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Training: LibGuides

The content of this LibGuide is meant to help train Academic Specialists and any other individuals who might be involved in M State LibGuide creation and maintenance.

Links

Whenever possible, use a Link Asset to add a link to your LibGuide.

Links added to Rich Text/HTML content are not checked by the LibGuides link checker, which makes it challenging to fix dead links before our users attempt to use them. While you can create links to Rich Text/HTML content, it is recommended that you do so sparingly and intentionally.

Before creating a new link, check to see if one already exists. Whevever possible, we want to reuse our link assets. By doing this we are saving time and also streamlining our link checking process. 

How:

  1. After selecting "Link" as the kind of content you want to add to your page, click on the "Reuse Existing Link" tab on the Add Link interface.
  2. Begin typing the name of the link you want to reuse. This should create a list of links that include the letters you've typed.
  3. If the link you want to reuse appears in the list, click on it to select it. Then click the blue Save button to add the link to your page. 
  4. After you've added the link to your page, you can edit the link. This allows you to customize the way the link appears on your page and change the description if you want.

If this is a new link to the LibGuides, Create New Link and fill in the following information: 

  • Link Name
  • Link URL
  • Description: keep this short and informative 
  • Assign Thumbnail Image: if the link is to a professional organization or website with a logo

Thumbnail Images

  • Enter 75 into the Height box and leave the Width box empty so it auto-sizes. 
  • If a logo you are using isn't square and the images aren't consistent sizing, place the odd sized link at the bottom of the list. If the list needs to be in a certain order then stick to that order rather than organizing by image size. 

Image Folder 

  • Use the Shared Library to upload images. 
  • If an image belongs to a specific guide, upload the image corresponding to the correct guide. If there ins't a folder for a new guide you are working on, create one. 

Databases

Use a Database Asset when adding links to databases to your LibGuide.

All of the databases from the Databases A-Z list are in the LibGuides Database Assets list, with links that should work for on-campus and off-campus library users. This list is maintained so that it is easy to identify dead or problematic links. The Database Assets list also makes it possible, when there are changes to database URLs, for us to update the Database Asset so that every guide using that asset will have the updated URL. 

Books and Ebooks

Standard Box: This option is used for program guides where we want to highlight books that would be useful or of interest to the students in the program. 

Select Add Book from the Catalog 

If adding a new book: 

  • Enter the ISBN and pull in the information - this should fill out the Title, Author/Editor, Pub Date, and Cover Art 
  • If it is a physical book - find the book in Primo and enter the Call Number and permalink to the URL field 
  • If it is an ebook - enter eBook - EBSCO Academic Collection into the Call Number field and the link from the eBook database into the URL field 
  • Sort books by Call Number 

If adding a book that has been used before search for the title in Reuse Existing Book.

Gallery Box: This option is used for topic guides where we want to display a collection of books visually to engage the student and create interest but the purpose isn't inherently academic. 

To include a book in a gallery box you need to Create a Book in the Asset catalog first. Create a Book from the Catalog Asset in the asset list following the same rules as outlined in the standard book box description. 

After creating a gallery box select Add New Slide and choose the Book option.Search for the book you created. 

Gallery box settings: 

  • Automatically play: On
  • Slide speed: 3000
  • Transition type: Slide
  • Transition speed: 300
  • Show dots: On 
  • Max image height: 25%
  • Number of rows: 1 or 2 depending on the amount of books you want to showcase 
  • Slides per row: 1 
  • Slides to show: 4
  • Slides to scroll: 1 
  • Caption position: None 

 

OER Textbooks are created as Links to make it easier to maintain them. 

  • Link Name - Book title and author 
  • Link URL - permalink to OER resource
  • Description - Include the Creative Commons licence on the first line and a short description of the book. 
  • Image URL - Upload an image of the bok cover and set width as 125