Assets
Databases, links, books, documents/files, etc.
Quick Reference for Assets
General guidelines
- Use assets! — Assets are a great way to highlight library resources on your guide.
- Reuse an existing asset if available — Before creating a new asset, do a search to see if it already exists.
Getting There
- Log into LibGuides https://usfca.libapps.com/libguides/.
- Select Content > Guides and click the Edit icon for the guide you want to update.
- Click the Add / Reorder button at the bottom of the box where you want to add an asset.
- Select the type of asset (Database, Link, Media / Widget, etc.) you would like to add from the dropdown menu.
Database
Use Database assets to highlight specific resources from our Databases A to Z list on your guide.
- Search and select the asset you want — Database assets are controlled by LibGuides admin. You will only be able to select Databases from our centrally managed list.
- Add a Custom Description if you like — This will only apply to your single mapping of the database. It will not affect the original database's description.
Best Practices
- Avoid clutter — Don’t overload a page with a single, lengthy list of databases. Keep individual lists to 5–7 items.
- Organize clearly — Break up long lists by grouping databases by subject, type, or other categories. Use headings to make the structure easy to scan.
Springshare Documentation
Link
Use Link assets to highlight web resources on your guide.
- Reuse an existing asset if available — Before creating a new asset, do a search to see if it already exists.
- Link Name, Link URL, Description are required fields — It is ok to leave the More Info field blank.
- In general, the Description Display field is best set to 'Beneath item title.'
- Assign a thumbnail image — This will make make your asset standout on your guide.
- The ideal dimensions of thumbnail images are 179px width and 100px height — This matches the dimensions of our Database asset thumbnail images.
- Assign Resource Icons — If the Link is only available to the USF community, select the OpenAthens icon. If the book is available to everyone, select the Open Access icon.
- Do not create Link assets to highlight databases — Instead, use a Database asset.
Springshare Documentation
Media / Widget
Use Media / Widget assets to embed videos and LibCal widgets on your guide.
- Reuse an existing asset if available — Before creating a new asset, do a search to see if it already exists.
- Make sure your embedded video is accessible — All videos require both a transcript and captions. See 'More Information' below.
USFCA Web Accessibility Standards
Springshare Documentation
Book from the Catalog
Use Book from the Catalog assets to highlight print and electronic books from our collection.
- Reuse an existing asset if available — Before creating a new asset, do a search to see if it already exists.
- Use the ISBN feature — This will automatically retrieve bibliographic and descriptive data from Bowker and cover art from Syndetics.
- You can find ISBNs in Ignacio records by clicking MARC Display and finding the 020 field. You can also get this information from publisher websites and book seller websites.
- Sometimes there are multiple ISBNs. It is often worth trying each available ISBN. If no information is found, you will need to manually input the bibliographic and descriptive data, and cover art.
- Title, Author/Editor, URL and Description are required fields — It is ok to leave the Publication Date and Call Number fields blank.
- In general, the Description Display field is best set to 'Beneath item title.'
- Use a permalink for the URL field — Permalinks provide consistency when pointing to specific library resources.
- It is up to you whether you would like to use an Ignacio permalink or a Fusion permalink.
- Set Cover Art size field to Medium — This makes the cover art 140px wide, which is the look we're going for.
- Assign Resource Icons — If the book is only available to the USF community, select the OpenAthens icon. If the book is available to everyone, select the Open Access icon.
Gleeson Library Documentation
Springshare Documentation
Document / File
Use Document / File assets to add PDFs, Word documents, and other common file types to your guide. These assets will be available for download to users. Note: If you are looking to make an asset for a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide, etc., you may do so using a Link asset.
- Reuse an existing asset if available — Before creating a new asset, do a search to see if it already exists.
- Make sure your file is accessible — You must make sure your file is accessible before making it available on our website. PDFs are challenging to make accessible. See 'More Information' below.
- Assign a thumbnail image — This will make make your asset standout on your guide.
- The ideal dimensions of thumbnail images are 179px width and 100px height — This matches the dimensions of our Database asset thumbnail images.
- Assign subjects — This might be helpful as you manage your assets in the LibGuides system.