Jason Puckett

Modern Pathfinders

My book Modern Pathfinders: Creating Better Research Guides (2015, ACRL Publications) is available from Amazon.com and the ALA Store.

Whether you call them research guides, subject guides or pathfinders, web-based guides are a great way to create customized support tools for a specific audience: a class, a group, or anyone engaging in research. Studies show that library guides are often difficult, confusing, or overwhelming, causing users to give up and just fall back on search engines such as Google. How can librarians create more effective, less confusing, and simply better research guides?

In Modern Pathfinders: Creating Better Research Guides, author Jason Puckett takes proven ideas from instructional design and user experience web design and combines them into easy-to-understand principles for making your research guides better teaching tools. It doesn't matter what software your library uses; the advice and techniques in this book will help you create guides that are easier for your users to understand and more effective to use.

"A perfect choice for beginners, as well as for libraries wanting to reshape their current offerings. Providing guidance from creation to assessment, this work belongs in any forward-thinking institution." -- Library Journal

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Aaron Dobbs

Introduction

About This Book
What Is Instructional Theory?
Searching the LIS Literature
A Note about LibGuides
My Background
Notes
References

Chapter 1: Research Guides and Instructional Theory

What Is a Research Guide?
What Are Research Guides For?
Terminology Used in This Book
Common Problems in Creating Research Guides
How Can Guides Teach?
Notes
References

Chapter 2: Learning Objectives in Research Guides

What Is a Learning Objective?
Defining Your Learning Objectives

The Stem
The Action Verb
The Outcome

“Chunking”
Putting Objectives to Work in Your Research Guides
Building a Guide Structure from Your Objectives
Notes
References

Chapter 3: Learning Styles

Introduction
What Are Learning Styles?
Learning Styles: Three Models

Perceptual Preference Modality
Kolb Experiential Learning Model
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Applying Learning Style Theory to Library Research Guides
Examples: Using Learning Styles in Research Guides

Visual
Interactive/Kinesthetic/Tactile
Auditory
Sequential

Drawbacks and Practical Concerns
Summing Up: Some Simple Best Practices
Notes
References

Chapter 4: Designing and Writing for Better Usability

Introduction
User Experience

What Is UX?
UX and Online Instruction

Visual Design for Nondesigners

Using Images
Focal Points
Unintentional Focal Points

Simplicity and Clarity
Consistency of Design
How Users Read on the Web

The F Shape
Above the Fold

Writing for the Web

Making Clear and Useful Links
Annotating Links
What to Cut?

Example
Summing Up: Some Simple Best Practices
Notes
References

Chapter 5: Assessment

What Are You Assessing?
Using Rubrics and Analyzing Guide Content

How to Use Rubrics
Assessment Example: Rubric

User Surveys

How to Use Surveys
Assessment Examples: Surveys

Web Analytics

What Analytics Assessment Can Tell You
Assessment Examples: Analytics

Conclusion
Notes
References

Chapter 6: Planning, Coordinating, and Administrating Guides

Introduction
Goals

Tying Guide Goals to Instruction Program Goals
Sample Instruction Goals with Research Guide Components

The Research Guide Coordinator

Control: How Much Is Too Much?
Guide Coordinator Case Study

Maintenance and Administrative Tasks

Regular and Periodic Maintenance
Accounts and Ownership
Collecting and Reporting Data
Upgrading and Overhauling

Training
Extending Your Reach

Classroom Instruction
Make Guides Findable
Faculty Outreach
Social Media
Library Website
Your Mileage May Vary

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Establishing Best Practices
Notes
References