Research Guide Technologies

Research guides (also known as subject guides, course guides, or pathfinders) provide targeted information on a particular topic to support student or faculty research in that area. Similar instructional tools have been around since before the birth of the web, but are now almost exclusively provided by libraries online as part of the library’s web presence. Research guide software enables librarians without web design skills to quickly and easily create and update web content. The technologies for creating research guides run the gamut from proprietary and open source software specifically designed for creating guides to open source and third-party-hosted applications that can be repurposed to create guides. Tips and Trends, written by Instructional Technologies Committee members, introduces and discusses new, emerging, or even familiar technology which can be applied in the library instruction setting