CofC LibApps Best Practices: Guide Maintenance

There are several ways to check links in your guides. You may need to use a combination of methods.

Chrome Extensions

Once you've added a Chrome extension such as Broken Link Checker or Check My Links, simply click on the accompanying toolbar button to scan the current page for broken URLs. Investigate broken links and fix or remove. 

LibGuides Link Checker

LibGuides offers a Link Checker (select Tools, Link Checker from the orange nav bar). It is helpful as an admin tool, but using a Chrome extension is a more thorough and accurate way of checking your guides.

• This Link Checker only checks Asset links. It will not check URLs in rich text fields.
• Also, it frequently returns false positives.
• If you use the LIbGuides checker, you may find it easiest to sort by owner and find your own Assets.
• Please read the instructions carefully before using the Link Checker. Do not add exclusions. 

Review links manually

• In addition to using a link checking tool, periodically review the links on your site to be sure they are still relevant and high quality.
• Manually check links to CofC resources on a yearly basis to ensure the link is working and that it leads to a current College page. Ensuring currency of college links is important for our accreditation process. 

LibGuides has a built-in Link Checking tool that regularly scans Assets (including databases and books from the catalog) for broken links. It does not check inline links in rich text. 

Any regular or admin user can access the link checker report. Although regular users can see every link listed in the report, they can only modify links for the assets they own. Admin users, however, can modify every link because they have the ability to edit any asset in your system.