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LibGuides

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Studeren met een winkelmandje

studying with a basket

Background

LibGuides are the successors to the electronic literature guides for each subject on the library website. A LibGuide is a basic guide that provides an overview of sources and tools for a certain subject area. They are designed primarily for students (MSc) and junior scholars.
The editorial board has a mandate from the MT to complete the body of basic guides, i.e. a guide must be produced for every subject area. The guides are compiled by I&C specialists who work in the area concerned and therefore have the relevant knowledge. The editorial board therefore works closely with the I&C specialists.

Basic guides

By the end of 2011, 41 basic guides had been produced. These can be accessed via http://libguides.rug.nl/. An inventory revealed that guides are still required for eight subjects. These are small subject areas. Certain subject areas seem to be too small to warrant a separate LibGuide. This is being discussed with the I&C specialists responsible for these areas.

Phasing-out of literature guides

Given that the body of LibGuides is almost complete, the editorial board proposed that the outdated literature guides be removed as soon as possible. This has been raised with the website editors.

Support

The editors provide three types of support for I&C specialists:

  1. Provision of a basic guide
    A beginners’ guide has been produced and is available on BINT, the Library intranet.
  2. Technical support
    This mainly involves creating boxes (including Search boxes) and placing them in the Toolbox. This enables the boxes to be linked to the individual LibGuides.
  3. Editorial advice
    The editors give feedback on new LibGuides in feedback sessions. The editors advise on the relevant LibGuide in an open discussion. Editors focus on the following points:
    1. Language and spelling (must be correct)
    2. Layout (must be clear and uncluttered)
    3. Relevance of sources.

Given the speedy production of basic guides, the editors imitated two campaigns in the autumn.

  1. Promotion
    The editors have launched initiatives to promote LibGuides.
    1. A poster for the noticeboards
    2. An associative link on the web platform
    3. The editors want to encourage I&C specialists to make use of LibGuides in instructions. In order to realize this, contact has been initiated as a priority with the Information Skills working group.
  2. The current editorial board’s mandate commenced in February 2011. However, some of the LibGuides date from well before this. The editorial board is committed to optimizing the quality of the whole body of basic guides. Feedback sessions have therefore been organized for this category of guides.

Bert Huizing