let your conscience be your guide: taming online research guides at the ncsu libraries

Let your conscience be your guide:Taming online research guides at the NCSU Libraries

Lillian Rigling and Andreas OrphanidesNCSU Libraries(lsriglin / akorphan)@ncsu.edu

Who are we? Why do we care?Andreas “Dre” Orphanides, Associate Head, User Experience

Lillian Rigling, NCSU Libraries Fellow, User Experience / Copyright & Digital Scholarship Center

“Developing the NCSU Libraries' Online Teaching and Learning Presence for the Digital Age”

Learning Objects

Images by Alpha Design, Vaibhav Radhakrishnan, Meghan Hendricks, and Iconic, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license from the Noun Project

Learning Objects

Learning Objects

Learning Objects

Learning Objects

GUIDES

Images by Alpha Design, Vaibhav Radhakrishnan, Meghan Hendricks, and Iconic, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license from the Noun Project

Guides are everything.

“Guides” means nothing.

Let’s find: Used and valuable guidesCommon threads

A new way to present content that is meaningful to the user

Analysis

Inventory

InventoryDisciplinary / topical coverage (~45 guides)

from Accounting to Zoology! (ba-dum tish)

Highly varied in scope and specificity

Paradoxical (?) topical distribution

InventoryDisciplinary / topical coverage (~45 guides)

from Accounting to Zoology! (ba-dum tish)

Highly varied in scope and specificity

Paradoxical (?) topical distribution

Course-specific content (~30 guides)

InventoryDisciplinary / topical coverage (~45 guides)

from Accounting to Zoology! (ba-dum tish)

Highly varied in scope and specificity

Paradoxical (?) topical distribution

Course-specific content (~30 guides)

Other stuff (~25 guides)Format guides (e.g., patents, standards, ETDs)

Academic scaffolding (citations, lab protocols…)

Analytics

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

Confusing!Lit crit: 30,000 views

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

Confusing!Lit crit: 30,000 views (?!)

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

Confusing!Lit crit: 30,000 views (?!)

2nd most popular guide (?!?!?!)

AnalyticsVaried!

2016 range: 3 views - 504,124 views

Telling!E.g.:

Refworks: 8701 views

Zotero: 9565 views

EndNote: 1101 views

Mendeley: … 184 views ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

Confusing!Lit crit: 30,000 views (?!)

2nd most popular guide (?!?!?!)

Curses, Google!

Total viewsLo

HiTi

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on P

age

LoHi

Total viewsLo

HiTi

me

on P

age

LoHi Probably a

successful page!

Total viewsLo

HiTi

me

on P

age

LoHi Probably a

successful page!

Probably not worth the effort.

Total viewsLo

HiTi

me

on P

age

LoHi Probably a

successful page!

Probably not worth the effort.

A librarian uses this to teach from.(We hypothesize.)

Total viewsLo

HiTi

me

on P

age

LoHi Probably a

successful page!

Probably not worth the effort.

Users want this; are disappointed.An opportunity!

A librarian uses this to teach from.(We hypothesize.)

Content analysis

Content analysisGuides that "feel useful"...

Content analysisGuides that "feel useful"...

Address a concrete, realistic use case"I need to find the standard ISO-9XXX."

"I'm looking for company reports on Acme Corporation."

Content analysisGuides that "feel useful"...

Address a concrete, realistic use case"I need to find the standard ISO-9XXX."

"I'm looking for company reports on Acme Corporation."

Offer users clear, need-driven directivesTo get NCSU ETDs… Search the

RepositoryTo get ETDs from other institutions… Search ProQuest T&D

Content analysisGuides that "feel useful"...

Address a concrete, realistic use case"I need to find the standard ISO-9XXX."

"I'm looking for company reports on Acme Corporation."

Offer users clear, need-driven directivesTo get NCSU ETDs… Search the

RepositoryTo get ETDs from other institutions… Search ProQuest T&D

Get referralsBy both subject specialists and Ask Us staff

What fails at analytics and content analysis?Probably about 80% of existing guides.

Typical issues:Doesn't have a use case

or fails to meet an existing need

Written for librarian rather than user

Not maintained / updated

RedundantWith each other

With other discovery aids (e.g. catalog)

With existing non-guide content

that's better maintained

also more discoverable

Creation is always easier than curation.

Developing a solution

Key elements of a solutionSynthesizing content analysis, Google Analytics, and our understanding of users:

Useful content should have a discoverable home

Release valve for niche/custom content relevant to a small subset of users

Sustainable system of checks and balances for guide content

Consider possible future developments

Our cunning plan:

Guilt librarians into caring about the content they

create

Moving “guide” content into new places

Establish best practices for creating and maintaining customized content

Refocus on the userFiguring out a Use Case: Imagine various use cases for your content. Ask yourself:

Who are your targeted users?

What do your users need?

How do you know they have that need?

How will your content solve that need?

How will your users discover your content?

Populate with meaningful contentDive right into content

Don’t duplicate library catalog search results

Link out to other web content instead of redescribing library services

Try alternative ways of representing content (i.e. tables)

When in doubt, leave it out!

Evaluate & Maintain Regularly* Ask yourself: Is the use case still relevant as a whole?

If not, are some parts still needed? If so, delete or update irrelevant information.

Ask yourself: Is the guide used by the public?How many views does it receive in a year? Where is the traffic coming from?

Ask yourself: Is it still worth your time and effort to maintain this page?If not, maybe it is time to retire this content.

Link Check: Check that both internal and external links still work, that the target content is still relevant, and that your description of each link is still accurate.

Update: Has NCSU libraries added anything new to the website? Has the field updated or changed in some way? Are there new library services to point to?

*Regularly: one or two times per year

What's happened so far

Stakeholder CommunicationWorking with guide-creators to understand their perspective on

“guides” and ease the transition, we learned:Some people inherit guides they do not care about

Some people make custom content on a different platform

Some people use guides as a central part of their teaching

Site ChangesRemove links to “Guides & Recommendations” page from main

navigation & other parts of the websiteHas anyone noticed?

Elevated special formats guides:Patents, Standards, Tests & Measurements, Newspapers

Slow guides clean-upDelisting guides with no owner

Combining related guides

Next steps

Create new learning objects to fill gapsImproved catalog advanced search learning object

Explaining library of congress call numbers

More?

Add “learning object” content-type

Wait for database tool developments

New Global Navigation

Guides on staff pages

Questions?