Pathfinder (library science)

A pathfinder is a bibliography created to help begin research in a particular topic or subject area. Pathfinders are also called subject guides, topic guides, research guides, libguides, information portals, resource lists or study guides. Pathfinders produced by the Library of Congress are known as "tracer bullets".^[1] What is special about a pathfinder is that it only refers to the information in a specific location, i.e. the shelves of a local library.^[2]

According to the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science, a pathfinder is "designed to lead the user through the process of researching a specific topic, or any topic in a given field or discipline, usually in a systematic, step-by-step way, making use of the best finding tools the library has to offer. Pathfinders may be printed or available online."^[3]

The goal of a pathfinder is to gather the most useful, relevant, reliable and authoritative resources on a variety of academic, work-related or general-interest topics.^[4] Originally provided in print format in the 20th century in large academic libraries,^[5]^[6] pathfinders have evolved with the emergence of the World Wide Web and may now act as portals to information about resources in a variety of formats, including books, encyclopedias, bibliographic databases, almanacs, documentaries, websites, search engines and journals.

Often used as curriculum tools for bibliographic instruction, the guides help library users find materials or help those unfamiliar with a discipline understand the key sources."^[6]

^ Dunsmore, Carla (2002). "A Qualitative Study of Web-Mounted Pathfinders Created by Academic Business Libraries". Libri. 52 (3): 137–156. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.542.9914. doi:10.1515/LIBR.2002.137. ISSN 0024-2667. S2CID 62164764.
^ Taylor, A.G., Joudrey, D.N. (2009) "The Organization of Information." 3rd Edition. Connecticut, Libraries Unlimited.
^ Reitz, Joan. "Pathfinder (definition)". Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
^ Farkas, Meredith (October 2009). "Pathfinder in a Box: Crafting your own authoritative metasearch engine". American Libraries: 45.
^ Cite error: The named reference MorrisBosque was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Reeb, Brenda; Susan Gibbons (January 2004). "Students, Librarians, and Subject Guides: Improving a Poor Rate of Return". Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 4 (1): 123. doi:10.1353/pla.2004.0020. hdl:1802/2822. S2CID 62616318.

[Dunsmore-1] Dunsmore, Carla (2002). "A Qualitative Study of Web-Mounted Pathfinders Created by Academic Business Libraries". Libri. 52 (3): 137–156. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.542.9914. doi:10.1515/LIBR.2002.137. ISSN 0024-2667. S2CID 62164764.

[2] Taylor, A.G., Joudrey, D.N. (2009) "The Organization of Information." 3rd Edition. Connecticut, Libraries Unlimited.

[3] Reitz, Joan. "Pathfinder (definition)". Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved 7 April 2011.

[4] Farkas, Meredith (October 2009). "Pathfinder in a Box: Crafting your own authoritative metasearch engine". American Libraries: 45.

[MorrisBosque-5] Cite error: The named reference MorrisBosque was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Reeb-6] Reeb, Brenda; Susan Gibbons (January 2004). "Students, Librarians, and Subject Guides: Improving a Poor Rate of Return". Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 4 (1): 123. doi:10.1353/pla.2004.0020. hdl:1802/2822. S2CID 62616318.

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