1. Making Effective, Usable Research Guides
Joshua Welker
University of Central Missouri

2. About Me
I’ve been working at the University of Central Missouri for three years. I am in charge of the library’s IT infrastructure, ranging from computer labs to websites to proxy servers to database administration. I’ve done extensive research on web usability in the context of library websites and recently wrote a book chapter on the subject in Integrating LibGuides Into Library Websites. I learned a lot on the subject and look forward to sharing it with you! There are common mistakes in many guides that can be prevented easily but cause big problems for students.

3. Moving on...

4. “If a page does not appear relevant to the user's current goals, then the user will ruthlessly click the Back button after two to three seconds.”
Nielsen, Jakob. “Is Navigation Useful?” Nielsen Norman Group. 9 January 2000.

5. Information
Scent

6. A student’s point of view
This is notes

7. Navigation

9. "I look at that and I'm like too many tabs, it's too busy, I want no part of that."
Ouellelte, Dana. “Subject Guides in Academic Libraries: A User-Centred Study of Uses and Perceptions.” Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science 35.4 (2011).

10. Tall and Distinguished

11. Page Length

12. On home pages In 2006, before the iPhone
Only 23% of users scroll!*†
On home pages
In 2006, before the iPhone
Nielsen, Jakob and Hoa Loranger. Prioritizing Web Usability. Berkeley: New Riders, 2006.

13. Mobile users expect to do it.”
“After more than 20 years of web use, people are accustomed to scrolling.
Mobile users expect to do it.”
Levinson, Deborah and Tania Schlatter. Visual Usability. Waltham, MA: Elsevier, 2013.

14. Information
Scent

15. Headings

16. HTML Heading Hierarchy

17. Hierarchy
In Action

18. Don’t Be Bold ...or underlined ...or italic ...or colorful

19. Body Text

20. *Actual Graduate-Level Assignment

21. The Internet Never Forgets
b/ / uides.library.ucmo.edu/clf

22. Plain Text Is Happy Text
Short, plain paragraphs are easy to read. Just don’t make text walls. Use bold sparingly.
Bullet points are also easy to read.
Use HTML list bullets, not hyphens or asterisks.
No colors!

24. Layout

25. Which Direction?

26. Good Bad http://guides.library.ucmo.ed u/best-practices
u/worst-practices

27. Integrating LibGuides Into Library Websites Sittler and Dobbs, 2016

28. Questions?