You should also check the Link Checker in LibGuides for any broken links on your libguides. Please view the steps below on how to use the Link Checker.
The LibGuide Link Checker provides you with a report of broken links in your:
- Database assets
- Link assets
- Books from the Catalog assets
Note
- The Link Checker does not check links included in the rich text boxes, only those that were added as “links.” Text linked within a rich text box will need to be checked manually by you on your libguides. To minimize the checking of your libguides manually, please do the following:
- When creating or editing web links, you should use Link assets.
- You should reuse the Database assets added to the A-Z Database List to add links to databases.
- You should use Books from the Catalog assets when adding books from the catalog.
- Links are only checked on visited pages in published or private guides. (you may see unpublished guides but that should only be because the guide was switched at some point after it was checked)
- Please don’t worry about the Exclusion List tab as I am working on that list.
- Occasionally, you will get a false report of a broken link. This may happen when the link checker cannot access the resource (e.g. it goes through authentication) or when the link site has extra security turned on.
After reading the information above, please read and follow/complete the numbered items below.
1. To find your broken link assets in LibGuides:
- Log into LibApps and go to LibGuides from the drop down menu.
- Select Tools in the navigation, and select Link Checker from the drop-down menu.
- Type your last name OR first name under the Owner column. This will bring up your link assets that LibApps identified as potentially broken. If your name appears in the report, please follow steps 2, 3, and 4, as necessary.
Here's what the link checker report shows you:
A. Use the Actions column to dismiss a link or add it to the exclusions list.
B. Use the Title column to filter/search for links by their title. This is the title of the asset.
C. Use the Type column to filter the report by type (Link, Book, or Database).
D. The URL column will show the URL that was flagged as being broken by the link checker.
E. The Owner column will display the owner of the asset.
F. The Mapping Count column will show you how many times the asset is being used on guides.
G. The Asset column will allow you to edit the asset.
Again, please be aware that you may find some false positives, or links that aren’t actually broken, so it’s important to look through each result carefully, replacing or updating those that are truly broken.
2. To dismiss a flagged link that you see is actually working (false positive situation):
You may dismiss a link from the report after you have edited it ( and corrected the broken link), if it was a false positive that you can ignore, or for any other reason that you might not want to see it on the report.
- Under the Actions column, select the trash bin icon
. This dismisses this link from the current report.
3. To fix broken link assets:
- First, you'll need to find the new link for the resource you intended to link.
- Once you have found the new link, select the edit icon
under the Asset column, and replace with the correct link and save your changes.
- Note: After you save your changes, you'll notice link that you see in the report will not change. This is because the report is static and just shows you the flagged link. Don't worry about this; the new link you've put in and saved is good to go.
- Then, dismiss the link asset you've just updated by selecting the trash bin icon under the Actions column. (Note: if you do not dismiss the asset, it will remain in the link checker report even though you fixed the link).
4. If you have not found the correct link or would rather delete the asset altogether:
- Select the edit icon under the Asset column.
- Look for and remember the Link Name on the pop up screen. From there, open the LibGuide page identified as the original guide location (indicated by an asterisk*).
- Once you are at the original guide, you can delete/remove the link asset from the guide.
- Lastly, please make sure it is dismissed from the Link Checker report.
