What is a LibGuide?: What is a LibGuide?

USD University Libraries uses LibGuides to organize and showcase library resources and services available to USD faculty and students for research and study.

LibGuides are a content management and information sharing system designed specifically for libraries. The platform allows for easy navigation through and instruction on core and relevant resources in a particular subject field, class, or assignment.

Furthermore, this platform effectively invites collaboration between librarians and instructors to meet the research needs of a particular department, class, or assignment.

The LibGuide platform allows us to:

• Organize core and relevant resources in your field into one 24 hour accessible webpage, simply give your students the url.
• Combine features of social networks, wikis, and blogs on a particular subject
• Make RSS and podcast feeds, social bookmarking, and user comment technologies easy to use.
• Anything we create is printable, so it can easily be used as handouts.
• We can update the information on the page BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER you teach a research or library-related lecture, so students can have access to updated material.
• We can integrate chat technology into a guide for easy communication with librarians and your students.

• Teaches at the point-of-need to your students.
• Information is chunked and resources presented in a linear, intuitive fashion.
• Meets the needs of students with diverse learning styles.
• Convenient for students who can't (or won't) come to the library.
• Students can access from dorms, from home, and from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Beneficial for distance learners who don't need to learn the whole library.
• Great resource for study abroad courses and domestic study tours. Students can start their preliminary research from the LibGuide on campus and continue to access the same resources while traveling.
• Allows students to focus on the relevant and sift out the less relevant.
• Visually demonstrates that there are great resources, in multiple formats, on even the most difficult topic. That reassurance builds the confidence of students who need to get started on their research.