ALA Connect is an online platform for discussion and collaboration between ALA members. We’re working together to make Connect a centralized space for members to communicate online, whether they’re part of a formal ALA committee or just want to share questions and ideas with other library professionals. Connect allows users to:

• Talk with other members on discussion boards
• Download shared resources from community-generated libraries
• Collaborate as a member of volunteer committees and other groups.

Click here to view "Connect 101" as a YouTube playlist.

Personal ALA memberships include access to ALA Connect. Your login credentials are the same username and password that you use to log in to the main site. If you have forgotten or never received your login credentials, please click here.

Some ALA Connect communities allow access without a paid ALA membership. To access these communities, you can create a free account.

1. If you land on a page that requires login, you will be directed to a page with three options, one of which allows you to create a free account.
2. In the resulting window, enter your email address and last name. The system will confirm whether you have an account in our system already. If an account exists, you will be given password recovery options.
3. For a new account, complete the contact details. Save changes once complete. Login to Connect, accept the Code of Conduct, and select the Join Community button on the community you would like to join or have the admin send an invite link via email.

To view a short video on this, click here.

You can reset your password at www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=login&template=/Security/NoPassword.cfm

Your login credentials are the same username and password that you use to log in to the main site. If you have forgotten your login credentials or need assistance with your login information, please click here.

1. Log in to Connect
2. Click the photo next to your name in the upper right corner, then select Profile to go to your profile page.
3. Anything in the Edit Address and Communication Settings and Edit Name, Title and Organization widgets on your Connect profile will write back to ALA’s central database. Other profile widgets/fields do not – they’re only in Connect.
   • Note that right now, your ethnicity doesn't display anywhere on your profile, even to you. It's only found in the edit window. We encourage you to answer the question so that we can analyze accurate demographics about our membership in the aggregate so that we'll know if we're making progress on our efforts to be more inclusive. We will never share this information about you except in the aggregate.
   • Use these widgets to update your personal and contact information in ALA’s central database, along with your Connect profile.
4. Click the Add buttons to share other information about yourself in the available fields.
5. Click on the Save button to publish your changes.

Filling out your profile and adjusting your Privacy Settings will let you create a rich profile you can share publicly on your résumé or a minimal version for just those colleagues you add to your contacts in the system. Or add no information than you've already provided - it's all up to you. Optional information you can share:

• A bio field where you can share information about yourself
• Your education history
• Your work history
• Professional associations you've joined
• Honors and awards you've received
• Links to social media accounts and other websites
• Your interests

1. This information is publicly visible by default:
   • Your name
   • Your profile photo
   • The name of the organization where you work
2. This information is visible only to you by default:
   • Your mailing address
   • Your phone numbers
   • Your email address
   • Your ethnicity
3. This information is visible to other ALA Connect users by default:
   • Your name (this information is also available through basic and advanced searches)
   • Your profile photo, if you've chosen to add one
   • The name of the organization where you work if you've provided this in your member record (this information is also available through basic and advanced searches)
   • Your job title and department if you've provided this in your member record
   • Your bio if you've filled this out in Connect
   • Your work and education history if you've filled this out in Connect
   • Honors and awards if you've filled this out in Connect
   • Professional groups and associations if you've filled this out in Connect
   • A list of communities you participated in on Connect (this information is also available through advanced searches)
   • Networks you're part of in Connect
   • Mutual contacts you have in common with each other
   • Your social media accounts and links to them and other sites if you've added this information in Connect
   • Your interests if you've filled them out in Connect (this information is also available through advanced searches)
   • An "Add as Contact" button (which will require you to approve the request)
   • A link to send you a message through the Connect system (your email address will not be exposed to the sender)

To view a short video on this, click here.

1. Sign In and navigate to your profile. (You can use the Avatar at the top right of any page in Connect once you login.)
2. Select the My Account tab on the profile page.
3. Select Privacy Settings from the drop down list.
4. Select which profile elements you would like viewable and by which group of users
   • Only Me: Only you can view the item
   • My Contacts: Only your contacts can view the item
   • Members Only: Anyone who can log in can view, which includes non-ALA members who have created free Connect accounts
   • Public: Anyone with a link to your profile can view, without joining the site or logging in

To view a short video on this, click here.

1. Email Preferences let you decide whether to receive emails regarding one-on-one interactions such as "reply to sender" emails, contact requests, and @mentions in discussions. The Promotional Emails option does not currently affect any notifications you'll receive, as ALA is not sending promotional emails through this system.
2. Community Notifications let you set emails from any group to Real Time, Daily Digest, Consolidated Weekly Digest (can include multiple groups' content), or No Email.
3. Communication Preferences let you set what types of email and print communication you want to receive from ALA outside of Connect. These are found on your Profile, underneath your profile photo, when you click on the button that will let you edit your contact information and communication settings. If you edit these settings, be sure to scroll to the bottom to click on the Save button, and then click on the Refresh My Profile! link under your contact details to publish your changes.

1. If you're logged in, you'll see your name in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Click on the arrow next to your name and select the Profile button.
3. Underneath your profile photo is a "Contact Details" section. Select the pencil button next to the section header. The button will take you to the my.ALA.org member portal. Log in to your account using your ALA login credentials. Select the Preference tab. Your Communication Preferences will be the first set of preferences a user can change. This is where you can set your Communication Level for non-ALA Connect email and print communication. The options here are:
   • Communications from ALA and outside organizations (You'll benefit from the most exposure to announcements, activities, and event notifications.)
   • Just ALA, Please (You'll receive only communications from ALA and your member groups, such as divisions and round tables.)
   • ALA Official Communications Only (Similar to unsubscribe. You'll receive only your ballot, journal subscriptions and renewal information. You will not receive communications from your divisions, round tables, committees, or other groups.)
   • Nothing (Only non-members can select this option.)
   • Communications from ALA, chapters, and affiliates of ALA and its units
4. If you make changes, make sure you click on the Save button.

Click here for a video overview of adding pronouns.

Connect users can add a Pronouns field to their profiles and as a selectable variable in the Signature widget that appears below their discussion posts. Sharing and using others’ pronouns is important as a way to show respect and treat others with dignity. It supports those who have to fight to have their pronouns honored. While many members already manually share their personal pronouns on Connect, we hope this dedicated field will make this process more standard and easier for everyone.

ALA Connect users can click here to update their profile and add pronouns now.

1. In the left sidebar, click the pencil icon next to the Pronouns header.
2. Select your pronouns from the options. The new field allows users to select one or multiple options, and to add their own option.
3. Click Save.
4. After completing the Pronouns widget, add them to the signature field by going to the Discussion Signature page and selecting the variable from the column on the right side.

Note that this information isn't shared outside of Connect and by default is only visible to Connect users (users can change this in their Privacy Settings.)

Conduct Basic Search

1. Select the Directory from any landing page in ALA Connect (Divisions and Round Tables have filtered Directories on their pages which can be found using the blue fly-out menus at the top left of the Connect home page).
2. Fill in any criteria (First Name, Last Name, Email, etc.) to limit results. Note: Although none of the fields are required you must enter something in at least one field.
3. Select any of the results to send a message or connect request to that person. Click the name to view their profile.

To view a short video on this, click here.

Conduct Advanced Search

1. Sign In and select the Directory from any landing page in ALA Connect.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Select from the drop downs or scroll to the Interests to select criteria to find individuals in Connect. Note: The radio buttons default to an OR/ANY but you can further restrict the search by selecting the ALL radio button at the top of each criteria category.
4. Select Search button.

To view a short video on this, click here.

There are several ways to add contacts. When you perform a search in the Directory, you will see an “Add as contact” button to the right of each person in your search results. Just click this button to send a contact request. If you click through and view an individual’s profile, you can click the contact request link to the right of their profile picture.

Creating this virtual address book makes it easy to send your contacts messages through the community site to stay in touch, ask questions or even build a referral network. Additionally, when you view another member’s profile, you’ll be able to see any contacts you have in common. You can also choose to let your contacts view certain demographics in your profile that others can't.

By default, anyone who is logged in to Connect can request to add you as a Contact. You'll get an email notification about the request, unless you've opted out of receiving Social Emails in your Email Preferences, and you'll be able to accept or decline the request. If you accept it, you'll appear on the person's Contacts list. You are not required to accept a request, and if you decline you will not be added to the person's Contacts list. You can hide the Send Message button from appearing on your profile by changing it to Nobody in your Privacy Settings

Anyone with an account in ALA Connect can send you a message through the site unless you opt out of receiving these messages by setting Send Message in your Privacy Settings to Nobody. Sending or replying to a message does not reveal your email address to the members your are corresponding with.

ALA Connect tries to connect you with other members who are in similar job roles and have similar interests by automatically creating networks based on information in your member record and Connect profile. My Networks can be found on your profile in the My Connections tab and are created based on:

• Job Title if you've provided this in your member record
• Principal Area of Work/Primary Work Area if you've provided this in your member record
• Type of Responsibility/Current Job Role if you've provided this in your member record
• Type of Library or Organization if you've provided this in your member record
• Interests you've added to your Connect profile
• You can update all of these fields in by viewing your Profile and clicking on the Edit Name, Title and Organization button next to your name
• Remember that you can opt out of appearing in these networks in your Privacy Settings

If you've filled out the Job Title, Principal Area of Work, Type of Responsibility, or Type of Library or Organization fields in your member record, or added Interests in your Connect profile, then you're automatically part of these networks. You can opt out of appearing in them in your Privacy Settings.

1. If you're logged in, you'll see your name in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Click on the arrow next to your name and select the Profile button.
3. On your profile, select the My Account tab and then Privacy Settings in the dropdown menu.
4. The first option you'll see listed on the page is "I would like to be included in the member directory and community rosters." The default is set to Yes, but if you click on that setting, you can change it to No.
5. If you make changes, make sure you click on the Save Changes button.

Communities allow you to participate in discussions and share resources with other members.

Click here for a video overview of finding groups, or continue reading to learn more.

Connect is organized into groups, which includes committees, communities, discussion groups, interest groups, and more depending on your participation in the organization. Each of these groups contains a Discussion forum where you can talk with other members, and a Library where you can share resources or other files.

To find the groups you already belong to, you can use one of three methods – depending on what you’re looking for.

Find Division- or Round Table-specific groups using the Communities navigation menu

The “Communities” menu dropdown is customized based on the site you’re on, whether it’s ALA or a Division or Round Table, and based on your membership in specific groups. You’ll always see two categories here: “All [Unit] Groups” and “All My [Unit] Groups”.

Within those categories, the links may vary: you’ll see links that the unit has chosen to “spotlight” in the first category (like the main discussion forum), and links specific to your membership in the second (for example, if you belong to committees or interest groups they’ll show up as links.)

Find a consolidated list of all the groups you belong to across the organization by using the My Connect navigation menu

The “My Connect” menu is personalized regardless of the site you’re on, so this is the place to look if you belong to groups from multiple Divisions or Round Tables and want a list that pulls them all together. “All My Groups“ will bring you to a complete list of every groups you belong to, inclusive of all Divisions, Round Tables, and committee appointments.

Find a consolidated list of groups from any Profile

Finally, you can find groups from your (or any) profile. Select the Connections tab, and you’ll see a consolidated list of every group you (or the profile you are viewing) are currently a member of.

1. Sign In to connect.ala.org and navigate to the group home page you want to join.
2. If the group is open to join, a bright blue Join Community button will appear above the group name. Click the button.
3. Once you confirm the frequency you want for email notifications from the community, you will be able to participate and the community content will be available to you.

Click here to view a short video on how to join a group.

By default, ALA Connect enables realtime notifications for all committees and daily digests from all communities, so you'll receive individual emails whenever there's a new post or reply to a committee you're on and a daily digest from any communities you've joined. You can change this in your profile at any time by adjusting your Community Notifications under My Account on your profile. ALA Connect does not send out emails when new events are added or when files are uploaded to a community's Library. Choose the frequency or opt out for any of your Connect groups using these steps:

1. Sign In to connect.ala.org and navigate to your profile. (You can use the Avatar at the top right of any page in Connect once you login.)
2. Select Community Notifications from the My Account tab.
3. Find the group(s) for which you want to change the frequency of notifications and select an option from the dropdown menu.
4. Note that once you toggle the frequency for a community, the setting takes effect immediately. There is no Save button on this page.

Every group you're a member of can be set to:

1. Real Time (you'll receive individual emails whenever there's a new post or reply in a group)
2. Daily Digest
3. Consolidated Weekly Digest (can include multiple groups' content)
4. No Email

You can also set override or alternate email addresses to your account here, if you want to receive notifications somewhere other than your primary email address.

To view a short video on this, click here.

1. Sign In to connect.ala.org, navigate to your profile. (You can use the avatar next to your name at the top).
2. Under My Account, select Community Notifications. This will give you the full list of links to all of your communities in ALA Connect. (Scroll down on the screen to see the list).
3. Change your setting for a community to “No Email” if you want to unsubscribe from that community’s email notifications while continuing to belong to it.
4. If you want to leave the community completely, click the title of the Community you want to remove and you’ll be directed to that community’s home page.
5. Select the Settings button on the community home page to reveal and click the Leave Community button.

To view a short video on this, click here.

1. In groups where you don't have real-time email alerts enabled, you will see the word "Follow" and a star icon near the top of content pages like discussion threads or library entries. Clicking this icon enables real-time email alerts so that you'll be notified of future engagement with this content (whether it's discussion replies or library file modifications.)
2. To see a unified list of all the content you're following, you can view it from your profile. Navigate to My Connections->Following. For each entry of followed content, you can click its links to:
   1. view its content page
   2. view the content contributor's profile
   3. access the content landing page where the content item is located
   4. review the date and time you followed the particular content item
3. To unfollow content, click the star icon again. You will stop receiving real-time participation emails about it.

Click here for a video overview of using Discussions, or continue reading to learn more.

1. Select the Discussions tab from the community home page. In the resulting display select Post New Message. OR from the home page of any group you belong to, select the Add button, in the Latest Discussions block.
2. Fill in the Subject field.
3. Type in (or post unformatted text) to the Body field of the discussion. Use the HTML editor to add links, images, formatting as needed.
4. Adjust your signature, if needed.
5. Add any attachments.
6. Click the Send button when finished to submit the post to the community. This will generate an email notification to all of the members of the community. Any attachments will be saved into a Library Entry under the Library tab (in case you need to edit the attachments).

To reply to a discussion post, please navigate to the discussion post and click “Reply” to send your message to the entire community. To send a message to only the author of the post, please select “Reply Privately” (located in the "Reply to Discussion" drop-down).

1. Click the "down" arrow next to the Reply button in your post.
2. Select "Edit" from the dropdown menu.
3. Update your post as needed, then click "Save".
4. This will not generate an email notification, but will add a line of text saying "This post was edited by [your name]" and a timestamp of when the edit was made.

1. Only admins are able to delete discussion posts, but we're happy to help if you need us! Please Contact Us and include the URL for the discussion you'd like removed.

1. If you've saved a discussion post as a draft, it will be available as part of the full list of your content available in your profile.
2. You can find all your draft posts at the top of the list here: https://connect.ala.org/network/members/profile/contributions/contributions-list

If images are not appearing, it is likely that your email client is set to suppress images. This should be something you can change in your security or viewing options. If you would rather receive text-based email, go to your profile page and click on the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu. Select the “Plain Text” format option for each of the discussions you are subscribed to.

Yes, please enter a keyword in the search bar located in the main navigation. To refine your search results, please select "Show Advanced Search". Try using exact phrases, wildcards, and logical operators to search ALA Connect.

ALA Connect's platform, Higher Logic, defines and explains search operators and search specific URLs on this customer support page.

Some tips for ALA Connect participants

There is not a configuration to alter the search logic from the default of “or” but there are ways to manually override by entering modifiers in the search.

Suggested search parameters are:

Exact Phrase
"value"

Wildcards
* Asterisk

Grouping (expression)

Logical Operators
AND
and
And
&&
OR
or
Or
||
and can be used to search for the unquoted text literal and or can be used to search for the unquoted text literal or

Negating
-group|filter|term

Ranges
[start TO end]

Locate the community you are interested in viewing from the appropriate communities page. Click through the community's landing page, then click on the “Discussions” tab. If you see a post you’re interested in, click the subject line which will take you to the entire thread. “Show Original Message” at the bottom of all of the posts in a thread will display the original message that started that discussion.

If you prefer to engage with your Connect groups from your email inbox, you can start posting new threads and replies using the platform's built-in features! Much like Sympa and other listservs, this requires a bit of setup – but once it's done, you'll be able to participate in discussions without leaving your email! See below for a diagram of how to set up your email client using a Connect email digest you've received, or scroll down to read the steps separately.

1. "Post New Message" link - Save the email address in this link to your email client as a "Contact" record for the group you're part of (for example, name it "ALA Members Group.") Any email sent to this address will automatically post a new discussion thread, with the email subject line becoming the discussion subject and the email body becoming the post itself.
2. "Send a private message" link - Click this button in any message to send a private message via email to the member who posted.
3. "Email a reply to the discussion" link - Click this button in any message to start a new email; it'll automatically post as a reply to the correct discussion thread on the platform. Note that this email address can't be saved; it's different for each topic.

To view a short video on this, click here.

No, you cannot forward a digest from your email client to another community by utilizing your email client’s forwarding functionality . As a Connect user, you may prefer to engage with your Connect groups from the comfort of your email inbox. Users that have saved an email address of a Discussion group to their email client as a "Contact" record for the group that they are a part of (for example, name it "ALA Members Group") can post a new discussion thread to a desired Discussion group from their email client. Any email sent to the address will automatically post a new discussion thread, with the email subject line becoming the discussion subject and the email body becoming the post itself.

For expediency, you may be tempted to use your email client’s “Forward” functionality to forward a digest that you have received in your email client to another community using a Discussion Group email address. This will not work. For security reasons, this functionality is no longer available. If you try to forward a digest into another community, Connect will instead bounce this discussion thread back to the original community.

How to share information from a digest to another community using your email client:

1. Create a new message in your email client.
2. Copy the information that you would like to share from the digest.
3. Paste the information that you have copied from the digest into the body of your new email.
4. Place the Discussion Group email address into the “To” field.
5. Type or copy your subject into the “Subject” field.
6. Attach any desired files.
7. Send the new message like you would a normal email. Your email sent to the Discussion Group email address will automatically post a new discussion thread in the desired community, with the email subject line becoming the discussion subject and the email body becoming the post itself.

Images should include equivalent alt text. If alt text isn't provided for images, the image information is inaccessible, for example, to people who cannot see and use a screen reader (source).

The "Insert Image" dialog on a discussion post allows you to add alt text when uploading an image: Please add your text to both the "Image Title" and "Image Description" fields, since different browsers and assistive devices may read from one or the other.

In communities where the Questions and Answers functionality has been turned on, users of ALA Connect can expect a typical user experience when creating a thread. By default, users will create an Open-ended Discussion post. However, users that need to designate a post as a question can do so. Users can categorize your post with the applicable thread type ("focusing your thread") by selecting it at the top.

Mark a post a Question:

The icon for each thread type carries through to the list page, making it easy to visually identify the type of post at a glance.

Don’t pass up the Opportunity to Assist - Answer a question:

If you read a question posed by another community member and can answer it, click Answer.

The Content Editor will display directly on the page, allowing you to answer inline without navigating away. By default, you'll use the Basic editor, with a limited set of options. Click the ellipsis (...) button to expand the Basic Plus editor with additional formatting options.

Mark a post as the Best Answer:

When someone asks a question, there's generally a reply that offers the best answer. To help promote this content the thread's original poster (as well as Super Admins, Community Admins, and Community Moderators) can mark one of the answers as the best answer by selecting Mark as Best Answer from its ellipsis (...) menu.

NOTE: You can clear the best answer at any time by selecting Unmark Best Answer from the menu. Only one answer can be flagged as the Best Answer at a time.

The answer is then visually highlighted to indicate this, ensuring other users know. In instances where multiple answers are available, flagging one as the best answer automatically pins it to the top of the list.

In addition, the Jump to Best Answer link appears at the top of the page, allowing you to quickly view the best answer. This is especially helpful for questions with a lot of text.

The promotion of free webinars and virtual events is permissible in ALA Connect. Be kind to members of our ALA Connect community who want to attend your virtual offering but may have questions. When creating a post to promote your free webinar or virtual event, you must include all relevant event information and a clear disclaimer for the attendees’ benefit.

The post and the disclaimer must:

• Make it clear who is hosting the event.
• Provide a designated contact person for the event.
• Provide an email address and phone number for the designated contact or person/vendor hosting the webinar.
• Clearly state that any inquiries regarding your event should go to the event’s designated contact.
• Notify the potential attendees that any inquiry that is received less than 24 hours before an event may not receive a response before the webinar’s start time.

Sample Disclaimer:

“This event is being hosted by (ORGANIZATION NAME). All questions and concerns should be directed to (the designated contact) at (email address) and/or call (contact’s phone number). The designated contact will respond as quickly as possible. Please note, if you make an inquiry less than 24 hours before the webinar starts, you may not receive a response before the start of the webinar.

Click here to view a PDF presentation on embedding a poll from SurveyMonkey. Robust polling support within Higher Logic is currently under development.

If you prefer to view content in Connect using a feed reader, you can set up a custom RSS feed from your Profile using the below steps:

1. Click on "My Profile" and choose "RSS Feeds" from the "My Account" dropdown menu.
2. In the box that says "Add a Discussion", search and select the group discussions you want to be part of the feed. You may select multiple groups, one at a time.
3. Repeat the process in the "Library" sub-tab for any group libraries you want to include in the feed.
4. Click the "Copy Link" button and paste the URL into the feed reader of your choice.

Click here for a video overview of using Libraries, or continue reading to learn more.

Every group within Connect has a Library, which can be used to share files and resources with other members of the group. Access to each library is controlled based on the group’s own permissions, so files shared in a private committee are only accessible to that committee’s members. The system supports dozens of file types including hyperlinks, standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), webinars, images and YouTube videos.

Files are directly uploaded to what are called Library Entries, and are then available for download by other users; further, multimedia entries can be viewed right on the page and even embedded on other web pages.

Libraries are typically associated to a community; however, stand-alone Libraries can be created.

A flyout panel appears when you click an Entry in the list. It has information about that Entry, sections for comments and links, and a dedicated ellipsis menu to take actions on that Entry.

Use the "View" icons at the top of the Library widget to display Entries in either the Row or Card view

The "Folders" panel on the left of the Library widget shows all folders in a Library. Choose a folder to see its Entries. Collapse the panel by selecting the menu button in the upper left.

When you click a Library Entry, in any of the views, a panel opens to display that Entry's details. In the Details Panel, you can:

• Recommend the Entry
• View and download files
• Add a comment
• Add a link to community content that is related to this topic
• Click the ellipsis (...) menu to access other options:
  • View Entry Page: Opens this Entry's dedicated page in the current tab. (Right-click to select to open in a new tab.)
  • Edit: Opens the Add to a Library page where you can update Its title, The Library its stored in, The specific folder within the chosen Library where it resides, Its description,Add or remove files, or simply update the existing files; the process for this depends on the file type (e.g., images, YouTube video, etc.)
  • Pin / Unpin: Pin an entry to the top of the Library Entry list
  • Copy Permalink: Copies this library entry's permalink (URL) to your clipboard. It can then be pasted elsewhere to link to this Entry (e.g., a custom CMS page) or simply shared with someone for easy access.
  • Follow / Unfollow: Select this to Follow an Entry, meaning you'll receive an email notification about any future updates it receives. If following, this option becomes Unfollow, which you can select to stop receiving updates.

If you know which library the resource might be located in, find the affiliated community via the All Groups page. Click through the community's landing page, then click on the “Library” tab . If you do not know where the resource might be, enter search terms in the main search box the same way you might enter search terms into Google or another search engine.

Yes. Enter your desired keyword in the main search box. From the search results page, click "Show Advanced Search." Then click on “Search for Specific File Types.” This gives you the option to specify file type: Document, Image, Spreadsheet, etc.

The Library sorts files by Creation Date by default, but clicking on the Sort By dropdown will display a menu that allows you to re-order the library's files by any of the below criteria:

1. Creation Date
2. Title A-Z
3. Title Z-A
4. Most Downloaded
5. Most Viewed

There are several filtering options that you can use independently or together to determine which Entries display. These options are useful for pinpointing specific library entries in large lists.

Click the "Thread Attachments" menu, select a filter, and click Show Entries to apply it.

Filters include:

• Show all entries - The default selection, which shows all Entries, regardless of their origin.
• Show only entries originating as thread attachments - Any time someone includes a file attachment in a community Discussion post, that file is automatically added to the community Library as an Entry (with the same name as the associated Discussion post). Select this filter to show only these Entries in the list.
• Show only manually created entries - Use this filter to see only Entries that users manually created from the Library (i.e., it didn't originate from a Discussion thread).

Click the "File Type" menu, select a file type, and click Show Entries to apply it.

File type filters include:

• Documents - Only Entries containing document type files (PDF, Word, etc.) are displayed.
• Images - Only Entries containing image files are displayed.

When a filter is applied, the filter name displays as bold. To remove a filter to once again show the full list, click Clear.

Files can be uploaded to Connect using Create a Library Entry (or by attaching files to a discussion post). Each Library Entry can contain a single file OR multiple files. Although a direct upload to a Library Entry will not send a message to the community, you will be able to place the file in the folder upon upload, and arrange the file order.

Upload to a specific group (like a Community or Committee)

1. Sign In to ALA Connect at https://connect.ala.org.
2. Navigate to your group home page. Select the Library tab.
3. Select the Create New Library Entry button from the side of the page.
4. In the resulting window, name the Library Entry and complete the description field if needed. Select an entry type. Most common files should be Standard File Upload. Click the Next button.
5. Choose the files you want to include in the upload. There are several options on the left side of the page or you can click the Choose button in the center of the page to navigate to the files you need to upload.
6. Choose the files you want to include in the upload. Navigate to the files you need to upload. In the resulting window, select the files. NOTE: Avoid using illegal characters [spaces, periods, @#$%^&*() and commas in the file names]. Click the Upload button.
7. In the resulting window, confirm that the files were included. Select the Next button to rearrange the files using drag and drop or select the Finish button.
8. Once the upload is complete, use the Actions button to get the permanent link to post to a discussion to alert the community members that the files are available.

Editing an attachment is slightly more complicated than editing the discussion post itself, since attachments become part of a group’s Library. To edit an attachment, use the Library tab of the group you posted in.

1. In the Library of the group where you posted, locate the entry that you want to edit and click through to its entry page.
2. Expand the Actions dropdown menu and choose Edit.
3. Upload a replacement file and, if needed, delete the original file.
4. Update the File Name and Description if needed, then click Finish. The original file in your discussion post will be replaced with an updated file.
5. 

Note that editing a Library entry does not generate an email alert, but does create a new date and time stamp for the file in the Library.

If you’re a Community Admin for the group, you can also organize files within the Folder view.

To do this, you need to switch to Admin View by clicking the icon in the upper right of the library widget.

1. Click the Folder icon in the filters at the top of the Library entries list
2. In the left Folders panel, you can create new parent and child folders, and add/move/and delete existing folders.
   1. To create a new folder:
      1. Click New for a main-level folder, or New Child (after highlighting the parent folder you want)
      2. Type a descriptive name in line with the group naming conventions
   2. To move an existing folder:
      1. Highlight the folder you want to move
      2. Click the scissors/Cut icon
      3. Click the clipboard/Paste or Paste as child icons (after highlighting the parent folder you want)
3. In the right Folder Contents panel, you can upload new files and move or delete existing ones
   1. To upload a new file, click the New button under Folder Contents
   2. To move an existing file to another folder
      1. Highlight the file
      2. Click the scissors/Cut icon under Folder Contents
      3. Under the left Folders panel, switch to the folder you want to move the file into
      4. Back under the Folder Contents panel, click the clipboard/Paste icon to add the file to the folder you want

The system supports over 70 file types including hyperlinks, standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), webinars, images and YouTube videos. Maximum file size is 1GB.

The full list of supported files is: 3G2 - Mobile Video; 3GP - Mobile Video; AI - Illustrator Vector Graphic; AVI - Video File; BMP - Bitmap Image; CRTX - MS Excel Chart Template; CSS - Cascading Style Sheet; DOC - MS Word Document; DOCX - MS Word Document; DOT - MS Word Document; DOTX - MS Word Document; EOT - Embedded OpenType; EPS - Encapsulated Postscript; EPUB - Electronic Publications; F4V - Flash Video File; FLV - Flash Video File; FON - Font File; FNT - Font File; GIF - GIF Image; GZ - GNU Zip Archive; HTM - HTML Page; HTML - HTML Page; JPE - JPEG Image; JPEG - JPEG Image; JPG - JPEG Image; M4A - Flash Audio File; M4V - M4V Video; MOV - QuickTime Movie; MP3 - MP3 Audio; MP4 - MPEG Video File; MP4V - MPEG Video File; MPE - MPEG Movie; MPEG - MPEG Movie; MPG - MPEG Movie; MPP - MS Project Plan; MPT - MS Project Template; MPV - MS Project View; MPX - MS Project Exchange; OFT - MS Outlook File Template; OTF - OpenType; PDF - Adobe PDF File; PJPEG - JPEG Image; PNG - PNG Image; POTX - MS PowerPoint; PPS - MS PowerPoint; PPSX - MS PowerPoint; PPT - MS PowerPoint; PPTX - MS PowerPoint; PSD - Photoshop Format; RA - Real Audio; RAM - Real Audio; RTF - Rich Text Format File; STL - STereoLithography; SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics; SWF - Flash Movie; TEX - Enriched Typeset; TIF - TIFF Image; TIFF - TIFF Image; TTF - TrueType; TXT - Text File; WAV - WAV Audio File; WMA - Windows Media Audio; WMV - Windows Media Video; WOFF - Web Open Font Format; WOFF2 - Web Open Font Format; WPD - Word Perfect Document; WRI - Windows Write Document; XLS - MS Excel Spreadsheet; XLSB - MS Excel Binary; XLSM - MS Excel Macro-Enabled; XLSX - MS Excel Spreadsheet; XLT - MS Excel Template; XLTX - MS Excel Template; XML - Extensible Markup Language; X-PNG - PNG Image; ZIP - WINZIP Archive

Tags are great way to organize and categorize content on your site. Tags can be applied to blogs, library entries, events, and glossary terms. Tagged items are prioritized in the search results.