When administering Pressbooks there are a few important areas for the administrator to be aware of in terms of what we post and how we host materials in Pressbooks.
First when creating a book here are the steps. 1. Create the book. 2. Create the users within the book - not through the Users tab in Pressbooks.
Book Creation
Click on Network Admin and Books click on Books
Click Add New
See below for recommendations on book titles
Type in the Book Address (see information below about Book URLs/addresses)
Type in the title
Type in yourself (the Admin) as the Admin email to start (i.e. elr1012@plymouth.edu)
Account Creation and Usernames
Accounts should be created using the usernames of individuals on the PSU campus, not their alias, this will not allow our systems to sync if the accounts are anything but usernames. In order to do this, first, create the book, and then add the users to the material. This is under the "Users" in the book. Add them by username, email and then select "Skip Confirmation Email". This will assure they are synced appropriately within Pressbooks. This setting appears in the users area for adding users to individual Pressbooks. If you need to add a new user without access to a particular Pressbook add them to a Sandbox book. You can later then remove them, so that they have general access to the system.
URLs and Titles
The title of the material in the URL can be two options, either one word, or a word with dashes example is below.
If your book was named - Name of Book
nameofbook.Press.plymouth.edu
name-of-book.Press.plymouth.edu
If the title is particularly long, if you can identify key words to include in the adoption of the material that is a okay.
Example -
Title: Reader’s Guide to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
URL: readers-guide-henrietta-lacks.press.plymouth.edu
User Management and Roles
Usually, I will assign a lead writer or professor of a material the administrator, you could then ask if you prefer students or others involved in the projects to be, editors, authors or contributors based on a case by case basis. I typically add students as editors, but again this may be a further conversation to have on a case by case basis. The user roles are listed below.
User Roles in Pressbooks
There are several levels of roles in Pressbooks: Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator. Here's what each of those types of users can do (assuming they are logged in):
|
Role
|
Manage Users/Settings
|
Add/Edit Posts
|
Publish Posts
|
Delete Posts
|
Read Posts
|
Comment (if enabled)
|
|
Administrator
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Editor
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Author
|
No
|
Only their own
|
Only their own
|
Only their own
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Contributor
|
No
|
Only their own
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Subscriber
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Author
When the material is created by an administrator, the administrator (their username more specifically) is listed as the author. The administrator should change the author of the material as they assign it to the initial user, as I've seen cases of the material not being reassigned. Give the author's name as the full name of the individual and let them make any changes from there.
To do this:
1. Go the Dashboard of the Pressbook
2. Click on Book Info on the left hand side on the newly created Pressbook.
3. Click on Create new Contributer under Authors
4. Type in the author's Full Name (First Name Last Name) and then their First Name and Last Name
5. Click Add New Contributor
6. Delete your (admin) username as a contributor
7. Return to the Book Info page and delete your username and type or insert in the new author's name.
8. Click Save
Pressbooks Automatic Reply and Catalog
There is an option to have a Pressbook posted in our general catalog at https://press.plymouth.edu/. We have an automatic form made to send to users after account creation. Users are asked in automated reply (under Templates and Print Depot when you reply to a user in TD) for Pressbooks for account creation for their estimated completion date and if they would like their material posted in the catalog - be sure to post those by visiting the "All Books" tab in Pressbooks and when ready marking off "In Catalog" in the Pressbooks catalog when the author is ready to have their Pressbook shared with a larger community - this would also add their Pressbook to the Pressbooks directory at pressbooks.directory.
Remember when responding to users to include their new pressbooks URL i.e. example.press.plymouth.edu, the pressbooks url press.plymouth.edu and their indepdendent login URL i.e. example.press.plymouth.edu/wp-admin these are not all included in the automatic reply, so just be sure to add them!