Class Guide

• Format: [Subject Abbreviation] [Course Number] [Course Title] Guide
  • Example: CSCI 258 Game Design Guide
  • If your guide serves multiple classes:
    • Example 1: CISP 220, 303, 316 Guide
    • Example 2: CISP 220, 303, 316 (Web Tools) Guide

*Required Course Materials* Class Guide

• Format: [Subject Abbreviation] [Course Number] Required Course Materials
  • ​Example: BUSN 489 Required Course Materials

Subject Guide

• Format: [Subject] Library Guide
  • Example: Management Library Guide

Not a Class or Subject Guide

• Format: [Topic] Guide
  • Example: Wifi Guide

• Aim to have 5 pages or less per guide
  • Maximum: 7 pages
• Use Redirect URL when your page acts as a link to an existing webpage.
  • Select Open redirect URL in new window? only if the redirect link takes them to a different guide within DU Library Guides.

• Each page title should have 4 words or (preferrably) less
• Use terms that a new library user could understand
• Use ampersand (&) in place of the word and

Create a friendly URL for the guide AND each page

• Don't use:
  • capital letters
  • punctuation or symbols (except hyphens)
  • spaces
  • underscores
  • stop words (and, or, the, but, of, a)
• try to match the URL to the title of the guide
• Use shorter and more commonly known words
• Use hyphens to separate multiple words (e.g. sports-management)
• Guide-Level URL: should concisely describe the guide (e.g. wifi or busn303)
• Page-Level URL:
  • should quickly describe the page (e.g. busn303/databases)
  • sub-pages: should reflect its position as a sub-page.
    • Example: If "Best Databases" is a sub-page of BUSN 303 Databases, friendly URL = busn303/databases/best-databases

• Select subject(s) that best match your guide by:
  1. choosing from pre-existing subjects, and/or
  2. if your guide seems to identify with a subject not already listed, contact the DU Library Digital Team

Example:

To ensure our libguides are embedded within the appropriate Blackboard course shells, we must add precise metadata to every libguide designed to directly assist specific DU courses/subjects (please disregard if you are building a libguide that is not directly attached to a DU course or subject):

1. Select the Gear icon 
2. Click "Guide Metadata"
3. Click "Custom Metadata"
4. For "Name" enter lti (all lowercase, no spaces or punctuation)
5. For "Value," use the Academic Catalogs to determine the appropriate course/subject code (it will look for courses that start with the metadata you enter). Enter the metadata exactly as it appears in the catalog (including capitalization):

   Blackboard-LibGuide Metadata Examples

   LibGuide Metadata Value	Blackboard Courses Linking to This LibGuide
   COMM	COMM120, COMM311, COMM313, COMM315, COMM385
   COMM311	COMM311

6. Select the "Public?" checkbox
7. You can enter multiple lines of metadata if your guide matches different classes/subjects (repeat steps 1-6 for each new metadata entry)
8. Click "Close"

If your class is a "Required Course Materials" class, add the tag required (to ensure it shows up on the homepage)

• Boxes should be placed in the middle column (not in the left-navigation column, under the navigation menu)
• In every guide with 2+ pages of content, ensure "Show Box-Level Navigation for Selected Guides" is selected:
  •    > "Guide Navigation Layout" > "Show box-level navigation for selected page"
• If the title of the first box on your guide duplicates the page title, select the "floating box" option for your box so that the duplication is removed.
  • Duplication example (from live/preview mode):
    
  • How to select a floating box:
    
  • Result:
    

Get Help Page

The last page of your course/subject guide should:

• Be titled Get Help From [Your First Name] (e.g. Get Help From Brian)
• Have help as the friendly URL
• Have your profile box at the top of the page
  1. Select Add Box
  2. Change Type to Profile
  3. Select Floating Box
  4. Click Save

Everything except setting the friendly URL should happen by default when using our *New Guide Template With 2 or More Pages

Set Your Profile Information

Go to LibApps > My Profile to set your profile.

• Required Profile Information:
  • Address: Copy-and-paste the following:
    • For GR-Lettinga: 

      W.A. Lettinga Campus (Grand Rapids)

    • For Lansing:

      Lansing Campus

    • For Midland:

      Great Lakes Bay Campus (Midland)

    • For Warren: 

      Warren Campus

  • Phone: Copy-and-paste the following (substituting all X's with your actual phone number): 

    XXX.XXX.XXXX (Ext. XXXX)

  • Email Address: insert your e-mail address
• ​Sample:
  
• ​Optional: Profile Information (done via LibApps > My Profile):
  • Website/Blog: insert if you have a professional website users may be interested in
  • LibAnswers Widget Code: you can create a personal chat widget in LibAnswers and then insert the widget code here

• Is your guide a subject or class guide?
  • Yes: it should be Public
  • No:
    • Choose Public if it should be indexed and searchable in Summon and LibGuides
    • Choose Private if it should only be accessed via URL

All guides should have "previous" and "next" options at the bottom of each page:

1. Click Guide Layout
2. Click Prev / Next Links
3. Check the box to display the links

As part of the new guide templates, all guides with 2 or more pages will automatically have "previous" and "next" buttons inserted at the bottom of each page.