But that’s what Google is for most of them – that’s where they start their research. Most won’t have access to our databases once they graduate, but if we can expose those gems to our users through subject guides, instruction, etc., when they are students, perhaps they’ll think “library” or “librarian” when they do real-life, post-graduating research. Perhaps they’ll come back to us…or to our counterparts at their local public library.

And I second the motion about learning from guides – they are really helpful, especially for those areas that aren’t one’s strengths.

I also can’t reach every student. I want students to think critically about information, but I’d rather they get the resources they need, when they need them (especially if they need them at 2am, when I definitely not available!).

I also use subject guides all the time myself, when I’m at the reference desk or looking into an area where I lack expertise. The business subject guide, for example, has saved me from having to refer students to our over-tapped business librarian.

Also, given the increasing interdisciplinarity of the academe, subject guides can be a very helpful tool for faculty who know one area very well but area looking outside of their home discipline.

The bigger question seems to be about the role of librarians. Are we gatekeepers? I like to think of us as making information easier to access, and subject guides can do that very well.

Finally, on a more basic note, I like how some people are using subject guides as instructional tools. Here’s a great example of a librarian teaching Zotero through a LibGuide: http://research.library.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=24410&sid=175894

Marc, you’re right that it’s the giving/teaching issue I’ve been wrestling with. And Candace, you also hit on one of my concerns — that students may not even use the guides. Thanks (to everyone) for sharing so many great suggestions about ways to create/use both subject and course guides.

And Brett and Andromeda, thanks for offering the student perspective. I’m old enough that I *didn’t* use subject guides when I was in college (and they would have been paper handouts if I had).

The way I’ve been trying to handle it in my subject guides is to to split the pages in half. The top half explains an information finding method; the bottom half gives a sampling but not exhaustive list of some resources that I found using the above method. The implication is, ok now you do it. Here’s an example of what I’m trying to do:
URL: http://libguides.tcnj.edu/lit499

As far as giving them ‘real world’ experience- remember that in the real world, they won’t have 200+ databases to choose from. For the great majority of students, they will only use databases while in school. I think it’s essential we figure out a way to ‘guide’ our users to our resources. We use LibGuides very successfully for course-integrated instruction, but I’m still not content with how to design a subject guide that meets students’ needs and experiences.

You can see them on them (under Course Support) on http://www.lib.umn.edu/

I think the instructional possibilities of these pages tips them toward “guide” and away from “crutch”. For example, I have used our campus’s class capture software (Camtasia Relay) to record an in-class instruction session and then embedded it in the course guide. I also often include search strategy examples, and other tips to use the resources that I link to on these guides.

It will be interesting to see how this system is used.

(Note, by this logic, that I would expect research guides to become less common in higher-level courses, where it is, in fact, time for students to know something about the intellectual geography of their fields.)

My one concern about subject guides is that I’m not sure that users always choose the correct guide for what they need. Maybe there is something in how I have described my particular guides that’s confusing. For example, I created a guide on locating peer reviewed journals and received a negative comment on how the guide was worthless because it didn’t teach him/her anything about doing research. Well, it wasn’t supposed to and we (colleagues & I) think it’s pretty clear about what it’s purpose is. :-\ We have other guides that describe the research process that could probably help this person; unfortunately, this person submitted the comment anonymously so I can’t follow up. I’m chalking it up to someone who was obviously frustrated with something–hopefully he or she stopped in or called to clear up the confusion.