Libguides and UX

[David Holt]

Interesting question.  My opinion is that you may have these same problems
using a CMS (such as Drupal) as you would libguides.  Both systems need a
style guide to ensure consistency and meet patron expectations.

I was very reluctant to adopt libguides in my library for the same reasons
you are listing here.  We were a late adopter.  However, after we purchased
a subscription I did see the value.  For one, the SEO on libguides is quite
high so you are going to attract traffic that you would otherwise not get.
 If your library provides public services, or you simply want to raise the
public profile of your library, then this may be valuable.

In terms of interface consistency, I think we are going to see a lot of
libraries use Libguides 2.0 (which is just now coming out) as their main
library interface.  There are a number of advantages of doing that (ease in
creating search widgets, refreshing the content on the library's landing
page, use of Bootstrap for mobile usage, ease in adding dynamic content,
etc.).

Just my $.02,

David


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 2:38 PM, Wiegand, Laura K. <Wiegandl at uncw.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I am interested in opinions on Libguides from UX, web and system
> librarians. We are a medium academic library that several years implemented
> Drupal as our CMS and created custom subject guides (
> http://library.uncw.edu/guides) that re-used data from other parts of our
> site, could be integrated with other parts of our site, that I thought were
> more usable and looked neater (as in clean) than Libguides.  Fast forward 5
> years later and we’ve hired some librarians who come from Libguide schools
> who really want them. I can’t deny that the Drupal guides need a facelift
> both on the front end, but more importantly on the editing side, and doing
> so can be bumped to the top of my to-do list because we need to migrate to
> Drupal 7 anyway.
>
>
>
> My question is, should I give in to the dominance of Libguides? My
> resistance is based on these principles:
>
>
>
> ·         Students don’t notice the tabbed navigation and subpages
>
> ·         Students find the inconsistency of libguides confusing, i.e.,
> some librarians put best bet databases in one box, some put them in a
> different place.
>
> ·         Students want efficiency, and so prefer simple (but not boring)
> layout
>
> ·         Students are pushed to yet another different looking library
> interface
>
> ·         Libguides is just another silo of data (i.e., another
> eResources A-Z, another list of librarians, not integrated with the main
> website)
>
> ·         Librarians can create new guides extremely easily, so there
> tends to be a crazy proliferation of one-off guides.
>
> ·         It’s librarians, not students, that really love libguides.
>
> ·         We would be paying for a service that we can support in house
> via a CMS
>
>
>
>
>
> I understand that Libguides are great for libraries that don’t have their
> own CMS, or strong IT support.  I also understand that there are template
> adjustments that can be made and style guides that can be written.
>
>
>
> Am I right, wrong? Are they really that awesome, or do they come with
> their own set of UX and data problems that would be better served by an
> in-house CMS?
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts, Laura
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> Laura K. Wiegand
>
> Coordinator of Discovery Services
>
> William M. Randall Library <http://library.uncw.edu/>
>
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
>
> 601 South College Road
>
> Wilmington, NC 28403-5616
>
>
>
> wiegandl at uncw.edu
>
> Phone: (910) 962-3680
>
>
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>
> 2014-05-05
>



-- 
David Holt, MLIS, JD
Electronic Services Law Librarian
Heafey Law Library
http://law.scu.edu/library
(408) 554-5195

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2014-05-05
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