SubjectsPlus presentation at the EIFL FOSS Regional Seminar in Tanzania, November 2011

1. SubjectsPlus
@ NUST Library
Helping library users to discover e-resources through subject-themed guides
eIFL FOSS Regional Seminar
Tanzania
4-5 November 2011
Amos Kujenga
Systems Analyst
NUST Library
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
akujenga@nust.ac.zw
akujenga@gmail.com

2. Outline of Presentation
• Background
• Subject Librarianship
• Guided Search tools/Research Pathfinders
• Why we chose SubjectsPlus
• Project Progress
• Expected Outcomes
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3. Project Background
• NUST Library has been involved in eIFL-FOSS
activities since 2007
• Decided to pilot SubjectsPlus in response to a
Call for Participation by eIFL-FOSS in 2010
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4. Project Justification
• Subscription to electronic resources
• Low usage levels despite efforts to promote
awareness
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5. Project Justification
• Findability of resources.
• Guided searching using research pathfinders is
one solution to this problem.
• Research pathfinder software helps ease the
job of the Twenty-First Century Subject
Librarian.
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6. Subject Librarians
• library staff members
• primary contact persons between the library and
the faculties and/or academic departments.
• sometimes referred to as Subject
Specialists, Library Liaison Officers, or Faculty
Librarians.
• expected to understand the information needs
and scholarly communication patterns of assigned
disciplines.
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7. Subject Librarians
• At NUST Library this role is played by Assistant
Librarians
• One assigned for each of the faculties:
– Applied Sciences
– Built Environment
– Commerce
– Communication & Information Science
– Industrial Technology
– Medicine
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8. Subject Librarians’ Roles
• Collection development and organisation
• Provision of subject-specific reference and
information services
• Information Literacy Skills training
• Provision of subject-oriented library
instruction
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9. Subject Librarians’ Roles
• Their role in the selection of electronic
resources is not just important for ‘paid-for’
resources (Pinfield, 2001).
• Increasingly, Subject Librarians are required to
identify free web resources which may be of
interest to users.
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10. Subject Librarians
• Due to generally low Information Literacy
Skills (ILS) levels, many users find the array of
resources available on the Internet to be
confusing and daunting.
• Subject Librarians are well placed to locate
and evaluate quality resources.
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11. Software Options
Option For more Information... Type
LibData http://libdata.sourceforge.net/ O
LibGuides http://www.springshare.com/libguides/ C
Library a la carte http://alacarte.library.oregonstate.edu/ O
Library Course Builder http://sourceforge.net/projects/libcb/ O
MyLibrary http://mylibrary.library.nd.edu/ O
ResearchGuide http://researchguide.sourceforge.net/ O
SubjectsPlus http://www.subjectsplus.com/ O
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12. What is SubjectsPlus?
In summary, SubjectsPlus is an Open Source set
of tools aimed at enhancing a library website. It
provides facilities to dynamically manage a
library’s subject, course, and topic guides.
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13. SubjectsPlus Features
• Open Source
• Includes:
– Subject or Course Guides
– A-Z List of Databases
– Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Suggestion Box (called Talkback)
– Staff List
• Database-driven (uses XAMP)
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14. Why did we choose SubjectsPlus?
• Easy to use
• Easy to install and configure
– Good for low-technical support
environments
– Resources permitting, NUST Library intends
to train personnel from peer institutions
• Platform independent
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15. Why did we choose SubjectsPlus?
• Subject Librarians can be given access to easily
create and update Subject Guides
– Empowers the Knowledge Workers, giving
them full control of the site contents
– Shared resources need only be defined
once
• Includes Web 2.0 features
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16. SubjectsPlus Support
• Growing user community
– Active, Google Groups-based mailing list
• Documentation in Wiki
• Video Tutorials
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17. Project Progress
• Training workshops were conducted for
Library staff
• SubjectsPlus installed on (Fedora) Linux server
& customised
• Assistant Librarians are responsible for
developing and maintaining guides for their
respective Faculties.
• Purchase of laptops to support initiative
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18. Project Progress
• Building of Subject Guides is in progress. Will
proceed to Course and Topic Guides.
• Currently the focus is to make subscribed
electronic resources more visible to Library
Users.
• Guides are ordered by department and are
accessible online via
http://library.nust.ac.zw/sp/subjects with links
from the Library’s website.
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23. Guide Contents Examples

24. Guide Contents Examples

25. Guide Contents Examples

26. Guide Contents Examples

27. Guide Contents Examples

28. Expected Outputs
• Increased usage of subscribed electronic
resources
• Increased interaction of Subject Librarians
with users
• Improved feedback mechanism
• Improved focus on user needs
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29. Expected Outputs
• Improved student performance
• More focused or streamlined ILS training
programmes
• Improved efficiency in updating of library
website
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30. Thank You
Amos Kujenga
Systems Analyst
NUST Library
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
akujenga@nust.ac.zw
akujenga@gmail.com
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31. Bibliography
Agyen-Gyasi, K. (2008) 'The Need for Subject Librarians in Ghanaian Academic
Libraries', Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, vol. 9, no. 3, Winter.
Feldmann, L. (2006) 'Subject Librarians in the Changing Academic Library', Electronic
Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, vol. 7, no. 3, Winter.
Hahn, K. (2009) 'Introduction: Positioning Liaison Librarians for the 21st Century',
Research Library Issues: A Bimonthly Report from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, vol. 265, August,
pp. 1-2.
Love, J. (2002) 'The Enhanced and Changing Role of the Specialist Librarian: Survey of
Education Librarians', The Reference Librarian, vol. 78, pp. 149-165.
Pinfield, S. (2001) 'The changing role of subject librarians in academic libraries',
Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, vol. 33, no. 1, March, pp. 32-
38.
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