The Enduring Landscape of Online Subject Research Guides

Jackson, R.J.; Stacy-Bates, Kristine K.

doi:10.5860/rusq.55n3.219

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…The implications of these results are that there is duplication of LibGuides content, effort and time across campuses of the same universities, as some universities have a number of LibGuides on the same subject areas across the institutions. This does not assist the users as it only adds to the information overload rather than assisting to streamline information resources (Jackson and Stacy-Bates, 2016). There seems to be competition rather than willingness to collaborate among librarians across different institutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration on LibGuides in public universities in South Africa

Bangani

Tshetsha

2018

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication

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Purpose This paper uses co-ownership as a proxy for determining the extent of collaboration on LibGuides in public universities in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study that uses webometrics techniques to establish collaboration on LibGuides among librarians in public universities in South Africa. The LibGuide pages of all public universities in the country are visited. Co-ownership of those LibGuides is established by going through the list of co-owners usually situated on the right-hand side menu bar. The data are divided into 16 Excel spreadsheets, each representing a South African public university with LibGuides. Findings The results show that only 8.1 per cent or 95 of 1,166 LibGuides are co-owned, whereas in 9.4 per cent (109 of 1,166) of LibGuides, the ownership reverts to the host library, as there are no authors indicated. Only 34 of 95 or 35.8 per cent of co-owned LibGuides are cross-campus or inter-campus collaborations suggesting that there is very little cross-pollination of ideas between different campuses of the same universities in South Africa. Research limitations/implications This study will lead to a better understanding of the extent of collaboration between librarians in Africa, generally, but specifically in South Africa. In addition, it poses a challenge to library managers to develop strategies that promote and nurture a culture of collaboration between and among librarians to avoid unnecessary duplication. The recommendations of this study can be used to improve collaboration between and among librarians. The biggest limitation of this study is that it did not look into the attitudes, constraints and impediments of collaboration between and among librarians. This area, however, is recommended for further research. Practical implications The implication of these results is that there is a duplication of LibGuides, effort and time across different campuses of the same universities, as some universities have a number of LibGuides on the same subject areas across the institutions. There is very little cross-pollination of ideas between various universities as reflected by a lack of inter-university LibGuides in the country. Social implications Duplication of LibGuides does not assist the users as it only adds to the information overload rather than assisting them by streamlining the information. Originality/value This study may well be the first study of its nature in the world. It is the view of the authors that this study will not only close the gap in the literature on LibGuides but also explain the use of Web 2.0 tools in libraries in developing countries as collaboration tools. It will add another perspective to the discourse about the collaboration in library and information science generally. This paper may lead to further research on the collaboration efforts of practising librarians.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration on LibGuides in public universities in South Africa

Bangani

Tshetsha

2018

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication

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“…Subject guides may also include instructions on conducting research or pre-entered search strings for key databases (Cooper, 1997). Selecting items for inclusion involves evaluating resource quality and highlighting resources that are likely to be most relevant for users rather than creating an exhaustive list of all possible resources on a topic (Jackson & Stacy-Bates, 2016).…”

Section: Subject Guidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Library COVID-19 Subject Guides

Fraser-Arnott

2020

The Reference Librarian

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“…Online research guides are ubiquitous in academic libraries (Almeida and Tidal, 2017; Jackson and Stacy-Bates, 2016; Linares and Johnson, 2016). Although most often used in a disciplinary context to orient users to a field’s key resources, guides to non-discipline-specific topics, such as citation searching, three-dimensional printing and research metrics, have become increasingly common (Dagenais Brown, 2014; Horton, 2017; Suiter and Moulaison, 2015).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desperately seeking funding: library guides to student funding

Lundy

Curran

2020

RSR

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Purpose This study aims to examine online research guides as a measure of academic library support for students seeking educational funding opportunities. Design/methodology/approach The library websites of 38 members of a regional academic library consortium were examined for guides that address funding for educational purposes. The guide content was manually reviewed. Information regarding institutional characteristics was gathered from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Findings Despite relatively few reports of educational funding support in the library literature, online guides exist at 42% of studied institutions. However, few guides are comprehensive and many lack features that promote discoverability. Instructional content – guidance, advice or information beyond resource descriptions – and in-person funding support rarely appear in the studied guides, presenting opportunities for academic libraries to contribute to student retention and success. Practical implications This paper provides information on and examples of online guides to educational funding useful to academic libraries looking to support students facing affordability concerns. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on non-disciplinary uses of online research guides and is the first to survey academic library guides on educational funding opportunities.

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The Enduring Landscape of Online Subject Research Guides

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Collaboration on LibGuides in public universities in South Africa

Collaboration on LibGuides in public universities in South Africa

Academic Library COVID-19 Subject Guides

Desperately seeking funding: library guides to student funding

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