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Some research exists about how to integrate LibGuides effectively into LMSs and how to assess the value of automatically including them into course pages. A few small-scale studies explored uses of manual linking to LibGuides.12 In 2012, Duke University began manually linking relevant guides, but librarians found this unsustainable and worked with a library programmer and a Blackboard support team to automate the integration.13 Similarly, USU librarians have manually linked to LibGuides within Canvas and course syllabi for some time but not in any structured or automated way. The transition to version 2, combined with our connections with CIDI and their programmers, provided an opportune time to develop better-designed, more unified subject and course LibGuides, while simultaneously building an automated integration within Canvas.
The LTI tool looks at the Canvas data about that course and retrieves the subject or course guide that appears to be most relevant. For Canvas to identify which guide to pull in for each course, librarians coded each published LibGuide related to instruction using the description field. Within this field we provided information on the department, course prefix, and instructor name if applicable. We used the computer keyboard pipe key (a vertical bar) to separate elements and placed the complete syntax within square brackets. Because we had many different instructors teaching first- and second-year English composition courses, it was necessary to add a first and last name component to differentiate guides for particular sections and instructors. Most course LibGuides only required coding at the course prefix and course number level. All subject guides are coded with the most relevant academic department. We are also able to apply multiple subject codes for guides that apply to several departments:
The same librarian moderated each hour-long session, and an additional team member observed the session, took notes, and recorded the discussion on a handheld recorder. Participants were given consent forms and nametags, and the moderator reviewed the purpose of the discussion and emphasized that there were no wrong answers. We asked each group of students the same questions, except for a few prompts requesting further detail or explanation of an answer. All interview participants were asked to evaluate specific aspects of a revised subject guide as well as the guide as a whole. Using a sociology subject guide, the moderator asked a series of questions relating to the automation and design of the guide (see appendix).
Students noted that similar types of information were not consistently placed on every single tab or page. They suggested librarians create guides that had more conformity across each page of the guide in terms of content location. They also asked for more guide personalization, focusing on two major aspects. First, the students argued they needed an incentive to explore and use the guide for a class. Second, they commented that the language used should be less scholarly, and include more second person pronouns and witty language. Finally, students wanted a more visually creative layout that included non-academic style graphics.
In addition to re-designing the subject guides, the other major aspect of the integration involved developing mechanisms to gather ongoing metrics on usage of the guides. We anticipated being able to gather statistics from a range of electronic sources to address some of our major research questions. The specific questions we wanted to address with the quantitative data, developed from our research questions, were the following:
To gather LibGuide data from within Canvas that addressed our research questions, we ultimately needed custom programming. CIDI initially was able to provide a very high-level overview through Canvalytics, a statistics system we accessed within our password-protected Canvas site. These data included the number of times a guide was used within a particular course and the number of unique users for an individual course or subject guide (see figure 4).
Fortunately, a programmer in CIDI developed a tool to record and track the information we needed. The web-based interface enabled us to filter by a range of criteria and export the data to Excel. We could filter by the following:
Our main audience for the data was the many subject librarians who develop course and subject guides and teach library instruction classes in the disciplines. We decided what data would be useful for subject librarians and then commissioned an undergraduate student library employee to help organize the data for each academic department. We then provided a spreadsheet to subject librarians for each of their subject areas.
This page of the spreadsheet also indicated the delivery method of the course. With the rapid evolution and expansion of online and broadcast courses that Utah State University offers, we are still developing methods and practices to become integrated into online and interactive broadcast courses, in particular the courses originating at regional campuses and centers across the state of Utah. We were therefore interested in usage and trends for the online and broadcast classes, hoping to pinpoint which classes might include research projects, identify instructors to collaborate with, rank the guides we might want to focus on by usage, and look for trends particular to the regional campuses and centers.
The second page of the spreadsheet provided to subject librarians showed how many times each guide had been used for a class for those guides that had at least one use (see figure 7). We sorted the spreadsheet by highest use and asked librarians to note which classes had the greatest number of views. Subject librarians could then gauge which course guides were heavily used, including perhaps after a class session, and which subject guides were frequently used, which could indicate an opportunity for integrating with a class.
The qualitative data we gathered from the subject guide usability studies highlighted problems students encountered with research projects in general as well as suggestions for improving the proposed subject guide layout. Students noted issues similar to those raised in studies conducted by librarians at other institutions, with their comments focusing on topic exploration, searching, time, and citations. Students noted a lack of consistency in the placement of information within each page, expressed a desire for more ties between the guide and their course research, more informal, inviting language, and an increased graphical presence.
Subject librarian feedback was essential throughout the design and revision process. After initial design changes and the creation of the subject guide, subject librarians requested similar changes be made for course guides based on the focus group feedback from students. The result was a new style guide template for course guides in addition to the subject guides template, which subject librarians could easily adapt. While these findings and discussions did lead to a new template with suggestions for design and best practice, we avoided requiring all course guides be moved to the new designs. The template does not meet all needs and librarians are encouraged to consider the goals of the guide as it relates to the assignment and course to determine whether it fits best within the new template. Even if they opt out of using the template, they are still encouraged to follow the suggested guidelines regarding placing most important boxes at the top left and center, limiting the number of databases listed to the three or four most important, and inclusion of graphics instead of large amounts of text.
The early quantitative data on LibGuide usage within Canvas will illuminate our research questions over the long term as we gather data over multiple semesters. Preliminary data show the heaviest uses of research guides overall corresponds to the colleges with the greatest library instruction activity, including the College of Education and Human Services and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The College of Education and Human Services constitutes almost half of all online usage of research guides, which corresponds to the high number of online courses in the College. As an increasing number of colleges offer more online education, we will track LibGuide use within courses taught using less-traditional delivery methods.
Lacking comprehensive subject LibGuide coverage for all academic departments before the guide design revisions, we do not have a baseline for comparison with current subject guide usage. We will, however, continue to track the usage within academic departments to identify courses with particular research needs and target courses that could potentially benefit from more specific information literacy instruction.
We will continue to collect and analyze the usage data for the guides in Canvas, in particular analyzing usage trends within academic departments, course versus subject guides, and usage by delivery method (face-to-face class, online, or interactive broadcast). We also plan to identify the classes where the Research Help link is hidden and determine whether the classes have a research component. We will also work with subject librarians to interpret and use all this data to improve their ability to reach students and identify unmediated classes that might benefit from closer collaboration.
This study contributes important considerations and ideas for improving the way librarians use and think about LibGuides or other research guides, including expanding their overall reach, creating effective workflows, improving design, and collecting and using assessment data.
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