Intro: LibGuides

Research guides are a familiar tool in the law librarian’s arsenal, both as a creator and consumer of content. Originally just a paper document, the advent of the internet prompted a revolution in research guides. Not only could these new online research guides be easily shared and distributed, but they could link users directly to internet databases and other materials. However, a common challenge with online guides is that creator usually needs to be comfortable using the tools for creating web pages (e.g., HTML, CSS). In some libraries, there may only be a few individuals proficient, or have the necessary permissions from IT, to create and edit web content. This often creates an extra burden on those individuals and/or a bottleneck in the creation and updating of online research guides. The LibGuides platform aims to change that paradigm, allowing librarians without the requisite technological know-how to create quality, user-friendly research guides.

LibGuides is a commercial product from Springshare, marketed to every type of library, including law libraries. The company advertises that 750+ libraries currently subscribe to the service, which includes at least 20 academic law libraries. It is a hosted product, meaning that all the software and storage resides on Springshare’s servers; it also means that the product requires no IT support from your library, everything is done through your internet browser. LibGuides has an annual license fee of $899-$2999, based on FTE, and they say most libraries fall at the lower end of that fee range.

The typical LibGuide-based research guide is created from on multiple “content boxes”. A content box can be paragraphs of text, a list of links, an embedded YouTube video, a RSS feed, a catalog search box, or a number of other options. Some of these boxes use a simple WYSIWYG editor where you can type and edit text just as you would in a word processor, others may have a form to input information that will then display on the page. One of the great features of this system is the ability to link or copy content boxes created by others in your library. “Linking” a box allows you to copy an existing box into a new research guide, and if the original is changed, those changes will updated into all the linked boxes. “Copying” a box is similar, but allows you to edit the content for the box in your new guide and changes to the original are not cascaded to your copied box.

Law libraries are already using LibGuides in a variety of ways: guides on a specific subject or jurisdiction, collection and database guides, course-specific guides, library information and policy guides, finding a paper topic guides, and 1L orientation guides. Be sure to browse the “Links & Examples” page to see how other libraries are using LibGuides.

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of this unit, participants will be able to:
• Identify and develop appropriate content for a research guide on the LibGuides platform.
• Organize and format content on a LibGuide in a user-friendly manner.
• Be aware of basic administrative features and formatting capabilities available in LibGuides.