Presentation at SSHELCO 2020. Alessia Zanin-Yost, Cassandra Frank, Cynthia Harrison, Rocco Cremonese. Bailey Library, SRU

1. “Give Me The Blue Pen”
Advancing Research Guides Design Through
Verbal And Visual Communication
Alessia Zanin-Yost, Health Sciences Librarian
Cassandra Frank, English, History, Philosophy, & ROTC Librarian
Cynthia Harrison, Interdisciplinary Studies Librarian
Rocco Cremonese, Business Librarian
SSHELCO Annual Conference
April 2020

2. BACKGROUND
ROCCO CREMONESE

3. LIBGUIDES AT SRU: A BRIEF HISTORY
 Resources by Subject Guides on ancient SharePoint site converted
to LibGuides v1 – Spring 2014
 LibGuides v1 Guides Converted to LibGuides v2 – Summer 2015
 Ease of Updating Improvements
 Navigational Improvements
 Minor Upgrades and Guide Additions – Fall 2015 – Fall 2019
 Further navigational improvements, general guides

6. ONE PROBLEM: STUDENT FEEDBACK
 LibGuides v1 was a conversion from an existing site: little to no
student feedback gathered
 LibGuides v1 to v2 incorporated student worker feedback and
library faculty feedback
 Focus Groups conducted in 2019 were online feedback-oriented
but not LibGuide specific – this appetizer made us hungry for more
data
 With the ability to gather more feedback due to additional faculty
roles (User Experience Librarian, Instruction Librarian), the time was
ripe to seek student feedback

7. REASONS TO CHANGE
 New Perspectives
 Three new librarians from different environments joined the Library Faculty
and had experience using LibGuides
 Time Passing
 Last significant system-wide revision of SRU’s LibGuides was 5 years ago
 Former personnel felt much more comfortable modifying the system – new
personnel had fresh ideas

8. REASONS TO CHANGE – CONTINUED
 Desire to gather student feedback
 SRU students had been polled, but never focus-grouped or otherwise
consulted about how to make LibGuides better
 Desire to improve readability and ADA Compliance
 Internal requests about the font size and color scheme had been made for
years
 Revelations about the level of connectivity – or lack thereof – LibGuides had
with ADA compliant content creation

10. METHODOLOGY
ALESSIA ZANIN-YOST

11. THINK ALOUD PROTOCOL (TAP)
 Developed by Lewis and Rieman (1994)
 Used in product design testing to gather data
 Visual and verbal communication are used at the same time to capture
the cognitive process of doing something
Lewis, C., & Rieman, J. (1994). Task-Centered user interface design. U of Colorado.

12. TAP PROTOCOL
What labels or features do you find confusing?
How much content do you think should be included in each page?
How much content do you think should be included in each box?
Do the tabs on the top make sense to you?
What don’t you like about the guide?
What do you like about the guide?
Do you think the guide should include more multimedia on “how to”? Which ones: videos, Power Point,
PDFs?
Do you have anything else you would like to tell me about this guide?

13. TAP
•Marking
•Red – Unnecessary
•Blue – Necessary
•Yellow – Confusing
•Participants received gift certificates to
the coffee shop in the library

14. SAMPLE
 Convenience
 Sample (n= 11), female = 5 , male
= 6
Majors
Business
Early Childhood Ed
Engineering
Public Health
Psychology
Mathematics
Chemistry
History/Philosophy
Recreational
therapy
Information systems
systems
Public Relations

15. THEMATIC ANALYSIS
AND FINDINGS
CYNTHIA HARRISON

16. THEMATIC ANALYSIS
 Thematic analysis
 Noted changes from TAP
and from recordings
 Grouped all information
for each page using post-
its
 Tabulated information
 Reviewed template based
upon student comments
and reached consensus
on revisions

17. FINDINGS: ALL PAGES
Change
 Too much text → Use bullets and/or one sentence
 Better tab names → i.e. , rename Articles tab as
Databases
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Group like resources together
Keep
 Content Description → Do not just do a list of resources
with links
Eliminate
 Unneeded or redundant descriptions
Add
 Course List with link out to individual course pages, if
associated with subject, rather than tab
 Create specific Citation Style tab

18. FINDINGS: SPECIFIC PAGE – HOME
Change
 Too much text → Use bullets and/or one sentence
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Citation box → Move from front page, put in tab
 Course list → Move to front page
Keep
 Quick Links Box on home page (though needs to be
shorter)
 Picture / Librarian Info / Ask A Librarian
Eliminate
 Unneeded descriptions (i.e. , description in APA box)
 Welcome box → Just start with the content

19. FINDINGS: SPECIFIC PAGE –
LIBRARY TIPS
Change
 Too much text → Use bullets and/or one
sentence
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Library Tips tab → Keep tab in the same
guide, instead of linking out
Eliminate
 Unneeded descriptions

20. FINDINGS: SPECIFIC PAGE
– ARTICLES
Change
 Too much text → Use bullets and/or one
sentence
 Better tab names → i.e., rename Articles
tab as Databases
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Need a “how to” section on the
Databases tab
 Differentiate between Databases and
Web Resources
Keep
 Links to University-provided databases
Eliminate
 Unneeded descriptions

21. FINDINGS: SPECIFIC PAGE – WEB RESOURCES
Change
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Need content description instead of a
list/link only
 Differentiate between Professional
Associations and Web Resources

22. FINDINGS: SPECIFIC PAGE –
CITATION STYLE
Change
 Too much text → Use bullets and/or one sentence
 Need larger fonts/better contrast
 Citation box → Move from front page, put in tab
 Use subject-specific Citation Style
 Revise existing Citation Style guides
Eliminate
 Unneeded descriptions

23. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY &
NEXT STEPS
CASSIE FRANK

24. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY
 Presented revised template at department meeting
 Explained rationale behind decisions
 Noted what people liked and did not like

25. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY

26. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY

27. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY

28. PRESENTATION TO LIBRARY FACULTY

29. FACULTY FEEDBACK
Positive Feedback
 Liked the shortened database descriptions
 As long as the main description stays the
same on our database page
 Liked the new layout and color scheme
 Liked the move towards consistency
 Like the new banner
 Would like it to link to Library website
instead of University website
Constructive Feedback
 Found the “Using this Guide” box to be
redundant
 Concerned about empty space on page if
they did not have things to fill it
 Concerned about how much new material
they would need to generate
 Want flexibility for formatting differences
based on subject-area needs

30. NEXT STEPS
 Spring 2020
 Implement changes based on feedback
 Make banner go to Library website
 Decide what to do about the Using this
Guide box
 Present to library faculty again
 Create tutorials for helping library faculty
implement changes
 Summer 2020
 All library faculty will transition to the
new template
 Fall 2020
 Begin usage as normal
 Any new guides will follow the template

31. ANY QUESTIONS?
Please contact Alessia Zanin-Yost at alessia.zanin-yost@sru.edu for
any questions regarding this project, and we will get back to you.

32. THANK YOU!
Alessia Zanin-Yost
alessia.zanin-yost@sru.edu
Cassie Frank
cassandra.frank@sru.edu
Cynthia Harrison
cynthia.harrison@sru.edu
Rocco Cremonese
rocco.cremonese@sru.edu