Creating a LibGuide

There are three options for publication status within LibGuides - unpublished, published, and private. Below are brief descriptions of each.

Publishing Checklist

Before publishing your guide, please review the following, 

• Author has reviewed Best Practices prior to creating their guide.
• Guide name is clear, concise, and formatted properly (course guides).
• Guide has a clear visual hierarchy and includes headings where necessary.
• Contact information is listed on first page or otherwise cleared designated contact page.
• Colors and fonts are standardized within guide (same size, style, and color. Only bold, italic, or underline are used to distinguish text).
• List of links are limited to roughly the top 10 most important.
• Guide has been given the appropriate Subjects assigned to it.
• Guide has appropriate Type/Group selections.
• Guide has been given a "friendly" URL.

When the answers to the questions above are all "yes", you're ready to publish!

Changing Publication Status

To change the publication status, 

1. While in edit mode, click on the current guide status located in the upper right corner of the page.
2. Select Change Status & Share.
3. From the publication status drop down menu, choose a "Published."
4. Click "Save."

Please remember to check and update your guide regularly. You can find helpful tips for guide maintenance on the Guide Maintenance section below.

Resources, websites, and information change constantly so it's critical to perform regular guide maintenance. A few things to consider when updating your guides:

• When was the last time you reviewed the content? 
  • Guides should be reviewed annually.
• Are the links still relevant and working?
  • Websites change frequently so you may need to update a few URLs, or replace it entirely with a different resource. Use the built in Link Checker tool to check your links. 
  • Reminder: use the correct link type – these means:
    • If you’re adding a database from the A-Z List, you must use the Database Asset.
    • If you’re adding a website from the internet, you should be using a Link Asset – especially if it is part of a list!
    • You can add HTML hyperlinked rich text links to paragraphs, but do so sparingly as these links are much more time consuming to manage and maintain – that means more work for you!
• Does the organizational structure and hierarchy still make sense?
  • After updating links and adding new resources, you might need to rearrange your content in a way that makes more sense for the user.
• Consider the sources (voices, perspectives, and experiences) on your guide. Are there voices that are missing? 
  • Make sure you're providing resources from a variety of resources and diverse backgrounds so that all of your students can see themselves in your work and relate to the content as much as possible. If this isn't possible (limited references in the field), consider adding a statement acknowledging this.

Guide Maintenance Checklist

If your guide needs extensive technical updates, use the Guide Maintenance Checklist below and unpublish your guide temporarily while those changes are being made.