Developing an Online Presence

Liaison/Subject Librarians’ Workshop 2009

Why develop our online presence?

•Increase student access to library resources

•Increase the profile of librarians

•Strengthen connections b/w librarians and teaching staff

•Contribute to student success

Students as researchers

• Students are comfortable in online environment

• Feel proficient in exploring confidently across a range of resources

• Finding scholarly, authoritative information is still a challenge

• Have favourite, but limited sources of information

Implications – or the rise…and fall and rise of the library website

• Librarians see the library website as pivotal

•But the Library website is often not used as a starting point for research

•Tide is changing as libraries improve their websites, and some research is now indicating that students and staff place great value on the library website

3 ways to Increase our online Profile

• Improve our websites

• Become embedded librarians

• Take Subject Guides to a higher plane

Improve our WebsitesUsability principles

Interactivity

Connect users to content - and to do it with minimum barriers and maximum speed and ease

Web 2.0 applications – some examples:

• is where the students are

• becomes an integral part of the class

• experiences the needs of students and observes

expectations of faculty (Dewey as cited in Bozeman, 2008, p. 57).

• is in the right place to guide students to the best

resources

The Embedded Librarian

How to become ‘embedded’

• Become a ‘participant’ in online classes that use courseware such as Moodle

• Establish a hyper link to the library website from the course page

• Set up a Library discussion forum on the course page

• Access class emails and respond promptly to library and information related

requests

• Provide a link to existing Information Literacy modules

• Provide full contact details

How to get embedded contd?

• Use courseware tools, such as Web templates to create a new subject guide or

link an existing guide to the appropriate course.

• Think strategically!

• Link to library and/or institutional plans

• Ensure sufficient ongoing resources

• Buy in from the top

• Library rep on courseware committee

• Familiarity with course management software

• Accept responsibility

• Sell it to faculty –it will make their lives easier and save them

time

Success Factors

Subject Guides• Aka Research guides, research tools, pathfinders, e-

guides, resource lists…etc.

• Provide a starting point for researcher

• But do we really need them?

• Time consuming to create and maintain

• Duplication across the Internet

Subject Guides

• Potentially offer a unique tool to students• Bring content closer• The creator becomes more familiar with

subject area

Subject Guides

• Wikis – collaborative, easy to use, need to get people to participate, high levels of maintenance

• http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

Successful Subject Guides

• Student prefer customised course and assessment guides over broad subject guides

• Link from course pages or integrate into course

•

Fraction of a Whole

• Still reaching only a limited number of students

• Level and style of engagement with online environment differs

• Need a variety of other methods to provide access to information and help with research skills.

•

Planning, planning, planning

Web 2.0 tools—such as Meebo chat widgets, delicious.com, subject guides, and Facebook pages—are tools like any other, requiring planning and dedicated staff time as much as anything else in a library's service arsenal.

Reference List

Bell, S. (2009 , February 17). The library web site of the future. Inside Higher Ed, Retrieved 8 April 2009, from http://www.insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/views/2009/02/17/bell

Bozeman, D. (2008). Providing services to online students: Embedded librarians and access to resources. Mississippi Libraries 72 (3), 57-9.

Corrado, E. M. & Frededrick, K. A. (2008). Free and open source options for creating database-driven subject guides. The Code4Lib Journal (2), Retrieved 8 April 2009, from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/47

Kroski, E. (2007). A Librarian’s Guide to Creating 2.0 Subject Guides. Retrieved 14 April 2009, from http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/a-librarians-guide-to-creating-20-subject-guides/

Shank, J. & Bell, S. (2009). A-FLIP to Courseware: A strategic alliance for improving student learning outcomes. nnovate 2 (4). Retrieved 8 May 2009, from

http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=areticle&id=46&action=article

Tchangalova, N., & Feigley, A. (2008). Subject guides: Putting a new spin on an old concept. Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship 9 (3).Retrieved 8 April 2009, from

http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v09n03/tchangalova_n01.html