Using the blogs

Viewing the blog

The Reference Desk blog can be viewed from http://musselmanreference.blogspot.com/.

Setting up an account

In order to be able to post to the blog you will first have to create an account at www.blogspot.com. It?s fairly easy to do, but there are a few things to be aware of:

• User Name: this can be whatever you want, however a lot of common ones have already been taken so you may have to get creative. Nobody else can see this so it can be whatever you want.


• Display Name: This is the signature that gets attached to any posts and comments you make


• For the second page you have to create your own personal blog, though blogspot doesn't require you to use it to keep your account.
  
  • Blog Title: this is displayed at the top of your blog and can be anything you want
  
  
  • Blog Address: this is the website to get to your blog. You can put any combination of letters and numbers though you can't have to come up with one that is not already in use. You also shouldn't start the address off with "www."


• Templates: This is the template for your personal blog and doesn't affect the Reference Desk Blog at all

Once you have an account, somebody who already has administrative access can add you to the blog. Once they do you will receive an email from Blogspot with a link. Go to that link, sign in if asked to, and click Accept invitation.

Adding others to the blog(s)

To add another user to the Reference Desk blog, sign into blogspot with your account (assuming you've already been giving admin access), then click on "Reference Desk." Click the Settings tab and the link that says Members. Click the orange Add Team Member(s) button and type in the email addresses of the people you want to add. This will sent out an email invitation, and once it it accepted, that person will appear in the Current Team Members list. Check the box under the Admin column.

Posting to the blog

Once you've signed in to Blogspot you should see two or more blogs listed under the Dashboard (your personal blog, the Reference Desk blog, and any others you've been invited to). Click on Reference Desk and you'll automatically be in the Posting section with a list of all previous posts. To add a new post click "Create" and then "Compose." The title field is used to give your post a headline and the link turns the headline into a hyperlink. Type your message (you can use the icons at the top of the box to add links and images, and click Publish Post.

Editing messages

From the screen you see when you first open up the Reference Desk blog you'll see a list of posts sorted by date. Click the edit button and you'll see the message. Make any changes and then click Publish Post just like you did for new messages.

Commenting on posts

To comment on an existing post, go to the blog's page (http://www.musselman[department name].blogspot.com/) and at the bottom of the post is a link that says "# comments" click on it to go to the commenting page. Type your comment in and below that login if necessary and click ?Login and Publish?

Changing the Template

The template can be changed to anything we want, though you do have to know HTML code to change it. The Links on the right can be changed to whatever we want as well.

If you have any problems with anything, just let me know.