Springshare Support Blog

Last week, Mazen Khoury and Kristiana Burk presented the final session in the ‘user experience’ webinar series. Many innovative ideas were presented during these sessions, and the response from the LibGuides user community has been overwhelmingly positive. We at Springshare would like to thank Kristiana and HowStuffWorks.com for all the hard work that went into creating these sessions, and we look forward to working with them in the future!

For those of you that were unable to attend one or more of the sessions, we have made Kristiana’s slides and videos available online at the LibGuides Help site. You should also visit HowStuffWorks LibGuides, to check out the many valuable (and reusable!) resources that they have created for the LibGuides community!

LibGuides / HowStuffWorks user webinar #8 – the last of the current series – is scheduled for this Thursday at 3pm Eastern.

The Information Amusement Park: Make Learning Fun:
Discovering information doesn’t have to be boring. Learn how to incorporate different types of marketing and browsing techniques, editorial calendars, scavenger hunts, polls, and more to encourage page views and return visitors.

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Mix It Up: a Thematic Approach to Organizing Your Resources
Many information-seekers group their searches and queries in the form of topics, phrases and subject patterns. Learn how to organize your content – drawing from the educational technique of thematic units and pathfinders – in a way that will better engage your users’ curiosity.

For more information about attending this free webinar, please visit the events page at the Springshare Lounge.

LibGuides / HowStuffWorks user webinar #7 – “Taking it to the Next Level: Layered Content” – is scheduled for this Thursday at 3pm Eastern. 

You’ve pulled together your first set of subject guides using some of the core resources from your collection. Learn how to use “layered content” like image galleries, top 10 lists, quizzes and more to drive page views while creating a more holistic view of a topic.

For more information about attending this free webinar, please visit the events page at the Springshare Lounge.

Please join me on January 27th at 2pm Eastern for the first Open LibGuides Training Webinar!  This Training Session will focus on the basic steps of creating guides, adding content, and managing your LibGuides page via the new Command Bar.  Reservations are not required, although you are welcome to RSVP via the Springshare Lounge if you would like to let us know you will be attending.

To join the meeting:
http://springshare.acrobat.com/libguides-basic/

If you have never attended a Connect Pro meeting before, please test your connection before entering the meeting:
http://springshare.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

We look forward to seeing you there!

A quick scan of the conference program for the upcoming ACRL meeting in Seattle shows an impressive four sessions dedicated to LibGuides!

Reinventing Research Guides: LibGuides at Two Academic Libraries

Guides to Go: Using LibGuides to Deliver Information

From Static to Dynamic: Using LibGuides to Create Discipline-Specific Research Guides at West Virginia University Libraries

Do the Outcomes Justify the Buzz?: An Assessment of LibGuides at Cornell University and Princeton University

More information about these sessions can be found on the Springshare Lounge.  You can find the full conference schedule on the ACRL Conference homepage.

Thank you to all of our community members who are helping to spread the word about LibGuides!

LibGuides / HowStuffWorks user webinar #6 – “Serving a New Generation: Exploring Web 2.0 and Beyond” – is scheduled for this Thursday at 3pm Eastern.  For more information about attending this free webinar, please visit the events page at the Springshare Lounge.

Its time to wrap up 2008 – an exceptional year for the LibGuides community!  In addition to the community totals, we have also included our 2007 totals and the percentage growth for each row, so you can see the progress we all made this year.