Logan activated the Akismet spam blocker on all of the active blogs.
To further reduce spam problems, the blogs are set to only allow user accounts with UFLIB.ufl.edu or UFL.edu email addresses. In general, this should be fine and it makes it easier for us to manage the blogs for spam, possible hack attempts, and compliance with all campus IT policies. However, for special cases other email addresses may be needed. For instance, if the UF Libraries are hosting a blog for a State-wide committee and some of the members are at other universities or institutions, then the user account should go through the regular approval process and any potential concerns will be addressed at that time. The user account approval process exists to maintain and streamline processing, so please ask if you have any questions or concerns.
For administrators, changing the default allowable email configuration is under the options menu in the site admin section.
To request a blog account, simply follow the guidelines from the blogging policy by submitting a syshelp with:
- the name for the blog
- purpose of the blog
- intended audience
- name of the blog administrator
- name of blog users
For example, for the Digital Library Center blog, the information is:
- name for the blog: Digital Library Center (and specify a short name if you know one, the DLC’s is digital)
- purpose of the blog: document and promote DLC activities and work
- intended audience: UF Libraries, UF, State of Florida, Caribbean, the world
- name of the blog administrator: Laurie Taylor
- name of blog users: none so far, but others may be added if they’re interested
Once you request a blog, the blog will be made as quickly as possible and then you’ll be able to go to your new blog to log in and make changes. Blogs are all listed by the primary URL + blog name. For instance, the Digital Library Center Blog is http://blogs.uflib.ufl.edu/digital. The name with a short name is useful to make sure the address is easy to type and remember.
Once you have your blog set up, you can login from the main page by clicking on the “Site admin” link under “Meta” from the side links panel. Then, after logging in, you can customize the blog appearance, write posts and pages, add links to the blogroll, change the theme, and test different options for making the blog yours.
After you have your blog and have had time to try out different options, please send any requests or questions via a syshelp. This might include general questions or requests for new themes or changes for an existing theme. Please let us know how we can help you blog!
If you’re setting up a new blog or importing your existing blog, the Library 2.0 Group is available to help. Contact all of us by emailing our list-serve address. Also, please join the Library Watercooler email list so we can all share design thoughts, skills, and questions.
We’ve loaded the themes people requested. Most are available for use, but some are broken and this is a common problem with themes so it just means there are a few less to choose from.
The themes are not yet customized because that takes individual time for each theme. Once groups have had time to choose themes and any applicable changes (like new images), then we can help implement those changes for the selected themes.
Our Digital Collections have loads of great images that can be used, including images from the University Archives, and lots more. For using images from UFDC, we also have a help page that explains how to best save the images.
The Baldwin also has amazing images and many of our existing promotional materials could be wonderful choices as well.
Weblogs at the University of Florida Libraries are available for members of the University of Florida Libraries, as allowed by the Libraries’ blogging policies.
How To Guides: Coming Soon!
- Getting Started: requesting a blog account, and the basics
- Customizing Your Blog: themes and sidebar widgets
- Extending Your Blog: using plugins
