Talk on "What is Libguides?" - presented by Rosalind Pan, (Head of Outreach, UCD Library) at the ANLTC Seminar on "Using LibGuides: from simple online guides to complete library websites", at University College Dublin on Wednesday, 25th March 2015.

1. Ros Pan
Head of Outreach
UCD Library

2.  libguides.ucd.ie/anltc
 Password is lower case “anltc”

4.  Cloud based, Software as a Service, hosted
web platform
 No local server or software
 Edit via the web, anywhere, anytime
 Can store docs and images used in the guides
also up in the cloud
 Lease their cloud storage from Amazon

6.  Annual payment
 Cost depends on: size of your institution, which
version you go for, any add-ons you want, any
discount you can negotiate!
 For UCD with about 25,000 students, the fuller
CMS version (about 40% more cost) and a 10%
discount we are paying round about €3,100 a
year
 Maybe others will be forthcoming in public or
at refreshment breaks on what they pay…

7. LibGuides Annual License USD 2,599.00
Images and Back-Ups Module USD 199.00
CMS upgrade USD 1,100.00
10% Discount (USD 390.00)
USD 3,508.00
About 3,100
euro p/a

9.  Out of the box solution requiring just tiny bit of
customising (banner, colour scheme)
 Easy to use editing interface
 Many librarians can create content with it,
compared to the Library website
 Seen mainly as a place to lodge lists of online
library guides in subject and topic areas
 If you take a tour of LibGuides customers, maybe
90% use it in this way at the moment

11. Small edits to out of the box:
Banner
Main title or not
Guides in 1 or 2 columns
How many ways to present the guides to users
Changing the range of widgets in the right bar

14.  You can purchase standard LibGuides or
LibGuides CMS
 Also now have the new version 2 - looks
different, and has a number of attractive
features not found in the old version 1
 New customers will get version 2 so when
browsing sites it is good to look for version 2
sites as this is what you will get
 Existing users should consider migrating

15.  You can put your guides into GROUPS, each can look
different, with own home page and their own banner

16.  You get more file storage so can move a lot of your docs,
pdfs, images into the system alongside the guide itself
 You can SHARE images in shared folders and all use one copy
and all have access to the whole set

17.  You get access to the module to build forms and surveys and
embed them into your guides

19.  Standard product you now (version 2) have 2 basic guide
templates: for top bar style and left bar style.
 But with the CMS version IF you have the skills to code them
up you can develop any number of different guide templates
with different layouts altogether – for those contemplating
replacing a website with LibGuides this is an important
feature

20.  Can password control or IP control access to individual
guides

21.  Version 2 total new system on a separate server
 Still finishing it off, a few missing bits, taken a
long time well over a year so far
 New customers will get version 2 – so look at
these sites!
 Existing users will need to migrate from 1 to 2, a
significant process involved in that – only < 25%
have so far done this migration

22.  Responsive design based on Bootstrap so should display
nicely from smartphone, mini tablet, tablet and desktop
sizes
 Home page layout is different
 Colours are FLAT not gradients so it looks more “modern”
 You can match colour of top tabs exactly to your website
colours if you wish
 You can have guides either with traditional top tab style or
you can have them with a website-style left bar navigation,
this is a big change
 You can have boxes right across the top and/or bottom of
your guides so it is a bit more flexible
 You can put index cards into a single box

25.  Way ASSETS are handled is changed – new ASSETS concept
 You can have a separate and PUBLIC set of your subscription
databases
 All other assets like links, widgets, documents are in a shared
library and you should aim for one record and multiple uses
of it.This was also the system in version 1 but it is much
stronger and easier to do in version 2
 You can MIX contents in one box which you cannot do in
version 1 e.g. have a website link, a subscription database
link, a document, an image and an embedded video in one
box.

30.  If you have the skill set
you can move right
away from the out of
the box philosophy
and code up to mirror
your website, or
replace it, or
something quite fancy
– only in version 2 is
this possible easily

31. http://library.acg.edu/welcome
http://home.scotch.wa.edu.au/home

40.  An area we have neglected at UCD so far but important
 Not yet fully coded in version 2!
 Can produce simple guide lists
 Will be able to produce lists by tag, subject, group also
 Will also be able to embed full guides or boxes from guides
into other environments
 There is also a range of APIs so you can pass on the code to
other web developers to embed content from your
LibGuides into their website
 Don’t make them come to your LibGuides platform, put your
content into their online environments

44.  Why do you want the product, what for, what need is it
fulfilling?
 Which version do you need, basic or CMS?
 What is/will be the relationship of LibGuides with and to your
Library website?
 What sort of look and feel do you have in mind?
 Who is going to manage the platform and the content
overall? Operational group? Champion in each team?
 Who are your likely guide authors?
 Is the public A-Z database display of interest to you?

45.  Implementation and migration
project management
 Master list of live and pending
guides
 Manual and training
 New versions and updates to
manage and monitor
 Operational group lead
 Link checker each week
 Statistics each month and
Google analytics each month
 Guide production where not got
a local author to do it
 Discussions on new uses
 Quality control e.g. people are
not re-using assets but
duplicating them
 Policy decisions on web v.
libguides
 Build forms and surveys to use in
other guides
 Look after centrally managed
widgets and info boxes which are
mirrored and used right across
the system e.g. library twitter
feed, news, photo slideshow, chat
box, catalogue search box
 Check assets for duplication and
remove ones not being
referenced in any guide

46. 2254
(65%)
3060
(59%)
Dec 14 and Jan 15
% of UCD Libguide
page views
less than 10 secs.
U of Michigan presentation on LibGuides impact

47. Guide Name Views
Map Collections at UCD and on the Web 4136
GIS at UCD and on the Web 2262
English, Drama & Film 2207
EndNote 2128
Access Library Information Skills 2114
Library Staff Intranet (login required) 2025
Health & Wellbeing Collection 1698
Theses Information 1615
Welcome New Students 1155
Bibliometrics 1096
Veterinary Medicine 951
Business 742
UCD Library Spotlight 679
Law 670
Research Data Management 641
Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems 530
Languages, Literatures & Linguistics 460
ORCID 406
Agriculture & Food Science 337
Integrating Library Resources into Blackboard 290
History & Archives 280
Medicine and Medical Science 280
Sociology 233
Standards and Patents 226
Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering 166
Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering 163
Architecture and Landscape Architecture 154
Politics & International Relations 149
Systematic Review 148
Applied Social Science 147
Information & Library Studies 146
Economics 140
Computer Science and Informatics 121
Physiotherapy 118
Electrical, Electronic and Communications
Engineering 116
Psychology 115
Irish, Celtic Studies & Folklore 106
Education 106
Art History, Cultural Policy & Classics 102
Archaeology 94
Music 93
Geography 88
Occupational Safety Health and Environment 85
Mathematical Sciences 74
Veterinary Nursing 70
Sports and Exercise Management 67
Social Justice 65
Planning & Environmental Policy 64
Philosophy 62
Mechanical and Materials Engineering 60
Public Health 59
Biomolecular and Biomedical Science 57
Biology & Environmental Science 49
Biosystems Engineering 44
Chemistry and Chemical Biology 43
Physics 38
UCD Authors Focus 35
Geological Sciences 24