LibGuides: Do students use them? Update from the Instructional Design Intern

Happy 2019! I hope everyone’s holidays went well. It’s been a while since my last update! During the intersession, I will be working on developing questions and prototypes for a (very small) UX study regarding our LibGuides landing page and our research guide page.
Following a similar study conducted by Nora, we’ll be using paper prototypes and advanced scribbling to determine what features students do and don’t find useful about the LibGuide landing page. How can we make it easier for students to find the information they need? For example, our research guide is not visible on the default LibGuide landing page. But even if it were, is this the best layout? The process of creating wireframes has certainly helped me become much more familiar with our LibGuide content.
I’d also be curious to find out if non-LIS students generally know what LibGuides are. Because my own undergraduate days long precede the advent of LibGuides and my LIS student experience is biased toward familiarity with LibGuides, I feel like I don’t have any real sense of whether LibGuides are something students generally know about, or whether most have no idea of their existence. Which came first, the user or the design? Can an amazing LibGuide draw students in if they don’t use it in the first place? I suppose this speaks to the need for strong library promotion and outreach!