USC LibGuides Committee Toolkit

Published: Indexed on the public website and accessible by everyone

Unpublished: Not indexed and only viewable by owners, editors, and administrators when logged into LibGuides

Private: Not indexed and only available to those with a URL.

Deleted: The guide itself is deleted. Links to assets and databases used on a deleted guide are not deleted: these remain in the LibGuides system.

STEP 1: Before publishing, make sure to preview your guide by clicking the  

STEP 2: Use the drop down menu in the upper right corner to change the status of a guide.

STEP 3: Change the guide status to "Published" and click Save.

LibGuides Account

• Your profile box has a photo (preferably of you) and includes your contact information (office address, email, phone number)
• Your profile box is available on the main page
• Your profile box is located on the left side of the page
• If you choose not to show your own profile box, you have added contact information for the libraries' reference services.

Creating a Guide

• Your guide has a friendly URL
• Your pages have friendly URLs
• Your guide has been assigned a subject and/or tags

Adding Content

• You've reused pages, boxes, and assets when possible
• You've used the A-Z Database list to link to databases
• You've included short descriptions under your links

Maintaining a Guide

• Use the Link Checker (under the Tools menu) to check links on your guides. Review and update broken links.
• Examine the tags and subjects assigned to your guide, and update as needed.

If a guide owner determines a guide is no longer necessary, they can unpublish or delete the guide.

As of January 2024, the USC Libraries have over 400 published LibGuides. Unpublishing guides makes it easier for patrons and librarians to find relevant LibGuides, as unpublished guides do not appear on the Research Guide Subject homepage or individual subject pages like the Reference Subject Guides homepage.

Deleting guides reduces the number of guides visible in our system to logged-in users. Reducing the number of guides makes it easier for librarians to maintain their active guides by reducing the number of guides they are responsible for. Deleting unused or old guides can allow new librarians to create new guides with relevant help for current library users.

Unpublishing a guide means that the guide is still saved in the LibGuides platform, and can be viewed, edited, and re-published. You might unpublish a guide when it is for a class, event, or activity that occurs at a set schedule and that you anticipate re-occurring. If you are no longer in charge of a guide given changes to your work title or duties, transfer ownership of the guide as discussed later in this page and let the owner decide whether to unpublish or maintain. The USC Libraries have over 300 unpublished guides. Librarians should regularly review their unpublished guides and consider deleting them.

Deleting a guide means that the guide is gone. It cannot be viewed or re-published. It is rare that an active guide would be deleted. Typically, if considering deletion, try unpublishing the guide and waiting a few months; if you receive contact from patrons or colleagues expressing interest, you can re-publish the guide.

Librarians should annually review their unpublished guides and consider deleting them. For unpublished guides you are considering deleting, factors that would lead to choosing to delete might be:

• If the guide duplicates information available on a published guide. There is typically not a need to make separate guides, assets, and boxes; the purpose of content management system like LibGuides is to re-use content instead of making new, as re-used content can be updated across the whole system instantly.
• The age of the guide, and the time it might take you to update links and re-organize content to prepare the guide for use. LibGuides as a platform is continually updating with new features and tools; it might be easier and quicker to build a new guide rather than edit an old guide significantly.

If you plan to delete a guide, it is a courtesy to inform the USC Libraries staff and faculty who create LibGuides, as they may have links to your guide or have copied boxes that you will be deleting. Put a notice in the LibGuides slack channel (#apps-libguides) and contact the LibGuides Committee by email with the names of the guides you will be deleting.

In the LibGuides system, individuals own specific guides and assets. Only the owner can make changes to these items. This can cause problems when someone leaves the Libraries or their role changes in the Libraries: only admins (members of the LibGuides Committee) can later edit the materials they created.

If you own assets or guides, and will be changing roles, it is important that the ownership of your items be transferred to another person. It is up to the owner of the guide or asset to decide to whom this should be transferred: the LibGuides Committee does not make this decision.

Before or soon after someone changes roles in the libraries, they or their supervisor should contact the LibGuides Committee by email with a list of the guides and assets, and their new owners. Or, before a role is changed, the owner can make changes, too.

To change a guide owner:

Go to the A-Z list of guides and select the "Change Guide owner" command:

On the popup, use  the pull-down menu to see a list of all other users and select one:

Tip: select "reassign ownership of individual items owned by [prior guide owner] to be owned by the new guide owner" to transfer all assets on this guide to the new owner.

To change an asset owner:

Go to the Asset A-Z list and search or browse for the asset you own. Click the Action button:

Use the "Owner" pull down menu to select a new owner, then click save: