Performance review: online research guides for theater students

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to assess current academic library services to theater students through an examination of online research guides. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a representative sample of 100 universities that offer theater degrees; the library website at each of these institutions is examined for the existence of a theater research guide. Each research guide was analyzed in depth. Findings The vast majority of the universities in the sample did create research guides for theater students, though the contents of these guides varied greatly. The study highlights findings including popular databases and journals for theater students, as well as media resources and common subjects for subsections or course guides. Research limitations/implications This study only examined a sample of 100 institutions; many theater research guides were not examined for this study. Additionally, analysis of online content is a time-specific endeavor: a guide may look significantly different from one month to the next, though the recommendations in this article might prove useful even if the sites at these institutions have since been updated. Practical implications Through an examination of a great number of guides, a few practical suggestions emerge for librarians looking to create theater research guides, such as highlighting playscripts and other print materials and including hyperlocal information (such as university production history). Originality/value Though several studies have been performed on research guides in various disciplines, this article is the first on those to theater students.

Taking count: A computational analysis of data resources on academic LibGuides

“…Library and information science scholars have frequently looked to LibGuides as primary sources for identifying resources that are key to particular fields, often using manual counts of resources from dozens of disciplinary guides to embark on content analyses. Of these studies-looking at guides in theater (Furay, 2018), theology (Van Dyk, 2015, electrical engineering (Osorio, 2014), geology (Dougherty, 2013), physics (McCormick, 2020 and nursing (Stankus and Parker, 2012)-anywhere from 37 to 100 guides have been examined at a time, often from a sample taken from a larger collection of relevant guides. Along similar lines, common resources have been compiled from topical guides devoted to 3D printing (Horton, 2017) and those aimed at physician assistants (Johnson and Johnson, 2017).…”

Collection Development for Librarians in a Hurry: A Survey of the Physics Resources of the Libraries of the Association of American Universities

“…A resource guide is a page within the library website which lists and describes books, journals, databases, and other materials that may be relevant to research, teaching, and learning in an academic discipline. Researchers examine resource guides "in the hopes of articulating best practices for creating helpful, responsive guides within a particular discipline" (Furay 2018). There is not a published content analysis study of library resource guides in the discipline of physics.…”

Desperately seeking funding: library guides to student funding

“…Numerous studies have examined the design features and usability of guides (Almeida and Tidal, 2017; Hintz et al , 2010; Sinkinson et al , 2012; Sonsteby and DeJonghe, 2013), while others have reviewed the content of thematically similar guides (Furay, 2018; Reese and McCain, 2017; Suiter and Moulaison, 2015). Studies that analyzed guide content used a variety of approaches.…”

“…Some studies attempted to be as comprehensive as possible in examining what resources guides include (van Dyk, 2015; Osorio, 2014). Others devised survey instruments aimed at capturing whether a guide addressed particular categories or questions of interest (Furay, 2018; Insua, 2018; Pendell and Armstrong, 2014; Suiter and Moulaison, 2015).…”