Getting Started with LibGuides: Getting Started

If you're new LibGuides authorship, use this page to learn how to manage your account and set up your profile.

Already have a profile? Click the Create a Guide tab and others to learn how to create LibGuides content.

Your profile appears in the right-hand column of each of your LibGuides pages (by default, but it can be repositioned if you like) as well as on your main profile page. It includes an image, contact information, a list of the subject areas you cover, and other information.

See Setting Up/Editing Your Profile at the right to learn how to create and manage your profile.

Logging in:

• Go to the LibGuides main page at http://libguides.library.kent.edu/
• In the upper right corner, click on Admin Sign In.
• Enter your KSU email address (including @kent.edu) and your LibGuides password.
  • If you've forgoten your password, contact LibGuides Administrators Ken Burhanna, Jamie Seeholzer or Jeph Remley, to have it reset.
  • Note: You can also click on Admin Sign In from any LibGuides page, then click on My Admin on the yellow command bar at the top to manage your account.
• This will take you to your main administration page where you can create, edit, and delete guides and create and edit your profile.

Changing your password:

• From your main administration page, go to Edit My Account.
• Enter a new password and click on Save Changes.

You will create a default profile that can appear on all your guides. Set up the default profile by clicking on Customize My Profile from your main administration page.

If you wish, you can have a different profile on any guide. However, changes you make to the default profile will not be reflected in a profile that you create for a particular guide. 

Enter or edit information in the following boxes:

When you first create a guide, its status is Unpublished. Other LibGuides authors at University Libraries can see what you've done, but no one else.

You are thus free to learn as you go along without worries that your initial efforts are visible to the world.  They are not.

When you're ready to get feedback, you can change the status of your guide to Private. It still won't be listed among University Libraries' LibGuides, but can be viewed by anyone to whom you give the URL: other librarians, faculty, friends, colleagues at other institutions, etc.

When you're ready to make your guide public, there are several steps you need to take. For more on that and on changing a guide's status, see the Review/Publish page.

Creating a new guide:

• From your main administation page, click on Create New Guide.
• If you want to use another guide as a template, select that guide.  (You can choose one of your own guides, one from another Kent State librarian, or one from another LibGuides institution.) Otherwise, leave it as "Start Fresh (no template)"
  
  • If you do use an existing guide as a template, all of the content (tabs and boxes) will be copied into your new guide for use as is or for editing.  (Take the time to check the guide's internal links, as those will likely need to be changed.  The process for changing the URL of linked text may require two steps: break the existing link by highlighting it and clicking the icon on the editor's toolbar.  Save Changes, and then reenter the editor to assign a new URL to the text.)
• Give your guide a title.
• Include a brief description.
  • Note that the title and description can be easily changed before publishing.
• To allow other librarians to edit your guides (optional), select up to 3 from the drop-down list.
• Click on Create New Guide and you're ready to format the guide and add content.

Formatting your new guide:

• The first tab in a guide is called Home by default, but it can be changed.
  • Click on the Add/Edit Pages in the yellow command bar and select Change Page Name.
  • Pick the Home page.
  • Enter a new name.
  • Hit the Change Title button.

Adding content:

• Content is added to guides using content boxes arranged on pages (tabs).
• See Add/Edit Tabs for details on how to add more pages/tabs to a guide.
• See Add/Edit Boxes for details on the different types of content boxes and how to add them to a page.

A LibGuide can consist of a single page with one or more content boxes or multiple pages with content boxes on them.

Pages of a guide are accessed via the tab bar which appears on every page. See the box at right to learn how to add and edit pages and tabs.

To copy an entire page from another guide, click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar and select Copy Page from Another Guide. Select the guide and page you want to copy.

Creating new tabs/pages:

• Click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar.
• Select Add New Page.
• Enter a title for the page.
  • Keep titles short. Tip: Use & instead of and in titles.
  • Use title case (all words capitalized except for internal articles, prepositions, and conjunctions) in page names.
• Leave as Top Level unless you want to make the page a sub-tab of another page. (See Adding Sub-Tabs below.)
• Click Create this Page.

Reordering tabs/pages:

• To change the order of tabs/pages, click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar.
• Select Reorder Pages.
• Drag and drop the tab/page titles until they are in the correct order.
• Click on Update Tab Order.

Sub-tabs are pages that appear in a drop-down menu from a main tab. Sub-tabs are less readily visible to the user and should be used carefully. If they are used, it is best to include references and links to the sub-tabs from the main page under which they appear.

Creating sub-tabs:

• Click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar at the top of the page.
• Select Add New Page.
• Enter a name for the sub-tab.
• Click on the Add as a Top Level drop-down menu and change it, selecting the main tab under which you want the sub-tab to appear.
• Click Create this Page.

Note that sub-tabs are always listed in alphabetical order and cannot be re-ordered by dragging and dropping. To change the order, include numbers in the sub-tab names (e.g. "1. Encyclopedias", "2. Dictionaries", etc.)

Adding content boxes to a page:

• Click on Add new Box or Add new Side Box.
• Enter a title for the box. (Use title case in page names.)
• Select a location for the box from the Position drop-down menu
• Select a box type from the box type menu.
  
• Click Create Box.

The default format for a LibGuides page consists of a narrow column on the left, a wide column in the center, and a narrow column with the librarian's profile box on the right.

The format can be changed to eliminate the left column. (The center column will then be extended all the way to the left.) To make this change:

• Click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar.
• Select Adjust Columns on This Page
• Change the column widths at the bottom from Left - 230; Center - 520; Right - 209 (the default) to Left - 0; Center - 758; Right - 209.
• Click on Adjust Widths

NOTE: With the 2009 update, there are other options available for number of columns and columns widths.  For now, stick to the these two standard options as we develop guidelines for taking advantage of the increased flexibility.

The title bar at the top of a box will not expand, so it is important not to make your box titles too long.  This is rarely a problem in the wider center column, but must be watched for in the narrower left column.

If it looks like your title is not fitting, click on the Preview link at the top right of the page.  Sometimes, the pencil icon in edit mode keeps the title from fitting, but it may be okay when actually published.  The preview will show you how it will ultimately appear.  (Of course if it still doesn't fit, you'll need to shorten it.)

There are several types of content boxes to choose from. Some of the most commonly used types are summarized below. Click on a name to go to a sub-tab with more detailed information about that box type.

Reusing content boxes:

When adding a new content box, instead of creating a new box you can reuse existing boxes in two differnt ways.

• Link to another box in the system: This option duplicates the selected content box, and will change automatically whenever the original is changed.
• Copy another box from the system: This option duplicates the selected content box, but is not linked to the original. It can be edited on its own.
  • Any box in the BC LibGuides system can be linked to or copied.

Reordering content boxes:

• You can reorder boxes on a page by moving them up or down in a column. You can also move boxes between columns. You can even move boxes from one page to any other page within the same guide.
  
• To reorder boxes:
  • Click on Add/Edit Pages on the yellow command bar.
  • Select Reorder Boxes on This Page.
  • Drag and drop the boxes you want to move to the desired locations.
  • Click on Update Box Order

Text boxes -- or, more accurately -- Rich Text/Dynamic Content/Scripts boxes -- are the most basic and most flexibile type of content box in LibGuides.

Using the WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) Rich Text Editor -- see the box at right -- text can be highlighted and formatted in many ways.

The HTML icon in the editor makes it possible to edit the HTML code, as well.

Icons (shown here) at the top of the Rich Text Editor make it possible to format text in a text box in many ways. Text can be made bold, italic, underlined, centered, bulleted, or numbered. Font styles, sizes, and colors can be changed. Links can be added.

Text boxes also make it possible to add images and tables. (See the Add Images tab for more using on images.)

Advanced users can add search forms and other functions by adding scripts to Rich Text/Dynamic Content/Scripts boxes.

Every kind of box in LibGuides allows you to include text at the top of the box, using the same Rich Text Editor as the text box.

Simply click where it says edit text  to access the editor. Text can only be entered at the top of non-text boxes.

The text you're reading now, for example, is at the top of a Simple Web Links box.  (The links below go to other pages with examples of text in non-text boxes.)

A Links and Lists box presents resources, online or not, with brief descriptions below them.

Descriptions are limited to 256 characters. Additional descriptive text, unlimited in size, can also be added. This text will be in a pop-up that appears when the user clicks on the icon.

(See Link Options for the differences between Links and Lists, Simple Web Links, and links in text boxes.)

Users can rate items in a Lists and Links box from one to five stars.  The average rating will be shown next to the title.  (The default is no rating.)

User ratings are optional for linked and listed resources.

Adding items to a Links and Lists box:

• Click on Add a new Link
• Fill in the fields in the new link form (see the screenshot below) as follows:
  • Link Title: The name of the resource.
    • Add "(KU Community Only)" if it is a restricted resource.
      
  • Link URL: The web address of the resource, if it is online
    • Make sure to include the KU proxy prefix for a restricted resource by including it with the link URL.
    • Leave blank if it is not an online resource.
  • Description (Optional): A description of the resource, no more than 256 characters.
  • More Information (Optional): Additional descriptive text with no character limit. Appears in a pop-up window.
• Click on Create Link

Editing items in a Links and Lists box:

• Log in to the page with the box you want to edit.
• Click on the tools icon next to the item you want to edit. This will bring up the link form.
• Edit whichever field or fields you want to change. (You can also choose to delete the item.)
  
• Click on Save Changes.

Reordering items in a Links and Lists box:

• Click on Reorder Links at the bottom of the box.
• Drag and drop the links into the order you want.
• Click on Update Link Order
  

Note: Descriptive text about a Links and Lists box as a whole can be entered at the top of the box.

A Simple Web Links box lets you to present online resources with brief descriptions that pop-up when the cursor is moved over the title.

Descriptions are limited to 256 characters.

(See Link Options for the differences between Links and Lists, Simple Web Links, and links in text boxes.)

Adding items to a Simple Web Links box:

• Click on Add a new Link
• Fill in the fields in the new link form (see the screenshot below) as follows:
  • Link Title: The name of the resource.
    • Add "(KU Community Only)" if it is a restricted resource.
      
  • Link URL: The web address of the resource, if it is online
    • Make sure to include the KU proxy prefix for a restricted resource by including it with the link URL.
    • Leave blank if it is not an online resource.
  • Description (Optional): A description of the resource, no more than 256 characters.
• Click on Create Link

Editing items in a Simple Web Links box:

• Log in to the page with the Simple Web Links box you want to edit.
• Click on the tools icon next to the item you want to edit. This will bring up the link form.
• Edit whichever field or fields you want to change. (You can also choose to delete the item.)
  
• Click on Save Changes.

Reordering items in a Simple Web Links box:

• Click on Reorder Links at the bottom of the box.
• Drag and drop the links into the order you want.
• Click on Update Link Order

Note: Descriptive text about a Simple Web Links box as a whole can be entered at the top of the box.

LibGuides provides two kinds of link boxes, Links and Lists and Simple Web Links.

In a Simple Web Links box, you enter the name of the link, the URL, and an optional description of up to 256 characters. The links appear in a bulleted list, with the descriptions appearing when you move the cursor over the name.

In a Links and Lists box, you enter the the name of the link, the URL, an optional description of up to 256 characters, and (also optional) additional information of unlimited length. The links appear in a bulleted list with the descriptions beneath the names and, if there is additional information, an icon that you click on to bring up that information.

Links can also be included in text boxes.

This page describes the advantages of link boxes, differences between the two types of link boxes, and possible reasons you might want to put links in text box.

Link Boxes:

• Automatically arrange resources into bulleted lists that are neater, more consistent, and easier to create than they are in text boxes.
  
• Automatically format descriptions of the resources on a separate line or in a pop-up box (depending on the type of link box.)
  
• Make it easier to manage and edit content, with each element (title, URL, description) of each link able to be edited via a form instead of having to move through a long block of text to make changes.
• Allow tracking of linked resources, showing how often each link in each box has been clicked on.
• Allow for global URL changes, making it possible to change all instances of a resource's URL (if necessary) in one step, instead of one at a time.
  
• Encourage concise descriptions. There are limits on the length of descriptions, but shorter descriptions are generally better and in keeping with our goal of less text-heavy guides. (There are sometimes good reasons for longer descriptions, but there are also other options for making them available.)

There are two possible disadvantages and reasons you might want to keep links in a text box:

1. Size limit on descriptions: A Simple Web Links box gives you only 256 characters for descriptions. A Links and Lists box gives you that and an additional pop-up description unlimited in size. There may be cases where you feel it's necessary to provide a longer description without a pop-up. In general, though, shorter is better; the longer the text, the less likely our users are to read it.
2. Inability to group links in a box: There may be cases where you'll want to group Web links by some category. You cannot do this in a single box (though you can create separate boxes on a page for different types of links.) You can also add descriptive text, with no size limitations, at the top of an Web links box, but only at the top.

An RSS Feed box dynamically and automatically displays the most recent information from a website that you designate.

Examples include news sites, blogs, database search results, journal tables of contents, and more.

An orange RSS icon in the address bar of your browser indicates that an RSS feed is available for the site you're on. Many sites and databases will display this icon or otherwise indicate that RSS feeds are there for particular content.

Adding a feed to an RSS Feed box:

• Click on Add RSS Feed
• Enter the URL for the RSS feed.
• Enter the number of items you want to show.  (The default is 5.)
  
• Click on Update

Editing a feed in an RSS Feed box:

• Click on Edit RSS Feed
• Edit the information you want to change.
• Click on Save Changes.
  

Note: Descriptive text about an RSS Feed box can be entered at the top of the box.

An Embedded Video box displays a video that a user can click on to play within your LibGuide.

Videos can be from YouTube or other video sharing sites that provide embedding code.

Note that many videos are too large for the left column, though they can be resized by changing the code 

Take care with this: YouTube embedding code has two instances of the dimensions for each video.  Look for width="XXX" height="XXX" where XXX corresponds to pixels, and ensure that both pairs match.

Adding a video to an Embeded Video box:

• Click on Embed a Video Clip
  
• Paste in the embedding code cut from the video sharing site.
  
• Click on Embed It
  

Editing a video link in an Embeded Video box:

• Click on Edit Video Link
  
• Edit the information you want to change.
• Click on Save Changes.
  

Note: Descriptive text about an Embedded Video box as a whole can be entered at the top of the box.

Ryu Reads Seuss (3:46)

This page shows many other box types available to you in LibGuides.

Needless to say the platform offers a broad palette of tools, most of which you might never have occasion to use.  LibGuides makes it pretty painless to experiment, though, so if you do have good results with a feature that you don't see others using, please share your successes with Bob and other LibGuides creators.

An Interactive Poll box enables you to create a poll on your page. Create a question and enter up to 7 choices for your poll. Each poll choice can have an associated URL.

Which of the following foods/beverages would you most like to see added to the menu of the Rohrbach Library café?

Use the Multimedia Box: Documents/Files box types if you want to link to an uploaded file or document. This is the only type of box that will allow you to upload.

A Documents/Files content box enables you to upload any number of files to your page.

• Individual files cannot be larger than 5MB each.

• File Names should be less than 100 characters
  
• It is best to use alphanmeric characters including a dash (-) or an underline (_). Others may not work when uploading.
  

• Each file can have a short description (255 characters).

Podcast Feed boxes provides links to the latest episodes of podcasts that you select.

Images can be added to any text box in LibGuides or to the text section of other kinds of boxes.

Your LibGuides account may include an Image Library to which you can upload images to use in your guides.  (This feature is part of a LibGuides add-on that can be added to your regular subscription.)

Don't have the add-on?  No worries!  You can still include images in your guides.  See the tab on Adding Images from the Web.

Information on this page covers:

• Adding images to your Image Library
• Inserting images from your library into your guides
• Managing images in your Image Library.

As your Image Library grows, it may become harder to find a particular image you are looking for. 

The Image Library does not include a folder system for organizing your images, but there is a Filter by Filename tool that can help you locate an image you're looking for by name.

Type some text into the tool and only those images that have that text as part of their filename will appear. 

Choose your image  filenames carefully to make the tool most effective.  You might, for instance, include the name of the guide as part of the file names  Images on this page, for example, include:

• gettingstarted-imagelibary.jpg
• gettingstarted-addimage.jpg, and
  
• gettingstarted-filter.jpg (shown below).
  

1. In the text editor, go to the place in a text box that you want the image to appear and click on the image icon (picture of a tree).
   
   
   
2. Click on the link (in red letters) that says "Click to upload an image from your computer or reuse an image in your personal image library."
   
   
   
3. Click on the Browse button, navigate through your computer's files to the image file you want to upload, and select it.  The file location should then appear in the Browse box.
   
   
   
4. Click on the Upload Image button. The image will be added to your Image Library and will appear with all of your other images.
   
   
   
5. Double click on the image and then hit the Insert button.  (To insert an image already in your Image Library, skip steps 3 & 4.) 
   NOTE: You can also type the name of an image file in the Filter by File Name box to find it among your images.  (See Managing Your Image Library at left for more on this.)
   
   
6. Depending on how you want to align the image, you can then either leave the alignment at "Not Set" or change it.   

NOTE: If you upload a new image but do not want to insert it immediately, just close the Image Manager box and hit cancel.  The uploaded image will remain available in your Image Library for later insertion into this or other guides.

You can certainly include images in your guides even if your LibGuides account does not include the Image Library add-on.  Following the steps below, simply reference image URLs from the open Web—or better yet, from your own server: creating a folder for your LibGuides images is a practical alternative when you don't have access to the add-on.

1. In the text editor, go to the place in a text box that you want the image to appear and click on the image icon (picture of a tree).
   
2. Enter the URL of the image where it says "Image URL."
   
   
   • To get the URL of an image on the Web, right-click on the image.  In Firefox, you can then click on "Copy image location" to grab it for pasting into LibGuides.  In Internet Explorer, click on "Properties" and highlight and copy the URL.



3. Depending on how you want to align the image, you can then either leave the alignment at "Not Set" or change it.  (See Aligning Text & Images for more information.)
4. Remember that an image you link to from the Web might not stay there forever.  If your library does not have the Image Library add-on, your best option might be to create a designated folder on your own server in which to store your LibGuides images.

In addition to entering the Image URL, there are several settings you can adjust when you add images to a LibGuides text box.  The box at right shows how to use some of these setting to align images with text.

Once you have added all of your content and are ready to publish, there are still a few more steps -- outlined on this page -- that you need to take.

Once these steps are completed, your guide will be published and will be listed on the LibGuides page for Rohrbach Library.

Of course, you can continue to make changes to the guide after it is published.

Reviewing your guide:

• To see what your guide will look like when published, click on Preview on the yellow command bar at the top of the page. The preview page will open in a new window.

Getting feedback:

• When you are ready for others to review your guide:
  • Change the status from Unpublished to Private.
    • Click on Status on the command bar.
    • Select Change Guide Status.
    • Select Change to Private from the status drop-down menu (the bottom menu in the box).
    • Click on Save Status.
  • Share the URL with your brain trust or think tank.  Be sure the guide's URL contains "...content.php..." in it, not "..."aecontent.php..."; the aecontent is the edit mode.)

Publishing your guide:

• After you're happy with the guide, you can publish it:
  • Add tags (under Guide Options at the top right). (Do not add tags until you are ready to publish.)
  • Give it a "friendly URL."
    • Click on Status on the command bar
    • Select Change Guide Status.
    • Enter a single word or words running together in the top box. (It will be appended to libguides.kutztown.edu as the friendly URL for the guide (i.e. libguides.library.kent.edu/getting started, libguides.library.kent.edu/webofscience, etc.)
  • Assign the guide to a subject catetgory. (Also done by clicking on Change Guide Status.)
  • Change the status from Private to Published.

This guide provides basic information to get you started with LibGuides. It does not pretend to cover everything.

The sources on this page point to other places to get help, ideas, and suggestions for your guides.

A growing LibGuides community is at work in a lot of great academic libraries.  You have local resources available as well: Bob Flatley is your LibGuides adminstrator, and those of us who have experimented will no doubt welcome your questions which give all of us a chance to learn more about making good use of this interesting and flexible tool.

Many thanks to Ken Liss, Communication Librarian at Boston College, for permission to use and adapt his masterful guide.

Note: This page had been redirecting to http://uiuc-training.libguides.com/content.php?pid=192908&sid=1617488, but as of 6/17/2015, this link is broken. It appears that the same content may now be on this page: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Getting Started with LibGuides - Editing Text.