations for two data-analysis projects will then be shared, showcasing the benefits of blending multiple data sources to effectively make better

show abstract

Embedding Guides Where Students Learn: Do Design Choices and Librarian Behavior Make a Difference?

Abstract: This study investigated

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

The efficacy of course-specific library guides to support essay writing at the University of Cape Town

The efficacy of course-specific library guides to support essay writing at the University of Cape Town

Long Nav or Short Nav?: Student Responses to Two Different Navigational Interface Designs in LibGuides Version 2

Data Visualization and Rapid Analytics: Applying Tableau Desktop to Support Library Decision-Making

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About