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LibGuides Tips & Tricks for Librarians: 1 - Copy an existing guide

This guide is intended for the authors of libguides, not the general users of the content.

Copy an existing guide

If you are a UCF LibGuides author and you find a guide within our UCF system that has the structure and a lot of the content that you would like to replicate on your guide, you can copy the guide and then change the parts that need to be different for your guide. As a courtesy, please contact the original UCF guide's author -- especially since they might have some specific changes to suggest. We are also in the process of creating some template guides that you can use as a starting point.

If you want to use LibGuides from other institutions as your template, please contact the guide owners for their permission BEFORE you borrow from them. You also might want to include an acknowledgement statement on your guide, but simply acknowledging where you got the content is not enough -- ask for permission.

From your personal LibGuides "My Admin" page:

  • Select "Create New Guide"
  • In the box that pops up, select "Use another user's guide as a template"
  • Give your new guide a title

The profile box will automatically display your profile instead of the original guide's author because this new guide is your responsibility to maintain.

Be sure to review EVERY section of the guide and check EVERY link to make sure that you've made necessary changes. You don't want the users of your guide to be directed to the wrong content. For example, a guide from another institution may have links using their institution's proxy as part of the URL. Or a guide may use internal directory boxes to cross-link between pages, and those links will most likely take you back to the original guide instead of navigating within your new guide.