A cross-discipline comparison of subject guides and resource discovery tools

Abstract

Introduction. Academic libraries invest considerable resources in creating disciplinary subject guides, but patron use of such guides is rarely quantified in the literature. We analyse access data for subject guides and other electronic resource discovery tools to investigate disciplinary differences in resource discovery behaviour. Method. We analysed access data for resource discovery tools and subject guides that was collected over five weeks in the first term of the academic year at a public teaching and research university. Analysis. We analysed unique page views for subject guides, then calculated and compared access to electronic resources originating from the following resource discovery tools: Summon, subject guides, Google Scholar, and the database index. Results. Disciplines with high unique page views for subject guides were more likely to use subject guides or specific databases for resource discovery, while disciplines with low subject guide unique page views were more likely to use Summon or Google Scholar for resource discovery. Conclusions. The low unique page views for most guides suggests providing guides for all disciplines may not be an effective method for supporting students in resource discovery. This study also indicates a need for subject guide use to be evaluated in relation to other resource discovery tools.