When Springshare announced it was launching LibGuides v2, a project team was assembled to transition a mixture of locally produced guides and guides created with the original LibGuides v1 software. This article synthesizes best practices for LibGuides found in the literature, outlines our best intentions in the migration process, and shares what actually transpired after considering factors such as technical challenges and institutional culture. We hope other academic libraries can learn from our experience and make decisions that suit their institution best.
Overall, we are very happy with LibGuides 2. The transition went very well, and our experience with the new version has been a favorable one.
That said, we are delighted with the new and improved LibGuides. The upgrade has significantly enhanced our website’s user-friendliness, visual appeal, and performance.
Thanks to our feedback sessions, good communication with Springshare, and reliable new platform, the migration went smoothly without interruption.
As an admin, you can create new page and guide templates for your groups using template tags in the style of mustache/handlebars or liquid. This isn’t programming. You’re not crunching numbers or doing complex logic, which means that the barrier of entry for a completely custom LibGuide is low – and that is why LibGuides 2 is again a contender for institutions making decisions about CMS's.
The LibGuides Management Team (LGMT), a cross-departmental team, was charged to create a new policy and guidelines for building, reviewing and maintaining LibGuides. To manage the review process, we utilized the Publishing Workflow, an automated system in LibGuides that allows a set of reviewers to revise guides before being made public.