LibGuides and Links

The first libguide for review is for the research subject of Library and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin Madison.  The research guide homepage has a list of all the subjects.  Once the Library and Information Science Research Link is found, the user has another list of subjects to sort through.  A total of 7 subtopics are listed.  They appear to be simply the current roster of courses.  This causes some problems for researchers not seeking information relating the their course but the field in general.  Once you click on the smaller libguides, it appears to quite thorough.  My main criticism is a design flaw in access of guides for the full scope of librarianship.  The course libguides are valuable, but rates last in this list due to the lack of scope (UW-Madison Libraries, 2015). 

The second libguide for review is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Surprisingly, this was the least helpful libguide.  Personal preferences for libguides are probably as varied as preferences for the layout of a personal blog.  However, the UNC libguide was very sketchy, almost ineligible to be called a research guide.  The site is rather a generic menu of tabs and links with a lack of personalization or introduction (UNC University Libraries, 2015)

At the University of Kentucky, the research guide for librarianship is almost buried.  It is not listed with the quick list by subject.  The researcher would need to go to “All Guides” then search for Library and Information Science.  Once found, it has a great appearance on the home page.  Attractive with a lot of browsing opportunities.  I really like the extremely valuable and somewhat unknown encyclopedia references for Library Science front and center of the libguide. UK lists the following links in the center of the page:  Library Literature and Information Science Full Text (includes description),  Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Communication and Mass Media Complete (CMMC) (includes description), and Academic Search Complete. With the exception of its lack of visibility from the home page, this is an exceptional libguide and wins the prize for best out of the three reviews (Young Library UK Libraries, 2015).