Pathfinders are intended to be a launch point for research on a particular topic, via the collection of select materials available in a particular institution on that topic. 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." Purpose Originally provided in print format in the 20th century in large academic libraries, 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.
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. Pathfinders may be printed or available online." Īccording 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. What is special about a pathfinder is that it only refers to the information in a specific location, i.e. Pathfinders produced by the Library of Congress are known as "tracer bullets". (Pathfinders are also called subject guides, topic guides, research guides, libguides, information portals, resource lists or study guides). A pathfinder is a bibliography created to help begin research in a particular topic or subject area.
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