Law Libraries Using LibGuides

[Bonnie Shucha]

Our campus is looking at getting LibGuides. Any law libraries using it? If so, would you share examples of pages you've created with it?

[Jennifer L. Behrens]

Duke Law signed up for LibGuides about a year ago in order to experiment with creating course-specific dynamic research guides, and we were the only law library on there for a long time (unless some law libraries were using it under a campus-wide subscription). I do see from their list of participating libraries that UCLA Law has also since signed on (sorry to "out" anyone there!).

Most of our pages from Duke are "private" (i.e., can only be accessed by direct link) and do not show up on the published guide list, since they're mostly intended to be used by a particular class's current students, behind the course's Blackboard page. I'm happy to share the unpublished demo page which I created to show our faculty, although it's no longer fully indicative of what you can do with LibGuides. They are constantly adding new features and content box options which were not available when we first signed on.

To anyone considering LibGuides, I'd recommend adding the Springshare Support Blog just to get a sense of how rapidly things are upgraded there, often as the result of input from early adopters.

Shameless plug: I'll be speaking about Duke Law's experience with LibGuides at the AALL Annual Meeting, as part of program I-6: Exploring Online Instructional Tools: A Showcase (Tuesday 7/15 at 10:45 a.m.). Hope to see some of you there!

[Bonnie Shucha]

Great - thanks Jennifer. This is just the info I was looking for. I hope to make it to your AALL session if time allows before my flight home.

[Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

Our library is looking at LibGuides too. We'll try to make it to Jennifer's program in Portland. And Takako's online tutorial on researching Japanese law is very cool!

[Jennifer L. Behrens]

Just FYI if you missed program I-6 at the Annual Meeting (Exploring Online Instructional Tools: A Showcase). My materials on Duke's experience with LibGuides are now posted--naturally, on LibGuides: http://dukelaw.libguides.com/aall2008. This includes the slides, Duke's documentation for new librarians, and links to LibGuides help and best practices.

(The materials from the podcasting portion of the showcase are also available there, and I'm hoping to upload materials from the other two stations as soon as I receive them from the presenters.)

Thanks to all who attended our showcase! If you weren't able to be there, hopefully these materials will still be useful.