RSS feeds

There was some discussion about whether it would be possible to set up an RSS feed to the A-Z Template guide to keep track of any changes or additions that may require action for other guides. Unfortunately Springshare have confirmed that it is only possible to set up an RSS feed to a guide that has the status of Published, and we do not want to publish the A-Z Template because then it would appear in our LibGuides Home page. Until we come up with a better solution I will post messages to this blog about any major changes or additions to the template, and small updates will continue to appear in all your linked content boxes.

LibGuides Committee meeting notes

Thanks to Bronwen, the latest LibGuides Committee meeting notes are on JustUs.

How to do (almost) nothing and promote your Libguide(s) at the same time!!

You’re looking for an easy way to promote your Libguide to people that you’ve contact with? By investing 1 minute 43 seconds of your precious time right now, you’ll do it on a regular basis, without even noticing it!
Just add a line to your email signature with a link to it! Make sure to save it as an htm format (that way, Thunderbird will be able to manage the hyperlink), change the paragraph marks (^p) for a line marks (^l) to make it nicer, and VOILÀ!!
So, every time you’ll send an email, the recipient(s) will have a direct access to your fantastic LibGuide!!
And now, just wait to see the new increasing stats about the visitors to your LibGuides!

Example:
A new tool for the Business community at JCU - The Marketing Libguide!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Charles Cardinal
Liaison Librarian (Business)
James Cook University - Cairns Campus

P.S. That’s just a tip, many other actions should be taken to promote of your LibGuides!

Computing guides

As agreed at the last LibGuides Committee meeting, I have created a new "How do I...?" for the Computing guides content box that is currently in the About the Library page because it takes up too much valuabe space.
I have not yet deleted the old Computing guides content box because many of you will have linked to it, so please delete that box in your guide and add the new page under your "How do I ...?" tab. I'll delete the old content box in 2 weeks.

Faculty blogs

Two updates:
1. The Template LibGuide name has been changed to A-Z Template so you don't have to scroll down so far to link your content boxes
2. I have added RSS feed content boxes for each of the faculty blogs on the Home page

Evaluating sources published

Congratulations to Mark for publishing the Evaluating sources guide.
This is terrific for everyone because we can now link our How do I evaluate sources? tab to this guide - here's how:

1. Click on Add/Edit pages
2. Select Change Page Info
3. Select Evaluate what I find
4. Add the URL http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/evaluating
5. Click on Save changes

When users click on this tab now they will be taken to Mark's guide. You can also link to individual content boxes from the guide - see the instructions for Linking to another content box.

Marketing guide published

Congratulations to Charles who has just published his Marketing guide. Please have a look at the guide which is now linked from our Subject Resources page. Charles is going to embark on a marketing campaign with his Marketing lecturers and it will be interesting to see what responses he gets.

JCU's research via Scopus Affiliated

There is a new content box in the template that lists JCU's latest research via a Scopus RSS feed - see JCU's latest research
You can create your own feed for subject areas, authors, years, or document types or link to this one that covers all of JCU via the Affiliation Search option.

Embedding research skills

I have added a new guide called Embedding research skills to the Information Literacy content box under About the Library. It includes a lot of discipline specific examples of IL skills being embedded into subjects. There are some good ideas in there that you may be able to utilise with your teaching staff. Please send me any additions that you come across.
If you have linked to this box you should see the addition in your own guides.

Databases and logos

I have added nearly all of the databases that are listed in the old subject guides to a table in the (Abracadabra) Template guide as per the last LibGuides Committee meeting decision - see Databases. If I've missed any databases you need please let me know.
You should copy this content box into your guide then delete the rows that you don't need.
Feel free to amend the descriptions for your disciplines.

First subject guide published

I am delighted to announce that our first subject guide has been published in LibGuides. Please check Bronwen's History guide which is now linked from our Subject Resources page. Bronwen has consulted extensively and tested the guide with students with very positive responses so she should be congratulated for being an early adopter of this great new application.