--REFER TO THIS GUIDE 

The following is a brief list of guidelines that you should follow when working on your LibGuide. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please contact a member of the LibGuides Committee (Harry Llull, Stephen Cunetto, Li Zhang, Brad Brazzeal, or Julie Shedd). 

Note: these guidelines are a work in progress and are subject to change or addition.

• LibGuides makes available several types of content boxes. You can use any of these at your discretion. However, please note that Web Services does not necessarily have any control over how or whether some types of boxes work properly.
• If you have a quick problem or question, such as a small formatting problem, contact Julie. If you have a larger problem or question, please use the Report A Problem link in the footer to enter a ticket. We will address your problem as soon as possible.
• LibGuides makes it easy to share content, even take other authors’ content. Before you copy or link any content that is not in the common content-sharing area, be sure to ask the author for permission. Also, be sure to attribute that person’s work properly.
• If you get a notification from LibGuides that someone has used your content without asking you first, notify your contact person and send the offender an e-mail politely asking him to attribute your work to you. (The politeness is doubly important because he may only have intended to use it as a template, not to steal your content.)

Images

• LibGuides does not allow you to upload your own pictures to illustrate your LibGuide. If you have a picture you’d like to place on your guide, e-mail it to Julie. She will save it on the Library’s server and provide you with an URL to use. Do not hotlink to any picture not hosted by the Library (that is, do not link to a picture’s location on its host site).
• Use only images that are clear and crisp, and that have some relevance to your subject matter. Do not use “clipart.”
• Just as with other content, be sure to correctly attribute images.

Library Resources

• When listing or otherwise referring to library resources, link to them. This includes individual web pages, departments, services, tutorials and workshops, other LibGuides, items in the Online Catalog, e-journals, indexes and databases, and digital collections.
• When discussing the Library’s journal holdings in a subject area, be as specific as possible, and use links. For example, do not simply say “The library carries ten journals about art history”; provide a link to each journal. If your subject area is published in more than ten journals, a link to the subject area is sufficient. See the tutorial for more details.
• Provide your users with a federated search box tailored to your LibGuide’s subject. See the how-to for more details.
• Before linking to journals, databases, or other Library resources that require affiliation with the University for access, copy and paste the following statement:

  The icon indicates that you must be a current MSU faculty member, staff member, or student to access this resource.

  If you are using either of the Links boxes, you can denote whether a resource requires users to be faculty/staff/student in the Description, or if your whole list requires this, you can note it in the introduction to the links. You won't be able to put the lock icon into the Description field, but that's okay--just make it clear that you have to be faculty/staff/student to access those links.

 Your User Profile

• Your user profile should be displayed on at least the first page of your LibGuide.
• Your profile should include your staff profile picture. If you do not wish to use this picture, simply leave your picture blank.
• Use of the Meebo chat widget option is discouraged.

Styling

• Use only the default font style; do not change the font size or face. You may bold, italicize, or underline as needed, and you may make headers and links slightly larger.
• Do not change box or tab colors.

Page Layout

• You may change your pages’ layouts from 3 to 2 to 1 column as you see fit.
• If you have a page of RSS feed boxes, please use the 2- or 1-column layout, so that all of the RSS feed boxes are in a single column. This is easier on users’ eyes.
• Limit the number of tabs you use. Tabs are best used as a way to gather information on a broad topic. Use content boxes to organize information further. (For example, rather than having separate tabs for “Informational Websites,” “Blogs,” and “Offic ial Government Websites,” consider one tab labeled “Related Websites,” with content boxes marked “Informational Websites,” “Blogs,” etc.)
• How do you know if you have too many tabs? On your desktop, right-click and choose Properties. On the Display Settings tab, change your screen resolution to 800x600. Bring your guide back up on screen. If all you see are tabs, you probably have too many tabs!

• Check your links every 6 months to make sure they are still active.
• Use links to Library resources any time you mention them. (For instance, don’t mention Ask A Librarian without making that text a link to Ask A Librarian.)
• For MSU Library links, use friendly URLs wherever possible. (A friendly URL looks more like http://library.msstate.edu/digitalcollections/index.asp than http://library.msstate.edu/content/templates/?a=1459.) If you cannot find a friendly URL for a particular link, put in a ticket and we will send one to you.
• All links should open in a new window.
• Select proper categories for your LibGuide, and always add tags.

“Deep Linking” to Library Resources

• Link to specific e-journals, indexes, and databases, when appropriate. Always place the proxy URL in front of one of these links.
• Link to specific items in the Online Catalog or to general categories of items where appropriate.

• Check all links to make sure they work. Make sure you have added the proxy URL to all of the database and journal URLs.
• Make sure all of your catalog links point to the new catalog.
• Make sure you’ve sent any images to Julie and entered the URL she sent you. LibGuides cannot read links to the L drive. Make sure any images are properly attributed.
• Make sure all your content is up to date.
• Is someone supposed to review your work? If so, they should do so before the guide goes live.
• Have you created a friendly URL for your guide? It is not required, but you may if you wish.
• Does your guide have multiple editors? If so, make sure your guide includes their profiles as well as yours. You can use the “Editors” box from the how-to guide, or you can simply copy their profile from one of their guides and paste it into the Rich Text Editor.
• Is everything SPELLED CORRECTLY?!

If everything on this checklist is done…

• Click on the Report A Problem link in the footer. In the ticket, include the name of the guide for which you are requesting review, and any noticeable formatting problems.
• Julie will review your guide, fix any formatting problems, check links, etc.
• If everything is good, Julie will set your guide’s status to PUBLISH.
• You should then add subject categories and tags to your guide.

If you have any questions or problems along the way,

contact your designated LibGuide helper.