To improve information literacy and make searching the library as easy as searching Google, the library faculty and online faculty support unit partnered to integrate the library into the learning management system (LMS) and embed librarians into individual courses.
Almost every academic library journal these days contains at least one article regarding better methods for attracting faculty and students to the library and communicating efficient research methods to them. After teaching numerous face-to-face workshops and even semester long classes, I have consistently gotten thankful feedback for making students and faculty aware of library resources and the best ways to use them. At Brookens Library, we recently added LibGuides as a tool for reaching out. Although we just initiated it this semester, the results have already been quite favorable.
As Springshare and librarians who are using the tool develop new ideas or popular pages, they submit them to the Community website so that others may benefit.
There is a blog that is updated regularly to further keep users apprised of ways to enhance one’s Libguides
There are enormous possibilities for creating pages for each subject area. Notice the tabs, which allows the potential for fashioning pages specifically for a department’s particular needs. For example for the African American Studies department, as you can see, on the home page I provide my contact information, the best databases for research, current information of interest, and a list of new books in the library.
One professor asked me to create a page especially for her Harlem Renaissance Literature class, which I then presented in a short in class session to direct them to the specific resources students would need to do the research for their projects. Note that the pages are enabled with a print function, which allows the users to make their own handouts. This can also save on paper when doing the one-shot workshops. As long as users know how and where to access the Guide they need, there is no need for them to worry about losing pertinent research information.
One librarian has included a video that introduces users to the library in a humorous yet informative manner.
Our Legal Studies liaison librarian has created particularly useful pages for our pre-law program, which includes RSS feeds to help keep faculty and students abreast of current events that may be relevant to their areas of interest.
Within my psychology pages I have included a borrowed tutorial from Arizona State University on finding empirical articles, which the students have found very helpful, as well as a link to RefWorks, a valuable utility that was being underused by our students.
The creation and editing functions could not be easier, which, as I mentioned earlier makes LibGuides accessible to even those who have no experience with web page design. Certainly the possibilities for using LibGuides is not without limits, and the UIS experience with them is still relatively new, we have plans to expand on their use. For example, in the near future, I would like to add a Meebo Chat box to expand accessibility.
And there is always your personal LibGuide homepage to help direct you to other resources, give you ideas, or help with the editing process.