Subject guides/Pathfinders/Library Guides and social media

I've been doing some reading around Subject Guides/Pathfinders/Library Guides, with a focus on their use of social media tools. My specific focus is on use in small/medium academic libraries.

Readings included:

Morris, S. and Del Bosque, D. (2009). Getting More From Your Subject Guides by Going 2.0: MPLA/KLA Annual conference 2009

http://www.mpla.us/documents/handouts/2009/morris.pdf
Yang, S. (2009).  Subject Guide 2.0: A Dream or Reality? Journal of Library and Information Science 35,1:90 – 98 April, 2009 http://jlis.glis.ntnu.edu.tw/ojs/index.php/jlis/article/viewFile/528/522 accessed 10 September 2011

Farkas, M. (2007). The long road towards subject guide 2.0

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2007/10/24/the-long-road-towards-subject-guide-20/. accessed 10 September 2011

Hamilton, B. (2009) Integrating Social Media as Authoritative Information into Research Pathfinders     http://www.aasl.ala.org/aaslblog/?p=595  accessed 10 September 2011

Lamb, A. and Johnson, L. (2010)  Pathfinders, Subject Guides, & Thematic Resources: http://eduscapes.com/earth/informational/path1.html

Subject guides have come a long way from when I first was first involved in creating some, nearly 20 years ago. The inclusion of social media to make them a two way, interactive conversation that allows for the expertise of the users to improve the end product, seems like a great thing! However, to do it efficiently for the ‘average’ librarian requires an investment in time to learn the tools to use, and a regular updating process to keep the conversation current (although this in itself is not different - guides have always needed that investment of time to keep them valuable).

Of particular interest is the concept of getting our guides to where people are - how is that possible when we host them (hide them) on our multi-layered websites. I’m always amazed at how many students are not aware of the LibGuides that we have available - and they’re generally amazed at what useful information they’ve been missing. As Farkas states, "I think the key is to focus on being where our students are, both physically and online. If we can understand their information-seeking behavior and put ourselves in their path, right at reach, we’ll be much more likely to have an impact." (Farkas, October 2007).

However, I’m also interested in some of the kinds of information that our LibGuides don’t include - subject wiki’s/blogs, social bookmarking and online chat (presumably with the specific subject librarian). It may be that our software (LibGuides) allows staff to use these items but that our staff don’t currently feel comfortable using them, or they simply aren’t aware of the options available. And I know that we can use video and presumably podcasts. But I think we can add in twitter feeds, and I love the ideas from Hamilton’s (2009) blog about mashups using Google Maps (especially for topical subjects with changing situations).

How will you apply what you learned?

Good question.
One day when the time is right I will return triumphantly to an academic library near me! Well, hopefully Murdoch and I will increase our involvement when I have more time and they have more money. I think this part of the outreach/increasing our value to our users is very important and useful when done correctly. And hey, I find it very interesting.

I’m hoping to put together a bit of a page of links on the Murdoch Library staff blog that has some of this information, for those who aren’t aware of what is possible...

I will continue to use the existing LibGuides as I find them invaluable as a casual librarian. And I will possibly look at mentioning to individual staff some interesting material that I find that may enhance their existing guides.

Update: I have had my hours extended, and I've been able to work on a LibGuide from scratch, so revisiting some of my readings has been very helpful. However, we have also had a change to the subscription (we now have more functionality) and a change to a standardised format to assist with branding. This has been both great, and a bit limiting. 
The guides are now more find-able and there has been talk of including them in the student's Unit information this may already have been done in some cases) so that it's all more integrated.