Category Archives: LibGuides Updates

Maps and Geospatial LibGuide updates

By: Tara Anthony

This semester, the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information made some updates to the Maps and Geospatial LibGuides that may be of interest to users in different disciplines. Some of the major updates are highlighted below:  

Maps & Geospatial: ArcGIS Online: New pages on integrating into classroom assignments, the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information ArcGIS Hub, and accessibility were added.  These pages support individual users and instructors in their process of learning about ArcGIS Online and StoryMaps for assignments and research.  

Maps & Geospatial: ArcGIS Pro: New page on accessibility added for additional information on accessibility settings.  

Maps & Geospatial: Emerging Technologies: New page on geospatial artificial intelligence related to overview resources, example research publications, and learning resources. 

Maps & Geospatial: Remotely Sensed Data: Additional content added to national and international pages as relevant data sources to examine for users to consider related to imagery sources. 

Research guides A/B testing

by Alex T. Brown, web analytics specialist and Web Implementation Management Team (WIMT) member

As the Research Guides are being transferred over to LibGuides, we are presented with a great
opportunity to assess the usability and efficiency of the current Research Guides landing page. In order to do so, we are conducting A/B testing on the research guides landing page to experiment with utilization of page real estate above the fold. As we strive to streamline our users to the appropriate resources as efficiently and effectively as possible, we recognize several areas that can be improved upon. With A/B testing, we can test our hypotheses about ways to improve any given webpage, and ensure that what we implement is an improvement and not a hindrance. We look forward to seeing the results of our testing!

Latest from LibGuides

by Helen Smith

As of August 13 we have over 70 published libguides! We also have over 3,500 links added to the system already. One of the great things that LibGuides will allow us to do is to see statistics on our assets. If all guides use the same version of a link, then statistics for that link will be all in one place. Won’t it be great to be able to see that link X has been clicked on XX times? So rather than assuming no one else has used the link you are inputting, take a moment to search in the “reuse existing link” option to double check.

Subject and Campus librarians should make sure they have updated their profiles. Your profile is a great way to connect with your users, and are also another way that users will be able to find guides, since the guides you own will be listed in your profile! Even if they don’t edit the guide, the subject expert should be listed as the owner of the guide — this can be changed during the review process, just add a note to the guide to the effect of ‘change guide ownership to XXXXX’ when you submit it for review (the subject expert must have an account and profile in LibGuides).

Contact the LibGuides Expert Team (ul-lget@psu.edu) if you have any questions!

LibGuides migration update

by Amanda Clossen, learning design librarian

The LibGuides Expert Team would like to thank everyone for your dedication to the LibGuides migration! This is new territory for us, and there’s been a lot that needs to be addressed as we move such an enormous amount of content from one system to another. When we set up the processes and procedures for our ambitious timeline, the LibGuides Expert Team had three goals in mind. First, was to ensure the continued quality of our guide content, second was to ensure that this transition was feasible for the Libraries’ faculty and staff, and third, to see that as much as possible could take place before classes started.

We understand that for many units, full migration will have not taken place by the fall semester. We want to let you know that this is no cause for alarm. The hard deadline for guide migration is January 1, 2016. At that point in time, we will be well on our way to changing our Guides landing page from solely an alphabetical list to a tool that allows for more browsing flexibility (as WELL as an alphabetical listing of guides). Many of the current requirements for guides are in anticipation of this transition. As guides are submitted and approved, the current links in the A-Z guide list are changed to redirect to the new guides. This means, for instance, if you link to the APA citation guide in one of your old OR new LibGuides, the link will continue work, linking to the current guide, and then linking to the new guide when it is migrated.

Due to the diligence of our campus colleagues, a number of the campus course guides are already transitioned! We also commend the campuses who have started to build course guides for the first time. Since they have done so much work, we are looking to migrate the campus course guide pages for each campus to the LibGuide version before the beginning of the semester.

Take a look at the Shenango page for an example of a campus course guide page.

If you are just getting started with your own migration, take a look at a few stellar guides as an example:

As always, please let the LibGuides Expert Team (ul-lget@lists.psu.edu) know if you have any questions.

LibGuides Update: How should my guide look?

Not sure what your guide should look like? Please take a look at this example guide, for some guidance.

The question of links to other guides has come up: will links to other guides need to be changed as those guides change? The answer is “No!” During the transition, and until the landing page is changed, redirect links will be created to all guides. That means if, if in a new guide, you link to an old guide, that link will continue to work! Keep in mind that, eventually, these links will need to be updated to the LibGuides version, but for the transition, old links will continue to work!

Reminder that campus LibGuides training will be held Tuesday, July 28, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., at Berks (lunch is provided): Register here. Please register by July 21. — Amanda Clossen and Helen Smith

LibGuides workshops

Now that the LibGuides training is live, please remember to request LibGuides access using I-Tech’s Account Request System on their homepage. Generally only supervisors can request accounts, so if you cannot access the form, please ask your supervisor to request an account for you. The account type requested should be “regular.”

We’re happy to announce our full schedule of additional training workshops:

  • Wednesday, June 24 10:00 a.m. -noon and 2:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. at University Park, in W140 Pattee (repeat drop in sessions)
  • Tuesday, July 7 10:00 a.m.- noon and 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., at University Park, in W140 Pattee (repeat drop in sessions)
  • Thursday, July 16, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM at New Kensington (Lunch is provided.) : Register Here
  • Tuesday, July 28, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM at Berks (Lunch is provided) : Register here
    Please register by July 9 for New Kensington and July 21 for Berks.

LibGuides Update: Online training is live!

The LibGuides Expert team is happy to announce that the LibGuides online training is live! You will need to complete this training before getting a LibGuides account. Once you finish the training you will need to ask your supervisor to request an account through I-Tech’s Account Request System found on their homepage.

Optional in-person hands on workshops are scheduled at University Park for June 24 and July 7, at 10am and 2pm. They will be held in Pattee W140, the lab in the Media Commons. Each workshop will be the same, so you only need to attend one (though we recommend that folks who are not going to ALA attend a June 24 workshop if possible). Workshop dates for the Western and Eastern campuses will be announced very soon! Workshop attendees will be expected to have already completed the online training, have a LibGuides account, and be ready to work on an actual guide.

We understand that the Guides migration is a huge task, and units across the libraries will approach this process differently. To make certain this process goes smoothly, we have assigned an Expert Team liaison to each unit. They will be in contact throughout the process.

If your unit is not represented, please contact Amanda Clossen (asc17@psu.edu)

Although you can always contact the LibGuides Expert Team directly, we encourage you to contact your liaison with any questions you might have about the transition.

Upcoming LibGuides training sessions

The LibGuides Expert Team would like you to save the date for our upcoming LibGuides training sessions at University Park. Sessions will be held on 6/24 and 7/7, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., in room W140. We encourage those who are not going to be at ALA to attend the June session, leaving space for our traveling colleagues. Dates for eastern and western campus trainings will be announced soon! Training sessions can also be scheduled individually and for units by contacting the LibGuides Expert Team. — LibGuides Expert Team

LibGuides migration update

Summer is nearly here, and with it is the LibGuides migration. Remember, LibGuides is designed to be user friendly. If you didn’t create guides in the CMS because it seemed too complicated, you might want to consider LibGuides training! The LibGuides Expert Team will be providing online training materials to make this process easy. In-person training workshops with a lot of time for guide creators to work on their content will be held on June 24 and July 7 from 10:00 a.m. – noon and 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., at University Park (Knowledge Commons 140). Training at the western and eastern campuses will be announced shortly!

Here is a reminder of the timeline for the migration:

  • Currently: The LibGuides Expert Team is doing the pilot migration of Library Learning Services Guides and Life Sciences, as well as creating training materials. Guide authors should be reviewing their guide content and prioritizing guides for migration this summer.
  • Early June: Training materials will be posted for Libraries’ employees to complete. Once training is completed, we will send out the link to all faculty and current CMS authors. LibGuides access can be requested using the account request system. This process will need to be followed by anyone who wants to create guides. With the release of the training materials, the migration will begin.
  • July 15: LibGuides Expert Team will check in with Guide owners on migration status.
    August 15: Guides that will be used for fall semester should be migrated. The LibGuides Expert Team will review new guides for accessibility and other content standards.

Remember, the LibGuides Expert Team is here to help you! If you need assistance or have questions or concerns about meeting the timeline above, please contact the LibGuides Expert Team at ul-lget@lists.psu.edu. — Submitted by the LibGuides Expert Team