Reference and instruction librarians at North Park University have long been avid users of LibGuides, but, like many librarians, we had some concerns about the usability of the default three-column layout and the tabbed navigation in LibGuides 1. We were happy to see that Springshare addressed these concerns in LibGuides 2, offering more flexibility in layout and navigation options. Before migrating to the new platform, we ran a usability study to compare the effectiveness of each of these options for research guides aimed at undergraduate students.
This session will share the methods and results of that study, which took a close look at three different variables: number of columns, placement of navigation menu, and level of integration with the library website. After discussing the results, we will demonstrate how we applied those results to North Park’s instance of LibGuides v2.
