Living Widgets (Mixes & Lists)
How do I use a shared (widget) a Mix or List?
Search for your library under "Select Library"
Click the blue toggle button to select your library
To save your library selection, click the lock and bookmark the page.
Now you're ready to select your list or mix:
Search for a particular List or Mix, or scroll to find the List or Mix you want to use.
Click the blue toggle button to select your List or Mix
Now click "View Collection" at the bottom of the page to preview your List or Mix. In this example, we'll preview the Treating Opioid Addiction Mix at Dallas Public Library.
Use the Carousel, Grid, and List buttons in the top right corner to preview the different embed layouts. Once you have chosen your layout, click the Embed List button. The code for your embed will pop up over the page.
Copy the code to your clipboard, and then paste the code into any website editor. You can also share this code with community partners so they can embed it on their websites.
How do I create my own custom mix?
First, decide what subject(s) you want your mix to include. We will use vaccinations as an example.
Gather the resource IDs for each Topic or Concept. The resource ID is the unique set of numbers and letters at the end of each link. Here is the Concept of vaccinations at San Francisco Public Library:
http://link.sfpl.org/resource/Y8Hh3Kr4qhc
The resource ID for this Concept is: Y8Hh3Kr4qhc
To create your custom mix, gather a list of the Concepts or Topics that you want to display. You can collect these in a CSV or Excel spreadsheet and then copy and paste them into a JSON file. Or you can just start using a text editor to create your Mix JSON file (see creating and saving a JSON file below).
Here's the easiest way to find the Concepts you want to include:
From any data page, go to the Navigate under the Services menu in the top left corner.
We're using https://navigate.library.link/link.sfpl.org/#/search for this example.
Deselect the Items and Person filters so you're only looking for Concepts. Then find the various Bibframe resources you would like to include in your Mix. The options are limitless!
How do I create a JSON file?
There are many different ways to create a file for a custom mix or list. Your technical comfort will determine what works best for you. This is just one simple way to get started if you have little experience with this type of work.
Start by accessing collections.library.link. Start with a pre existing mix that you can update. You can get this structure from any preview of a current mix from your library. We'll start with the example on Vaccination Awareness at Peterborough Public Library (See Example 1 below).
Remember you are creating a INTERNAL PREVIEW for your library or partner. Only the resources will actually be viewed on the partners website. If you would like to share your Mix with the rest of the Library.Link Network, please send it to support@library.link.
This is the location where the code to be embedded will be made available to you. You will not be limited to a carousel, the code for both a Grid or List will be options you can select.
From here you will want to change the Label, Description, and swap in your list of resources created from Step 1 (see below LINK)
Label - If you share this on Collection.Library.Link - the label lets others know the Topic of your list.
Description - Share the description of the preview
Resources - a list of all the resources you have decided to include in your Custom Mix.
Here is an example of a JSON file to use as a template - https://collections.library.link/shared/mixes/alzheimers.json
Save the template into a JSON editor like https://jsonlint.com/ and make your updates.
Once you have created your mix, you will want to save the JSON file to the web. You can save this file using GitHub (see below).
From here you can use the following URL pattern and replace it with the new filename, and update the library with the appropriate Link Domain to be represented.
How to find an example Mix JSON file:
This is what a JSON file looks like:
Here is a Mix for Vaccination Awareness:
Here is the Mix with changes for Alzheimer's & Dementia
How do I use GitHub to save custom Mixes?
Login to https://gist.github.com/
If you do not already have a GitHub account you will need to create one: https://github.com/join
Enter the Gist Description (Example - https://github.com/laurimac/librarylink_collections )
Enter in the filename with file extension
Copy and paste your code into the text editor
Create either a private or public Gist file
Will see the raw JSON file and the saved URL that will be needed to create your preview display as well as the code for EMBEDDING onto your web site.
From here you can create the preview and embed code, using your new URL:
Combine your RAW file name - raw.githubusercontent.com/laurimac/librarylink_collections/master/mixes/Alzheimers
With your libraries MIX parameters -
https://collections.library.link/services/mixer/?domain=http://peterborough.library.link/&mix=
You may find it easiest to start with an established URL such as:
You can start back at the collections.library.link page and select your library.
From there, replace the filename (in bold) with the newly created file saved on GitHub:
Put this link into your browser to see your preview of all the mixed Concepts and Topic resources.
In the upper right corner, you can select the format and then click on EMBED to get the code created for any webpage. Many libraries share this code with community partners to increase engagement.
Once you decide on the format that will work best for you, click on the EMBED tab and you will be able to provide the iframe code to be placed onto your website.
From there, anytime a person pulls up the webpage for one of these displays of library resources, we will track this within your link domain stats under Library.Link Applications. (link to STATS FAQ). The library can monitor checkouts for these items internally or use Google Analytics to gather more stats locally.
How do I create my own custom list?
Gather the titles you would like to include along with associated ISBN's.
Simple list - one ISBN per book cover image (see example editing) https://collections.library.link/shared/lists/podcasting.json
Structured list - all ISBN's associated with a single title, will include a hover over view showing available formats. (see editing example) https://collections.library.link/shared/lists/juneteenth.json
Copy example into a JSON text editor/validator like https://jsonlint.com/
Copy new file to the web location, for example GitHub (see above)
Retrieve RAW files name
Add new file name to your libraries LIST parameters to preview the widget
You can start from collections.library.link and select your library https://collections.library.link/?domain=http://link.leaguecitylibrary.org/
Add your new RAW file name - ** Click RAW to get the correct name https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laurimac/librarylink_collections/master/HelenHall/MeredithWhattoRead
Review the custom widget preview, determine layout, click embed for widget code https://collections.library.link/services/lister/?domain=http://link.leaguecitylibrary.org/&list=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laurimac/librarylink_collections/master/HelenHall/MeredithWhattoRead
If you run into issues, contact Lauri McIntosh, lmcintosh@ebsco.com for support
If you would like to contribute your work for others to use, send your file name to novelist@ebsco.com or lmcintosh@ebsco.com
Can I How often are the NYT Bestseller Lists updated?
We update our NYT list enrichments every Wednesday. Please note that not all NYT lists are updated on their end at this time. In fact, some of NYT lists have an update cadence of every quarter. The "Last Modified" date you see published with your list is the last publish date that NYT claims the list was updated. We've observed that the NYT API is ahead of the web site in terms of best seller information, so if you see a Last Modified date that is before the date of the list on the NYT web site, that is because we get our updates directly from the API.
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