What Do Students Actually Want: A User-Centred Approach to Subject guides
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![What do students actually want?,[object Object], A User-centered Approach to Subject Guides,[object Object],Dana Ouellette, MA, MLIS (candidate) ,[object Object],Information Services Librarian,[object Object],Concordia University College of Alberta,[object Object],September 2, 2011,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-1-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![What the literature says,[object Object],Very little research on subject guides,[object Object],practical papers and case studies,[object Object],Guidelines for design: Readability and usability (Cox, 1996; Dahl, 2001),[object Object],Do students use subject guides? ,[object Object],53% of Duke students never have (Reeb & Gibbons, 2004),[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-2-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![What the literature says,[object Object],Only 4 user-centered studies to date (Magi, 2003; Courtious, Higgins and Kupar, 2005; Staley, 2007; Hintz et al., 2010),[object Object],All quantitative,[object Object],All notice the need for further research using qualitative methods,[object Object],Need for user centered research,[object Object],No research on user’s needs and preferences (Vileno, 2007),[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-3-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Method,[object Object],Qualitative interviews,[object Object],45-60 minutes,[object Object],Semi-structured,[object Object],Guide:,[object Object],How students normally search for information?,[object Object],How do students use subject guides?,[object Object],What they like and/or dislike?,[object Object],Limitations,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-4-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Participants,[object Object],11 participants,[object Object],9 female (82%) 2 males (18%),[object Object],5 graduate students 6 undergraduate students,[object Object],Various disciplines,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-5-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Research questions,[object Object],How do university students use subject guides?,[object Object],How do subject guides affect the information-seeking behaviours of university students?,[object Object],What elements of subject guides do students like, if any?,[object Object],What elements of subject guides do students dislike, if any?,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-6-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Findings – How do students use subject guides?,[object Object],They don’t!!!,[object Object],Don’t know subject guides exist,[object Object],Prefer Google/open web,[object Object],Do not feel they need to,[object Object],Students have their own method and stick to it. ,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-7-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![How do students use subject guides?,[object Object],Only use subject guides when stuck ,[object Object],Last resort: “maybe if it was 11 p.m. on the night before and I didn’t have anyone to ask, then this would be valuable.”,[object Object],Research in a new discipline,[object Object],Only use databases tab,[object Object],“that’s why I go to the subject guide…just to find articles” ,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-8-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![How do subject guides affect information seeking behaviour,[object Object],They don’t,[object Object],False assumption,[object Object],Students find something that works and sticks with it,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-9-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Student perceptions: Key findings,[object Object],Largest priority is clean easy to use guides (Hintz et al.),[object Object],Clutter,[object Object],Unclear/confusing language,[object Object],General look and feel of the guide,[object Object],Specificity,[object Object],Kimberley Hintz, Paula Farrar, ShirinEshghi, Barbara Sobol, Jo-Anne Naslund, Teresa Lee, Tara Stephens, and Aleha McCauley. “Letting Students Take the Lead: A User-Centered Approach to Evaluating Subject Guides,” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 5.4 (2010):39-52.,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-10-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Clutter,[object Object],Too many Tabs,[object Object],Too many links/too much text,[object Object],Student’s do not scroll,[object Object],“I wouldn’t scroll down unless I really had too” (Jack) ,[object Object],Condense ,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-11-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Unclear/Confusing language,[object Object],Databases vs. Articles vs. Journals,[object Object],Avoid jargon,[object Object],Clearly labeled tabs,[object Object],“It’s kind of like, I’m sending you out to buy groceries in Japan. You have no idea how to read Japanese labels and you kind of have an idea that they have food there and then the things that you pick… are things that you think I’d never eat this. So like. Where do you start and how do you know that says beans and not octopus eyeballs.”,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-12-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Look and feel,[object Object],Mostly MacEwan Students,[object Object],Students do not like the look of tabs,[object Object],“The tabs look outdated and I get the idea that the information is outdated… I haven’t seen tabs on websites in years, it doesn’t instill trust that this is current.” ,[object Object],Global navigation vs. local navigation (tabs),[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-13-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Specificity,[object Object],Want more specific guides,[object Object],Jessie “why don’t I just look at the list of all the databases, if I’m going to look at this. It’s got like 85 databases on it.”,[object Object],Divide guides by sub-discipline,[object Object],Course guides even better,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-14-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Final thought: One size doesn’t fit all,[object Object],“principles of searching is silly” (jesse),[object Object],“some info on search skill would be useful to people.” (Trish),[object Object],Everyone has different needs,[object Object],Each discipline is different,[object Object],Guides must be tailored to audience,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-15-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
![Thank you!!,[object Object],Dana Ouellette,[object Object],dana.ouellette@concordia.ab.ca,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/subjectguidescreencast-110907002723-phpapp02/75/what-do-students-actually-want-a-usercentred-approach-to-subject-guides-16-2048.jpg?cb=1669373679)
What Do Students Actually Want: A User-Centred Approach to Subject guides
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This paper reports on the results of a qualitative research project that investigates how students use subject guides, and what students like and dislike about subject guides. Using in-depth interviews with eleven university students it was found that students want subject guides that are clean and simple, and although students do not use subject guides often, they might if subject guides were more specifically customized to meet their needs. When designing subject guides for students, one size does not fit all, and librarians should consult with students and faculty to assess their needs and wants in order to create guides that are more useful, and more used.
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Editor's Notes
- Case studies on topics such as using LibGuides (Judd, 2007), delicious (Corrado, 2008), web2.0 tools etc…Early research looks at readability and usability of subject guidesVileno 2007 literature review of articles on subject guides from 1970 -2007, found there was not much literature on subject guides and a void in user centred studies.
- Magi (2003) found that students preferred print pathfinders over web basedcourtois, Higgens and Kupar (2005) Quantitative only one question!!! Was this guide helpful 2% response rate50% of students find subject guides helpful 40% a little helpful or not helpfulStaley, well designed how students use subject guidesMost students just use database page, majority of students find them very useful or somewhat useful
- Sandy said about subject guides, “It looks like there are a lot of good things [with these guides ], but I haven’t used them because I didn’t know they were here.” Jessie – It might be helpful if I…didn’t know where to start. A lot of this I’ve never clicked on before because I’ve never gotten really stuck… maybe if it was 11 pm on the night before and I didn’t have anyone to ask then this would be valuable
- The fact that guides exist doesn’t change the way people look for information. Students want guides that help them search the same way they always have more efficiently and then give them some guidance if they get really stuck.Trish always uses EricGina always uses citation linkingNadia always uses google or JSTOR because a friend told her about it.
- Cindy also demonstrated the risk of poorly labeled tabs when she admitted that she had never explored the other tabs because she did not know what they contained based on their label.