LBS 708: The Changing of Tides With LibGuides

i Is for Information

If you're an 80's (and younger) or even an early 90's baby, whenever you heard the term "information" the following image would most likely have popped into your head...

Yes, librarians are typically imagined as being stern looking ladies with their hair in a bun, staring at you through glasses perched on the tip of their noses, sometimes with a finger to their lips whispering "Sshhh!" if you've been speaking too loudly. Needless to say, they were not always the most popular people, although they were extremely useful!

...Thankfully, that is mainly a thing of the past...Right?

Right!... But we still need information... So what now?

i Is also for Internet

As we've been discovering, the internet has been one of the fastest growing platforms and with the constant updates and improvements, it is not going to be going anywhere anytime soon! It has become most people's one-stop shop that caters for all of our needs at our convenience!

So what does the internet have to do with libraries, you may ask? Well, librarians, have realized that as much as they would love to hold on to tradition, change is definitely upon us, and you can either go with the flow, or die with what you know (...well, not literally of course!). So librarians have found a way to still do what they love, which is education through information... Pretty smart! Information will always be a need, and it helps to know where to find reliable sources of information that will be quickly and easily accessible. Let's face it, not very many people are able to spend an entire day at a library, sifting through numerous books and searching for information and having to check the credibility and reliability of the sources they find.. I mean, it is exhausting just to think about it!

Meeting the users where they are at...Literally!

Instead of trying to force a square into an obvious circle, librarians have opted to educate and assist in a different way. How? By using what they refer to as LibGuides or Subject Guides. What is that, you may be wondering? They are, as the name indicates- Library Guides. These cleverly creative platforms are used by librarians, both old and young, to promote library resources, such as books, journals, articles, both hard-copies and e-resources, as well as databases, latest news and trends and more, that are relevant to the subject of the guide. The aim of librarians are to integrate multimedia content and library services, by embedding audio-visual material and other academically sound information sources to give users a more holistic experience when engaging with information. Arranged by category, these guides are easy to search and navigate and you have everything you need in one place. So no need to stress about where to start and what to use!

These days everything is made so simple, you can go anywhere and get anything with the simple click of a button. Using LibGuides have become a new way of navigating the world wide web and having quicker access to sound, relevant and reliable information.