DOI: 10.5064/f6zakcwb
title: Data For: Exploring Clinician Expectations and Preferences of Library Subject Guides

description: &lt;h3&gt;Project Overview&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Subject guides are widely used in academic libraries to share information and resources with patrons. Over the years, they have evolved into extensive online tools that serve as starting points for research, but developing and maintaining subject guides that are both useful and relevant to users requires considerable time and effort from librarians. Ongoing reflection and examination of this process are therefore critical.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Prior literature has often focused on student and faculty use of subject guides; however, many health sciences libraries also serve clinical users who may have different needs. This qualitative study focuses exclusively on clinical users and examines the extent to which they engage with library subject guides, their expectations and preferences regarding these resources, and their perspectives on the guides’ potential role in supporting clinical work.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Findings indicate that most participants were unaware of the existence of these guides. However, they expressed some preference for those that are quick and easy to use, offering independent learning materials, access to resources, and clear guidance on which resources may be best to use in different situations. Barriers to guide usage in clinical settings include time, awareness, design issues, and cognitive load issues.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This research was developed through the training and support provided by the MLA Research Training Institute (RTI) and made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (RE-246568-OLS-20).&lt;/p&gt;
description: &lt;h3&gt;Data and Data Collection Overview&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 clinicians in the Fall of 2023. “Clinician” was defined broadly during the recruitment to include anyone who provided direct patient care, and who self-identified as a clinician. Participants were recruited from two rounds (May-June of 2023 and October-November 2023) through posts on the institutional intranet and inclusion in select staff email newsletters. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The informed consent used was minimally revised between the two rounds of participant recruitment to reflect the accurate length of interviews based on the earlier interviews conducted. The version shared here is the final one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A standard rubric of interview questions was administered to each participant. Non-standard follow-up questions were also asked, depending on the context of the given session. Interviews were conducted and recorded via Zoom. The transcripts were originally generated using Zoom’s automatic transcription tools and then corrected through multiple rounds of comparison with the recordings. They were subsequently de-identified to remove both direct and indirect identifiers before formal analysis.&lt;/p&gt;
description: &lt;h3&gt;Selection and Organization of Shared Data&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The data files shared here consist of 11 de-identified interview transcripts. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The documentation files shared consist of the informed consent used in the study, the interview script, the analytic codebook for the interview transcripts (including both codes that were used for the results in a planned accompanying article and others which have not been applied), this Data Narrative, and an administrative README file.&lt;/p&gt;