2013 instruction breakout

Instruction Tools Breakout Session February 12th, 2013

Bold stuff seemed especially important.

What brought people to use Libguides?

Librarians don't have enough control over our website
Librarians who are creating content wanted something easier
Library a la carte is shut down - programming resources were too expensive versus buying Libguides
Cost per year of Libguides is much cheaper than developing something ourselves. Everything is in XML which is great for exporting data.

How are people getting stuff into Libguides?

There is a place for reusing links to databases in Libguides. You can use the Serials Solutions importer, or build your own reusable list.
No tutorials management structure in Libguides.

Overcoming staleness in guides

At U of AZ Library has an opt-out tab called "Library Tools" that displays an iFrame that has a web application that looks like a Libguide. Librarians can create these tabs/portals and attach them to this. If there isn't a specific course portal, they receive the subject guide. At section level, instructors can create their own through drag and drop interface. Looking at moving off Library ala Carte and making this the main subject guides. Not sure how to share this with the community because uses an institution-specific API.
Cost of keeping library-specific content up to date with certain LMS (Blackboard) can become problematic.
LTI/ Basic LTI passes contextual information about courses to another system. Blackboard supports this very well. Moodle has this option as a plug-in. Need to get data from Blackboard and feed into library application to easily setup iFrame for library content in their course menu. LTI isn't a magic bullet. It sends the user role and course ID. Need to depend on LMS administator to do the right thing. If the course ID isn't consistent you'd have to parse through it. Duke wrote PHP/MySQL that maps between LMS and guides.
NCSU looking at course reserves link and library-specific content in the LMS. Spingshare has a tool, but sounds expensive. More info on reserves4lib list.
Vendors don't seem to understand the need in libraries for integration with the LMS. Maybe there's an opportunity for community of librarians wanting to integrate with LMS.

How integrated with the LMS should libraries be? All looks like the LMS to students.
Is there a way to get away from using iFrames and building directly in the LMS?
Faculty outreach is key with integrating Library content with the LMS. Use marketing through Liaison Librarians and opt-in or opt-out block. If you can integrate with the LMS template faculty members seem to be okay with it.
Integrated LMS content includes things like library seach engines, course/subject guides and reserves (this is with Moodle). Students get subject and course guides if they are available.

Instructional content at NCSU - trying to overcome outdated content. Developing three-tiered approach. There will be online content (videos or online tutorials), lesson plans for librarians, and turnkey library lesson plans librarians could send to faculty members. Putting more effort on things that go stale faster.
Hard to maintain video tutorials made with systems like Camtasia. Make sure we're not replicating already available how-tos (like for Google).
Guide on the Side github is a tool that allows users to take a self-guided tour of library resources and services. Developed by U. Of AZ Every user can edit every other tutorial in the system. Some libraries planning on using Guide on the Side for training. It would be great to be able to share Guide on the Side tutorials among each other.
If you have too few instruction librarians, take the approach of making generic tutorials and give the audience as much autonomy as possible.

Thanks to Amy Deschenes for taking notes!