Subject Guide Assessment Results

Much work has been done on subject and general guides since 1996 when the Guides Group was formed. Standardized procedures have been put into place for the creation and maintenance of guides. Spurred by the Middle States Accreditation process, where the assessment of student learning has been gaining attention and momentum, the Guides Group decided that the next step was to put an assessment mechanism into place onto guides. The Guides Group wanted to understand how these guides are being used in an effort to improve their quality and effectiveness.

Several tools were utilized in order to assess subject guides usage. The first study was a questionnaire inserted into all subject guides in order to see how the guides were being accessed and used by library patrons. The second study was a questionnaire for library staff about their employment of subject guides. The third assessment tool was a compilation of usage statistics for each subject guide. These tools were implemented during the Spring 2006 semester. If you are a guide author and would like additional information about the usage of your particular guide, contact Ashley Rogers (arogers3@umd.edu).

Survey questions asked and possible answers:

• What is your current status?
• Undergraduate, Graduate/PhD, Faculty, Other
• How did you find this research guide?
• Library Homepage, Course Related Webpage, Search Engine, Other
• Did you find this guide useful?
• Very Useful, Somewhat Useful, A Little Useful, Not Useful
• Comments

Executive Summary

• Users outside the university took the survey more than members of the university.



• Within the university, graduate students used the guides the most, undergraduates used guides slightly less, and faculty used the guides the least.



• Most users found the guides through a search engine and the library's website.



• Overall, the users found the guides very useful.



• As education level increased, the level of satisfaction with the guides increased.



• Faculty and graduates found the guides primarily through search engines, while undergraduates' highest access point was through the library's website.



• International Statistics, Scientific Journals, and the Maryland Annotated Code were the most frequently surveyed guides.



• Judging from the comments, users are unsure of the purpose of the guides.

• Public service staff members are using guides most often.



• There is a variety of how often the guides are being used.



• 100% of those that took the survey used the guides for reference purposes. Close to half respondents used the guides for personal and instructional purposes.



• Almost all respondents found them helpful.



• The most common reason for using the guides is the lack of knowledge about a subject.



• The most frequently used guides were government guides.



• Many comments targeted outdated guides as a problem.

• Guides need to be updated more frequently.



• A last revised date should be included in guides so users are aware of their currency.



• For guides to be used, they need to be visible to users.



• Users should be informed about the purpose of guides.