Maintaining

At least twice a year, but preferably before every semester:

  • Check whether your links are still active in your guides.
    • Asset links—use LibGuides' Link Checker tool.
    • Text links—manually check by opening each link and confirming they work; or by using a free link checker service such as W3C Link Checker (remember—you'll have to enter the URL for each page of your guide with text links).
  • Critically review your guides to see whether they're still serving their purpose, are effective in executing their learning objectives, and if their pedagogy is still sound.
  • See if there are any better or more appropriate resources (databases, ebooks, etc.), that can be added or swapped in to your guide.
  • Allow instructors to review relevant course guides so that they can suggest any updates.
  • Review accessibility.
  • Review organization and layout across multiple devices / screen sizes.

Sunsetting

Questions to help identify whether or not your guide has come to the end of its life cycle:

  • Do statistics show decreasing or only very low views of the guide?
  • Has the course you created a guide for ceased to be taught?
  • Is the relevant discipline now focusing on other topics?
  • Do you no longer have an interest in or time to maintain the guide?

Saying yes to any of these questions means you should take a closer look at whether or not your guide should stay published or whether it's time for its status to change (made private, unpublish, or delete):

  • Private—viewable for anyone who has the guide's link, but it doesn't show up in the lists of guides or in search results from the library's website.
  • Unpublish—not viewable to anyone but the editor(s) of the guide, nor does it show up in the lists of guides or in search results from the library's website.
  • Delete—your guide is deleted and cannot be recovered (consider whether unpublishing or making private is more appropriate before taking an irreversible step like deleting).