Content area
Full text
Introduction
Subject guides are like snowflakes. At first glance, they are very much alike, but each one is as unique as its subject matter and creator. Subject guides must accommodate the research requirements of any subject and the priorities of any librarian subject specialist, a task that seems, at times, like herding yaks with a sling shot. Librarians at the University of Nevada, Reno value both customization and control over the guides they build as well as the contribution of a common template to ease of use.
This paper is about making subject guides flexible yet consistent, current, easy to maintain, accessible, and fast-loading. It is not about whether subject guides are still worth producing. They will continue to lead users to the good stuff until the good stuff is free. Meanwhile, expensive indexes and journals remain unfamiliar compared to widely-used search engines. And they are difficult to use, compared to almost anything else, particularly Google and Google Scholar.
Unfamiliarity with resources and searching techniques can make subject guides intimidating for novice researchers. For this reason, some traffic is deliberately siphoned away from our subject guides by links to EBSCO's general indexes, Academic Search Premier and Masterfile, on the web page that lists all of the subject guides. Finding "a few good articles" should not require beginning researchers to make tough or unnecessary decisions about selecting databases, and success with these user-friendly databases builds confidence as well as basic research skills.
Subject guides are usually the focal point in library instruction classes offered by UNR library subject specialists. Students who have attended library instruction tend to use subject guides more frequently, according to a case study conducted at San Jose State University ([11] Staley, 2007). Reference librarians often use them when working with individual researchers at the reference desk, although everyone is acutely aware that most users are reaching them remotely as self-help resources.
The subject guides (www.library.unr.edu/subjects/) and other helpful research tools, such as electronic journal lists, course-specific help, style guides, and the Library's "Ask Us!" service are prominently featured on the UNR Libraries home page (www.library.unr.edu/). While thoughtfully consolidated "help" resources lead to increased usage and awareness ([1] Arnold et al. , 2004), it is certain that we could do a better...