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Libraries Indiana University Bloomington

The LibGuides Guide

This guide orients librarians and other library workers on the fundamentals of using and creating LibGuides

Asset types

Adding Assets

You can add assets at the bottom of a box by clicking add/reorder. The asset options will drop down and is shown to the right. Below is a break down of some of the most popular asset types with screenshots included to demonstrate what information is needed when you go in to add each asset type.

 

Rich Text/HTML

Rich Text/HTML sections of guides are meant for any contextualizing information, including explanatory text, images, videos. LibGuides are meant to help users know not just what resources we have, but also why they might be useful and how to navigate them. You'll want to include that additional information to accompany all of the fantastic information resources you want to share through your LibGuide!

 

Database

IU Libraries A-Z database list tops over 1600 databases. So you can image how students and faculty can get lost trying to decide which ones to search in. This is where the guide in LibGuide comes in. You can link to specific library databases in your guides through and then add a description of why that particular database will be useful for the users of the guide.

Screen shot of the search menu to add a database to a libguide

Link

You can link in HTML, but if you'd like to track click through rates, adding links as assets is your better bet. Even though in the link asset, there's an option to describe the link, please name links descriptively! The description should be more of a description on how its useful, not what it is.

A descriptive link name ought to:

  • Be short and concise; a phrase at max
  • tell the user where the link goes to
  • use active language and verbs

An example of what not to do:

Click Here!

 

Screen shot of the form to add a link to a libguide

Book from Catalog

LibGuides can be a great place to house your curated book lists on your subject specialties! To create a booklist, you can add a box to label the booklist, and then start adding books from IUCAT into your LibGuide. Doing this will allow users to find and request titles with just a few clicks!

Screen shot of the form used to add a book from the catalog to the libguide

Document/File

Upload specific documents and host it in LibGuides if there are unique documents that could help with a course, such as handouts, worksheets, or reports you want to share as part of your outreach and instruction efforts.

Screen shot of the form to add a document or file directly to a libguide

 

Poll

Polls are great for quick assessment and to add a layer of user engagement to yours. This can be a simple question to build commadery and engagement with a user, or it could be used to do a quick gauge on how useful the content on your guide is.

Screen shot of the search menu to add a database to a libguide