LibGuides at the U of M Libraries

Subject Guides are useful groupings of databases by subject, linked to from Canvas if no course guide exists (general overview, usually created by the subject liaison).

Because these need to be linked correctly from Canvas to correlate to a college or course designator, please talk to Kate before creating the guide so she can take care of those steps. 

• Create a simplified guide based on a subject.
• Connect new users to the best or most used databases based upon subject/discipline as a place to start their research.
• Not meant to be exhaustive or for advanced researchers.
• These pages will be mapped to course designators to be findable in Canvas.
• View an example: African American Studies.

• Keep headings precise; less is more. Aim for 3 or fewer words.
• Break down the content into appropriate-sized chunks.
• Aim for 100 words or less per content block; avoid cluttered pages and information overload.
• Minimize redundancy. Users get confused about links and search boxes that go to the same place.

New to subject guides (Winter 2022): Subpages!

• We are hoping to eliminate the "advanced" subject guides from the subject guide list 
  • If we had an advanced guide for every topic, the list would double! It's already very long. 
  • Current "advanced guides" are not linked from Canvas - there is no way to connect the correct course with the correct guide.
• Subpages have much more flexibility
  • There's no prescribed boxes with the "Start with/Then try/Also check out" boxes
  • You're free to organize and group this content how it would make sense for an advanced user.

Please review the Subpage subpage on this guide for further direction and best practices.

• Use WCMC guidelines for titles, descriptions, etc.
• When titling a subject guide, only list the subject. "Resources for" is hard-programmed into the template already.
• Content is displayed as a single page, so selecting only the most relevant sources is necessary to make the pages readable.
• You can link to a topic guide for advanced users

1. Go to https://umn.libapps.com/libguides/.
    
2. Login with the University of Minnesota Shibboleth link.
    
3. Select "LibGuides" in the blue dropdown (top left), or select Research Guides in the list of "My LibApps". 
    
4. In the LibGuides Shortcuts box, there is an option at the top to "Create Guide." Select that option. 
   
    
5. Under "Choose Layout or Reuse", select "copy content/layout from an existing guide."
    
6. Select "Blueprint: Subject Guide by Amy Drayer." (Note, if you are creating an HSL subject guide, make sure you select the HSL blueprint. This dropdown is searchable. Try searching "blueprint"!)
    
7. Enter Guide Name (you can edit this later).
    
8. Enter guide description using the following guidelines/text:
   "This guide covers search tools for research in topics related to..."
   OR
   "This guide is designed for new researchers to find articles, sources, and get started with research in topics related to..."
   Example: "This guide is designed for new researchers who need to find articles, sources, and get started with research in topics related to African American or Black American Studies."
   You can edit this later. 
9. Select guide type "subject guide."
    
10. Select group assignment "UMN" and share guide content "Internal" (unless you have plans to share beyond UMN Libraries). Then select "Create Guide".
    
     
11. Add databases following the guidelines of the three boxes, the first titled "Start with:," the second titled "Then try any of the following:," and the third titled "Also check out:."
     
12. In the "Start with:" box, try to limit yourself to one or two databases. Be sure they are in an order that makes sense with "best" on top -- not in alphabetical order.
     
13. In the "Then try any of the following:" box, list an additional 2-5 databases that might be useful to a beginner researcher. Be sure they are in an order that makes sense with "best" on top -- not in alphabetical order.
     
14. In the "Also check out" box, add a final 2-5 useful databases and/or tools, resources, etc. that are relevant (if applicable). Be sure they are in an order that makes sense with "best" on top -- not in alphabetical order.

Edit the URL to make it friendly and logical. These are not created automatically. To do this, select the edit pencil next to "URL" and add the course designator/course number.

Friendly URL styles: 

• Subject guides: /subject-name
  Example: https://ulibguides.umn.edu/english
• Course guides: /course/SUBJ/NUMBER
  Example: https://libguides.umn.edu/course/ENGL/1001
• General and Topic guides: /guide-name
  Example: https://libguides.umn.edu/research-basics

Select the "Unpublished" dropdown, which will create a pop up. From here, you can change the status. 

Published means the guide is searchable by Canvas, by Google, and will show up in a LibGuides search. (We're working on making Guides more findable!) 

Private means the guide is only accessible if you have a direct link to the Guide.