Tisch Library recently compiled a series of research guides aimed at assisting students and faculty in conducting credible and scholarly research on a collegiate level. The project intends to make research a less daunting task for students — particularly freshmen who may be unfamiliar with the process — by collecting all relevant information in one place, hopefully ending the fruitless Internet searches so many embark on when faced with a paper or research project.
LibGuides.com, a content management system that is now utilized at 900 colleges and universities, such as Boston College and Northwestern University, allows reference librarians and staff bibliographers at Tisch to author user-friendly guides tailored to specific populations' needs.
Eighty-eight guides have been added since Tisch implemented the system this summer, and the number is expected to increase. Each guide, with topics spanning the scope of academics offered at Tufts, offers a direct link to reference librarians along with a myriad of information including a list of books, background information and a comprehensive list of recommended, relevant databases.
"The system was designed to meet the needs of Tufts students and faculty, and to make it easier [for librarians] to publish and put as much information as necessary in the same place, so it is easy to find," said Chris Strauber, humanities reference librarian at Tisch.
Strauber, working directly with representatives from other Tufts libraries to collect information, acted as a chief organizer in the creation and implementation of the research guides.
With the program, the research process should become easier and more efficient, helping scholars find relevant information, according to Evan Simpson, the head of reference and instruction at Tisch.
"Google and Wikipedia are good first stops, but everything on the Tufts library guides is credible information, academic journals, essays, et cetera," Simpson said. "These are primary sources. Accessibility is key."
Faculty feedback, Strauber said, has been positive, with numerous professors requesting more guides specific to their courses.
Laurie Sabol, a social sciences reference librarian at Tisch, has been at the helm of the research-guide initiative since its beginning. She authored research guides on psychology, education, occupational therapy and child development.
"The guides are designed to be practical and specific for students during research," Sabol said. "The sources are credible and academically oriented; the information is up to date, and targeted to specific areas."
Regina Raboin, science reference librarian at Tisch and author of the biology reference guide, has played an active role in the library's evolution since the mid-1990s, when Raboin said computer systems were beginning to take the place of file cabinets, and graphics were starting to accompany texts in computer databases.
Over the summer, Raboin and a team of other reference librarians and bibliographers collaborated to develop guides for topics ranging from anthropology to women's studies, and several course-specific guides.
Raboin said the work over the summer was an attempt to "make a good, dynamic research-guide system for a broad range of areas and to translate into particular course guides."
Most librarians at Tisch hold master's degrees or higher in their respective areas of expertise, according to Strauber.
"The creators are more important than the creation," he said. "The guides are a way to make visible all the work we quietly do."
Those involved with the project hope that it will make research for students and faculty more centralized. The software also turns over full editorial power to librarians to change and add information as it becomes available.
Strauber and his team, along with representatives from all Tufts libraries, will address problems and defects in the system later in the fall semester.
