Georgina Hardy Information Specialist Aston University LibGuides and EDS Georgina Hardy Information Specialist Aston University

Aston University Four Schools of study: Founded in 1895 University since 1966 Central Birmingham campus 9500 students Undergraduate, Postgraduate & Foundation Degrees High graduate employability Four Schools of study: Life & Health Sciences Engineering & Applied Sciences Aston Business School Languages & Social Sciences Graduate employability: Top 10 UK university (HESA and Sunday Times University Guide); Highest percentage of students taking a placement year or year abroad (HESA)

EDS & LibGuides implementation September 2012 Custom widgets SmartSearch and LibGuides were felt to complement each other and students would need to work with both to have full access to the range of resources available for their subject area.

This is the current incarnation of our EDS homepage – the EDS search box is at the top, and underneath we have the subject-specific information. Note the alternative link to the LibGuides homepage in the grey banner at the top.

Access routes EDS home page LibGuides Library & Information services home page MAP (My Aston Portal) Blackboard – individual modules old Library Catalogue http://www.aston.ac.uk/library/smartsearch/ EDS home page Blackboard – individual modules (direct to subject-relevant guide) Library & Information services home page There are three main ways that we set up for students to access the Library SmartSearch home page – via the Library homepage, via MAP (which is a portal that students log into to access personal details, timetables, etc), and via their individual modules in the VLE. We also set up a link from the old Library Catalogue, for those using old bookmarks, and this is (still!) the top Google result for “Aston Library”. We added the additional webpage later, to try to make the SmartSearch appear in Google results – this page is otherwise hidden. Note – the Blackboard links are under a menu item called “Readings 2013-14”. This contains a link to their Reading List on the old catalogue, any digitised chapters or journal article links, as well as the link to the Library SmartSearch and their LibGuide.

Focus groups 2014 If I can [find journals and books in the Library SmartSearch] then why do I need to use LibGuides? Whatever I type in to Library SmartSearch I seem to find what I want. I am not sure there is a need for LibGuides. We held some Focus Groups in February/March 2014, mainly to get some student feedback on the design and content of the LibGuides. We invited students to apply to attend, with the offer of a £25 Amazon voucher for attendees. From those who put themselves forward, we tried to select a range of students in different Schools and years of study, and with different levels of experience of LibGuides. We held two Focus Groups with around 10 students in each one. We received some very positive responses about the content in LibGuides, and some of those students who hadn’t seen them before left the focus groups saying they would definitely use them in future. The students also highlighted a number of areas for improvement in the way the content was presented, and that’s something we are continuing to work on. ** However, alongside the LibGuides discussion, we also asked students about the relationship between the Library SmartSearch and the LibGuides, and whether they were clear on the difference between them and when they might find the different services useful. Unfortunately, there was a lack of clarity amongst the students (even the ones who used LibGuides before the focus groups) as to how the services complemented each other. …too many search tools to choose from. LibGuides and SmartSearch [are] the same thing.

Focus groups 2014 SmartSearch is the main thing. I only get to this page if I want to search. I understand why the LibGuides are there on that page, but I don’t use them. We also asked students about the EDS homepage we were so proud of, and whether this would encourage them to explore their LibGuide, particularly if they couldn’t find what they needed in Library SmartSearch. ** Unfortunately, most students suggested that they wouldn’t have used these links in the past, as they didn’t know what they were or why they would click on them. It would be better to have the search box in LibGuides rather than LibGuides built on SmartSearch. I saw the link, but I didn’t think I needed to use it.

What’s next? marketing! marketing, LibGuides version 2 Improved presentation of content Increased subject specialisation Marketing, marketing, marketing! LibGuides version 2: migration begins 21st July, go-live before Freshers’ Week From the focus groups, we got lots of good ideas for how to present the content more clearly, and we believe that version 2 will have more flexibility for that as well. In addition, the students really expected the content to be targeted at their subject, so we’ll consider using EDS skins (among other things) to provide a more focussed subject search within LibGuides. Marketing: the students came up with some useful suggestions for how we could promote LibGuides. These included short videos explaining their purpose and how they can help, and getting more lecturers on board to promote them to students. They also talked about some less useful ideas – like making it a compulsory requirement for graduation to have watched a video on LibGuides! However, the message that we were getting loud and clear from our focus groups was that we need to do more work to promote the Library SmartSearch and the LibGuides together and to differentiate them more clearly, if more students are going to use the LibGuides. We have considered changing the name of LibGuides, as the students suggested that LibGuides was a bit boring (“we don’t need a guide to the Library”), but we are reluctant to change this because the URL is libguides.aston.ac.uk and keeping the name makes it easier for students to find the LibGuides via Google (provided they know the name…).

Georgina Hardy g.c.hardy@aston.ac.uk Emma Hollinshead e.l.hollinshead@aston.ac.uk

EDS and LibGuides Aston University Library & Information Services implemented EDS (“Library SmartSearch”) and LibGuides together, in September 2012. The two services were seen as complementary, with LibGuides providing context for the Library SmartSearch and advice for students, particularly those looking for information not searched by the Library SmartSearch. Following an enhancement of the LibGuides for the 2013-14 academic year, focus groups with students were held during the Spring Term 2014 to help us understand how these two services are working together, and how we can better promote these services to their key audiences.