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LibGuides v2.1.4 is Live!

Changes in the way assets work

LibGuides LogoWe heard from many of you that it was frustrating that Regular and Editor-level accounts were not able to edit assets that they did not own, even on guides to which they were assigned as editors. It’s been a long time coming, but this is now fixed!  Please note this applies to all assets except databases.

Here’s a breakdown of the issues that this fix addressed:

  • Admin users can edit all assets, wherever they reside–in guides or in Content > Assets.  This has not changed.
  • Regular and editor-level accounts can edit any assets on guides they own or edit and can customize fields in assets owned by others.
  • When someone leaves your organization, you can reassign ownership of their assets when you reassign ownership of their guides.

Here’s a breakdown of what happens when you edit assets in various places.  Protip: the blue help bubbles will tell you where your changes will appear, so read them! 😉

  • When editing an asset, an asterisk will appear next to its original location.  Edits made to the original location appear wherever that asset is used except where fields have been customized:
    Screenshot of an asset edit screen
  • When you reuse an asset, you are creating a mapping of that asset.  You can customize certain fields after the fact.  Any edits you make to a mapped asset within a guide appear only in that guide.
  • Edits made to assets in their original locations are reflected in all mapped copies of that asset, except for any fields that were customized in mappings.
  • Instead of reusing and editing a single asset multiple times, consider making your own copy of that asset.  Any edits you make on your copy will appear anywhere your copy is reused.

This is explained more fully in the Managing Assets guide. Check it out!

In-Context Help!

New in-context help icons will get you help, STAT, right where you are.  The types of information you’ll see are:

  •  Links: a gray or orange question mark indicates general information.  Click the ? to be taken to a guide relating to the task at hand.
  •  Information: orange circles with exclamation points indicate related information. Hover over them to read.
  •  Warnings: important information appears when you hover over a red triangle.

More API Options!

These options have been added under Tools > API.  For full documentation and output examples, please visit the API pages in your system.

  • GET Guides v1.1
  • GET Accounts
  • GET Subjects
  • GET Assets
  • For GET Guides/:id/pages, guides/:id/boxes, and guides/:id/meta, please see the API v1.0 page that is linked from the bottom of Tools > API.

Referrer URLs for Statistics (CMS only)

  • Now see where your users are coming from by checking out the referrer URLs in guide page statistics.  Go to Statistics > Guides, run a report, and click a guide’s name.  If any referring URL information is available, you can view those by clicking the eye icon next to the number of views:
    Screenshot of statistics module showing referring URLs for a guide page

Bug Fixes and Smaller Enhancements

  • Side-nav guides with a single page now display a tab for that page, where they did not before. This allows for the display of sub-pages and box-level navigation:
    screenshot of a guide with one page, one sub-page, and two box-level navigation pills
  • Any HTML in asset descriptions is rendered everywhere that description is displayed, including on-hover popovers and the Databases tab on Subject pages:
    screenshot of a book description where HTML code is rendered properly
  • When you reuse a box, you can now rename your reused version:
    Screenshot of where to customize a box name during the reuse process
  • When the character limit for the Rich Text Editor is exceeded, a message pops up letting you know how many characters must be removed:screenshot of error message displayed when character limit is exceeded
  • Author links in Guides Lists go to the right place now. 😉
  • Publication Workflow cannot be enabled without first choosing at least one Reviewer.
  • Guide-level XML exports are available from Guide Edit (menu icon) > Request XML Export:Location of guide level XML export request
  • Email templates have a new design.  You’ll see these when you create an account or reuse a guide, and in a few other instances.
  • The LibGuides 2 support form sends your tickets into our LibAnswers 2 system!  We have switched to using LibAnswers for our customer support, and we LOVE it.

13 thoughts on “LibGuides v2.1.4 is Live!”

  1. Does this mean we must have LibAnswers for customer support in LibGuides 2? (to get an answer when we fill out the support form from the tab on the right side of the page?)

  2. I’m super excited about ALL of these updates, but maybe most of all, this seemingly small thing that will make such a big difference for us:
    “Any HTML in asset descriptions is rendered everywhere that description is displayed, including on-hover popovers and the Databases tab on Subject pages.” – Yay!!! Springshare rocks.

  3. We would like a widget that would search assets by type to create a Databases Search (database assets) or a Recommended Websites Search (link assets), or even an Image Search (image assets).

    1. You can create a widget currently that will search your database assets. Go to Tools > Widgets > Search Box and choose A-Z Databases.

      Thanks for the other suggestions–I’ll pass those along!

  4. I’m glad to see this, and I’m also wondering when all these fixes will also apply to databases, since this is the largest percentage of asset types we use on our guides.

    1. Database assets are intentionally different. Admin users are given a bit more control over these so that the A-Z list can serve as the master list of databases. Anyone reusing a database can add a custom description or can change how the description is displayed. You can also see a list of all guides in which databases appear.

      If you have LibGuides CMS, Regular users can be assigned the “Manage Assets” permission. That permission allows Regular users to edit all assets, including Databases.

      Thanks for your comment! 🙂

  5. I don’t see a menu item Tools -> API. I see:

    Tools -> Widgets
    Tools -> Data Exports
    Tools -> Link Checker
    Tools -> Search & Replace

    I have admin access so there should be no account permission limits to what I see.

    It appears you’re referring to Tools -> “Widgets” based on some help page titles like “Widgets & APIs”. For a more usable information architecture, please try to keep terminology in synch.

  6. Pingback: LibGuides 2.1.4 Update | Tuesday Times

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