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University LibGuides Administration & Style: Guide Organization

Introduction

This section describes the functions, features, policies and best practices for organizing LibGuides content in the CMS backend.

Guide Organization

Groups

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

Features: Each guide can have one Group assigned.

Policy: Each Group is a website; these may be departmental or topical.  

  • 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.

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

 

Types

Function: 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.

Features: Each guide can have one Type assigned.

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.

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

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

  • Topic Guide:  assign to public-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

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

Features: 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.

Policy: 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

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

Features: 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. 

Policy: 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)

Guide Naming Conventions

Guide and Page Names

Departments should develop their own standards for how guides and page are named. A well-thought plan out is strongly recommended as this will impact the discoverability and organization of each Department’s content in the CMS. Keep in mind that guide and page names will appear in the bread crumb navigation, which we require to meet web usability and accessibility standards.
 

Friendly URLs

  • Are required on all new and existing guides and pages;

  • Must not contain spaces or non-alphanumeric characters ( - * & > " );

  • Must never be removed or altered on a guide once the link has been established without consent of the Department Administrator;

  • Must be unique. To maximize the number of unique available friendly URLs, each URL begins with the department name or university-wide topical area as follows.

Department

Friendly URL

Student Success Advising

academicadvising

Academic Residencies

residencies

Academic Skills Center

asc

Career Services

careerservices

Student Wellness and Disability Services

disabilityservices

Field Experience

fieldexperience

Library

library

Military Services

militaryservices

Customer Care

sst

Student Affairs

studentaffairs

Writing Center

writingcenter

Center for Accelerated Learning

acceleratedlearning

Office of Research and Doctoral Services

researchcenter

Office of Academic Support

cae

 

Homepage Examples

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/library

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/css

Recommendation: for readability separate department, guide, and page by a forward slash / :

 

Page/Guide Examples

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/disabilityservices/contactus

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/fieldexperience/aguide

  • https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/aguide/apage

The following types of guides are shared by multiple departments and should use the following friendly URLs:

Guides

Friendly URL

Course guides

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/code####

Peer-review guide

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/css/peerreview

Literature review guide

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/css/litreview

APA guide

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/css/APA

Guide Structure

Guides: contain pages, boxes, and content. A new guide should be created around a specific topic.

Pages:  provide structure to the guide and contain boxes and content. Pages also create navigation to the guide through tabs or links. Pages should be added to a guide to chunk content.

Boxes:  contain the content you want to share, including text, media, and links. They are only containers. Boxes can be reused or copied between pages and guides. You can place as many boxes on a page as you wish. Boxes should be added to pages to structure and chunk content.

Content Items:  is the actual content that goes into the Boxes, including text, media, and links.

Guide nesting structure with guides, pages, boxes, and content items

Image: Springshare