Image: Richard Lee https://www.flickr.com/photos/70109407@N00/2097402250/

snakes

or

ladders?

ladders?

libguides

ucd library

michelle dalton ucd library

@mishdalton or

evaluating

at

project team: ros pan & josh clark

(outreach) julia barrett, jane nolan &

michael ladisch (research services)

jennifer collery, lorna dodd & michelle dalton

(client services)

academic-led

librarian-led

online

self-directed

self-directed

retrieving

online

self-directed

online

libguides

subject guides

one year subscription

limited range of guides

live date: may 2013

scope of the pilot

project phases

preparation design content

management promotion evaluation

1 2 3

4 5 6

content

3

a first principles approach

“They are not designed to serve either

the experienced scholar or the

reference librarian.

They are for beginners who seek instruction in gathering the

fundamental literature of a field new to them in every respect”.

(Stevens et al., 1973, p. 41)

“it’s not information overload, it’s filter

failure”

clay shirky (2008)

introductory level

integrated with existing

offerings

self-directed ‘take away’

solution

the content

evaluation

6

preference for using the open

web

lack of awareness of their existence

perception they ‘don’t need them’

why students don’t use subject guides

(ouellelte, 2011)

evaluation process start may 13

semester 1 nov/dec 13 end of pilot feb 14

ongoing feedback from academic staff & library staff

qualitative feedback from

students via face to face survey

quantitative analysis of

usage stats & analytics

student feedback

very low awareness of guides (18%) referencing information identified as particularly helpful

“it covers everything you need“

“having everything in one place”

“useful, pretty inclusive”

Map Collections 9260

Theses Information 2815

Bibliometrics 1681

English, Drama & Film 1269

Economics 750

Sociology 708

Languages, Literatures & Linguistics 648

History & Archives 484

Applied Social Science 451

Politics & International Relations 445

quantitative data top ten guides by usage from sept-13 to feb-14

guide level usage: sociology most students don’t explore libguides in fine detail:

sociology libguide, views by page, feb 2014

Page Name Views

Journal Articles & Databases 157

Introduction 152

Books & Websites 27

Datasets & Statistics 27

Newspapers & Sociology 13

Government & EU Information 12

Citing Information & Avoiding Plagiarism 12 400

link level usage: sociology

sociology libguide, clicks per link, feb 2014

Name Click-throughs

Sociological Abstracts 121

JSTOR 45

Social Sciences Citation Index (ISI) 17

Social Sciences Full Text 14

Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts 6

Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA) 3

Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA) 3

google analytics

Region Sessions New Users Pgs/Session

Ireland 1714 1196 2.59 United States 140 135 1.85 United Kingdom 118 112 1.94 Australia 31 28 1.45 Canada 23 23 1.96 France 9 8 3.33 India 9 9 1.67 Spain 7 7 1.43 Philippines 7 7 1.14 Brazil 6 6 1.50 Total 2165 1628 2.43

890 (52%) from UCD campus ethernet

all libguides, feb 2014 data: josh clark, ucd library

increase visibility & promotion

further extend as cms for all elearning

supports

mainstream to all subject areas

the outcome

collaboration with academic staff

think of the end user

my five ‘take aways’

avoid information overload

promote via f-to-f instruction

integration with other supports

Image: Druyts.t http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snakes_and_ladders2.JPG

thank you

http://libguides.ucd.ie

project team: ros pan & josh clark (outreach) julia barrett, jane nolan & michael ladisch (research services) jennifer collery, lorna dodd & michelle dalton (client services)

read the paper: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5653

michelle dalton ucd library

t @mishdalton