LibGuides Pilot Project

Springshare, a well-regarded company that provides online products and services for libraries, has a combination of products that may assist in addressing the inequity of access to reference assistance.

LibGuides & CMS. This content management and curation platform will allow us to create curated guides to help patrons start library research and reuse guides from their library of over 900,000 existing guides. The guides have embedded links to resources and expert suggestions for further research. They can highlight and promote resources and services available at their local courthouse library.

Currently, not all of Ontario’s courthouse libraries are able to provide reference and research assistance during regular business hours. Library users in rural and remote areas in particular may have less access to library resources and service either because the library is only open part-time or because the commute to get to the library is too long. During the Innovation Sandbox brainstorming session and in the Key Network Processes project consultations, several libraries suggested that LiRN introduce an online chat. While it’s not a replacement for personal, in-library service, it is a way to help connect library users to information they need when that is not available.

LiRN identified Springshare as the vendor of choice. LibAnswers with LibChat is more than a chat service. Combined with LibAnswers with LibChat, it allows us to respond to the heart of the issue raised during the brainstorming and innovation sessions – how to get information to library users when they can’t access their library – by offering FAQs, library guides, and a chat option to users.

This pilot will help determine:

  • If there is a need for LibGuides
  • If the staffing resources across the network are sufficient to keep such guides up to date, and
  • If the technology from Springshare will work for us.

LibGuide Development

LibGuides will be developed by library staff from across the network.

LibGuide Implementation

We anticipate beginning work on LibGuides in Q3 of 2024, with a timeline of 3 to 4 months before launching the first set.

LibGuide Instruction Video

Step-by-Step Guide by our SpringShare consultant in how to create your own LibGuide.

For those who are already LibGuides subscribers, the following links will be of use:

Other Springshare Products:

LiRN has invested in other Springshare products as well:

LiRN libraries can take advantage of reduced prices on Springshare products: please contact [email protected] for the 2025-2026 list.

This pilot project was made possible through the  Innovation and Equity of Access to Legal Resources project funded by The Law Foundation of Ontario.