An Interview with Slaven Zivkovic on the 10th Anniversary of LibGuides

• Published in: Public Services Quarterly Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 281 - 288
• Main Author: Whitmer, Susan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Binghamton Routledge 12-09-2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic libraries; Anniversaries; LibGuides; Librarians; library instruction; subject guides; Zivkovic, Slaven
• ISSN: 1522-8959; 1522-9114
• DOI: 10.1080/15228959.2017.1371095

Column description. The Technology column examines current and developing technology topics in libraries. The column's focus is creative uses of technology, introductions to new technologies, and critiques of current technologies, their uses, or their future. Readers interested in contributing ideas or writings to this column may contact column co-editors Suzanne Townsdin and Susan Whitmer.
LibGuides are the industry standard for subject guides in libraries. Since 2007, LibGuides have dominated the academic market. Reflecting on ten years of the product, LibGuides creator, Slaven Zivkovic, answered questions about the origin, the evolution, and the future of LibGuides. Zivkovic's library background helped him see the need for the product. As a son of a librarian and a student worker at a university library in Silicon Valley, Zivkovic was interested in library systems. He created the industry's first electronic reserve system, ERes, and led the development of one of the first virtual reference systems, VRLplus. LibGuides success in academic libraries comes from their ease of use. Prior to LibGuides, online subject guides were managed by technology staff or librarians with html skills. The situation was unsustainable due to the fast pace of technological changes. LibGuides are easy to create, no specialized web design skills are needed to add and edit content. Among the features discussed in this interview are: cloud-hosted content, customer service, LibGuides online community at
http://community.libguides.com
, resource sharing, using LibGuides as a website, and using LibGuides as an intranet. As the world went mobile, LibGuides went along by upgrading from LibGuides version 1, to a device/screen agnostic LibGuides version 2. As the product matures, Zivkovic plans to keep LibGuides a relevant and effective tool to share information and curate content.