Ask Springshare

Yes! Springshare has sandbox systems available for LibGuides, LibCal, LibAnswers, LibInsight, and LibWizard to test out and design the look and feel of the public side of your site without having any impact on your production site.

To request a sandbox, please ask one of your admins to submit the Sandbox Request form to provide us with more information about what type of sandbox you need and how you will be using it.

How It Works

• Springhare sets up an account for you in the sandbox system.
  • You sign in using your LibApps user account.
• You have 4 weeks to use the sandbox for whatever testing/design work that you need to do.
  • During these 4 weeks, the sandbox is all yours! No need to share the space with other libraries! :)
  • You'll want to make sure to keep local copies of any code that is entered into the site. That way, when you are ready to make edits to your live site, you'll have your own copy to paste in.
    • Note: There is no way to automate moving any code or settings from the sandbox into your live site.
  • You may also want to take screenshots of any special settings.
• At the end of the 4 weeks, we will remove your access and reset the site, to get it ready for the next customer.
  • Again, please be sure to have local copies of any custom code by that date. We cannot recover any customizations once they've been removed.

Creating a sandbox in LibGuides CMS

If you have LibGuides CMS, then you have the ability to set up your own sandbox directly in your system using the ability to create groups. Each group has its own homepage, guides, and look & feel, allowing you to test out customizations without affecting your live site. Plus, you can even make groups internal, that way only logged-in staff members will be able to actually see the group.

This is a great way to test out new homepage designs, headers, footers, guide templates, and more, without disrupting your patrons. Because groups exist in your own system, you can take as much time as you need to work on your customizations. This also makes it much easier to apply your customizations to the rest of your site once you're ready while giving you a place to continue testing in the future. If you're looking to make changes to the layout of your A-Z Database list, then requesting a sandbox site would still be needed.

See our Creating a Sandbox in LibGuides CMS training session recording for in-depth details.