University LibGuides Admin Guide: Guide Organization

Groups

Groups are used to categorize, filter and search guides internally and externally by Walden Department (i.e. Library).

Each guide can have one Group assigned.

Each Group is a Department (i.e. Library).  There may be exceptions to this rule when a Department requires more than one group to organize content when Type, Subjects, and Tags aren’t appropriate.

Departments only have access to their Group(s).

The number of Groups in the system should be kept to a minimum and rarely changed.

Widgets and APIs should typically be restricted to the Department’s Group(s).

Groups are managed by the System Administrator. [WU4] 

Unique headers, Google Analytics tracking codes, and surveys will be configured on the Group.

Types

Types are used to categorize, filter and search guides internally by purpose. Types are defined at the right with policies or best practices for use:

Each guide can have one Type assigned.

Types are a LibGuides system list that cannot be changed. UPDATE: These will be customizable once the language features are released by Springshare.

Policy:

Course Guide:  assign to student-facing Course Guides only (i.e. Course Readings)

Template Guide:  guide templates that can be reused to create new guides. Assign to guides that serve as templates.

Best Practice:

General Purpose:  assign to guides that serve as general web pages (i.e. Homepage, About page) or any guides that doesn’t fit one of the types below. Assign this type sparingly as it provides little information about the guide.

Subject Guide:  assign to patron-facing guides that focus on academic subjects (i.e. Articles by Topic pages)

Topic Guide:  assign to patron-facing guides that focus on instructional topics (i.e. Library Skills, Topic Guides)

Internal Guide:  Assign to guides that should only be viewable internally to staff  (i.e. Training & Documentation)

Subjects

Subjects are used to categorize and search guides internally and externally by the subject-content.

Each guide can have as many Subjects assigned and vice versa.

Subjects can be created in the Admin module by Department Administrators as well as Regular users who have been granted this optional permission.

Subjects can be assigned subject experts (users) who will appear if the profile box is added to the guide.

Subjects are assigned a URL, which can be used anywhere to aggregate guides on a particular subject.

Departments should develop their own standards for how Subjects are created and used to categorize content. A well-thought out plan and definition of subjects is strongly recommended as this will impact the discoverability and organization of each Department’s content in the CMS and externally.

Tags

Tags are used to categorize and search guides externally by more specific subject-content.

Each guide can have many Tags assigned and vice versa.

Tags can be created within the Guide by any user.

Tags can be reused on other Guides. 

Departments should develop their own standards for how Tags are used and how users create and assign Tags. A well-thought out plan and definition of tags is strongly recommended as this will impact the discoverability and organization of Department’s content in the CMS and externally.

Tags should be:

• optional;
• all lower-case;
• brief (1-2 words; spaces are allowed);
• singular or plural: use the version that patrons would most naturally use in a search (don’t use both versions);[WU7] 
• present-tense:  for action verbs (i.e. “search”, not “searches” or “searched”).
• Tags should also be reused if they already exist in the system.

Examples

Library skills guide about using Google Scholar:

• Group:  Library  (Department)
• Type:  Topic Guide  (purpose)
• Subjects:  Library Skills  (broad, relevant terms)
• Tags:  google, full text, database, scholarly  (specific, relevant terms)

Library course readings and assignment help for ACCT 4005 Federal Taxation I: Individual Taxation:

• Group:  Course Guide  (Shared Content/Department: CSS)
• Type:  Course Guide  (purpose)
• Subjects:  Course Readings, Assignment Help, ACCT  (broad, relevant terms)
• Tags:  accounting, lexis nexis  (specific, relevant terms)