Getting Started: Review & Publish

LibGuides instructions and help for the staff of Columbia University Libraries.

Almost There!

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. (For now, "published" simply means you're letting the LibGuides Team know that this guide is completely migrated.*)

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

 

*While we're still migrating guides, "published" means that your guide will be findable on our beta LibGuides site, but will not be linked to CourseWorks or to the existing library website. The LibGuides Team will finish this work at the end of the migration period, to have CourseWorks guides linked within CourseWorks when the Spring 2015 semester begins.

Updating Your Guide

MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE SUGGESTIONS BASED ON CONTENT

HOW TO MAKE A BROKEN LINK REPORT

SEARCHING FOR MISDIRECTED LINKS

Custom URLs

When creating LibGuides, there is an option to create a custom URL for each guide. This is required for CourseWorks Guides (see below), as the custom URL enables the guides to be linked in CourseWorks. It is suggested (but not required) for Research Guides, to make them easier for patrons to remember and find.

CourseWorks Guide Custom URLs

NOTE: All CourseWorks Guides MUST have a custom URL so that they are correctly linked within CourseWorks. The naming format is as follows (each section separated by a dash): SUBJECT-CLASSNUMBER-SECTION.

For Journalism 6002, section 015:  http://guides.library.columbia.edu/JOUR-J6002-015

For Journalism 6002 (all sections):  http://guides.library.columbia.edu/JOUR-J6002

For Journalism (department-level guide):  http://guides.library.columbia.edu/JOUR

Research Guide Custom URLs

When giving your guide a custom URL, please use the name of the subject. If it is a topic-specific guide, you may use the name of the subject, a dash, and the topic name.

  • Research Guide for journalism:   http://guides.library.columbia.edu/journalism
  • Research Guide (in journalism) on finding data:   http://guides.library.columbia.edu/journalism-data

Review and Publish

Preview (and Review)

  • To see what your guide will look like when published, click on the eye icon at the top right (below the orange menu bar). The preview page will open in a new window.
  • This allows you to double-check formatting and links. 

Get Feedback ("Private" Status)

  • This step is optional. When you are ready for others to review your guide:
    • Change the guide's publication status (in the upper right, below the orange menu bar) from "Unpublished" to "Private" using drop-down menu.
      • Click on "Update Guide Status" in the pop-up window.
    • Now you can email the link to this guide to anyone to whom you'd like to review it. This link will work for people outside the CUL system, for instance if you want to show a CourseWorks guide to a faculty member or a 2CUL guide to a Cornell librarian.

Go Public: Publish!

First, give it a "friendly URL." To create a friendly URL for the entire guide, look for the URL just under the guide title and description. (Note: Be sure this only says "URL," not "Page URL," as the latter only changes the URL for a specific tab/page.) Click on the blue pencil icon to edit the URL. Now enter a word (or words) to identify your guide--refer to the naming Best Practices (box above) to choose a good guide URL. Try to be brief. Now click "save."

Optional: You can also enter a friendly URL for each of your tabs/pages. First click to the relevant page, then click on the blue pencil icon next to the "Page URL", which appears under the tab bar. 

Now change the guide status from "Private" (or "Unpublished") to "Published." Use the drop-down menu at the top right, below the orange menu bar.

Optional:

  • Assign the guide to a subject category (does not apply to CourseWorks Guides).
  • Add tags (under the Assigned Tags tab). (Do not add tags until you are ready to publish.) Hit the Save button.