Creating Information Resources for Targeted Groups of Users

Librarians are often called upon to create tools that organize information by subject, purpose or other consideration. A bibliography is an example of a print-based tool that accomplishes this objective. Today, information professionals use technology to create digital versions of bibliographies. These can take many forms. One of the more common variations of the digital bibliographic tool is the pathfinder (also referred to as a webliography or subject guide).

As part of my responsibilities as a discussion guide for IRLS504, I created three pathfinders on various aspects of technology in the library. This activity directly supports SIRLS Competency A3 which reads, “Students will demonstrate understanding of the use of information and communication technologies in the provision of information resources and services in libraries and other settings.”

The pathfinders I created include Information Technologies in Libraries, which provides links to libraries or vendor sites that demonstrate various categories of library technology; The Virtual Face of the Physical Library, which includes links to exemplars of portals and web sites of traditional libraries; and Digital Content. This last pathfinder is prefaced by a discussion of ways of thinking about digital content in addition to links to exemplary digital collections and digital library sites.

Creation of these pathfinders required application of several skills I have acquired during my studies at SIRLS. The most important of these, perhaps, is the critical evaluation of the resources I located. I reviewed dozens of sites in order to consider which ones to include. I wanted to make sure that I selected exemplary sites that were accurate, current, comprehensive and easily accessible to the students who would need to use them.

I was also called upon to document terms and concepts of digital library technologies, digital collections, and digital libraries. These summaries are indicative of the knowledge I have acquired through study in several SIRLS classes on these and related topics.

A secondary SIRLS competency addressed by this activity, therefore, is B4, which requires that I demonstrate my “…knowledge of the principles of organization and representation of knowledge and their application to library and information collections and services in their areas of career interest.”

I enjoyed creating the pathfinders and hope that students in IRLS504 will be able to take advantage of them to further their understanding both of the content embedded within them and of the role of librarians in creating locally relevant resources tailored to meet the needs of specific groups of customers with common interests.