Guide on the Side Tutorials for ELM Are Here!

You may have heard us speak at MEMO or MLA this fall detailing our new adventure in online tutorials with Guide on the Side (GOTS).  GOTS is an open source software code created by library staff from the University of Arizona Libraries: Mike Hagedon, senior applications systems analyst/developer, and Leslie Sult, instructional services librarian.  Their work on GOTS earned them the 2013 ACRL Instruction Session Innovation Award. Born out of a long history of academic librarians in continual pursuit of improving the online tutorial experience, GOTS is a breakthrough innovation in that it allows the student to follow a tutorial while at the same time actively learning in a live database environment.  The code and helpful information is freely available online. Using GOTS, Reference Outreach & Instruction has begun to make pedagogically based tutorials which allow ELM users to work at their own pace and interact with the databases.  These tutorials not only teach research and search strategies but also demonstrate the relevance and value of ELM database content and build users’ confidence in applying them to real life scenarios. You can find our ELM Guide on the Side tutorials listed with our other learning materials at the ELM Learning Center under Interactive Tutorials as well as on our ELM Portal next to database links.  Or go directly to our Guide on the Side ELM tutorial page.  If you have any questions about our GOTS ELM tutorials, leave a note in the comments or contact us directly at mtxref@umn.edu .