Labels in library collections

Labels organise items inside the library. Cirrus has two kinds: personal labels specific to a collection, and system labels shared across every collection. Use this article to manage labels and apply them in bulk.

Personal labels (blue) and system labels (grey) on items

Personal labels versus system labels

	Personal labels	System labels
Created in	A specific collection	Admin > Labels
Modified or deleted in	The same collection	Admin > Labels
Managed by	Anyone with access to the collection	A System Administrator with the Labels permission
Available where	The collection they were created in	Every collection
Colour	Blue	Grey

Anyone with access to a collection can create a personal label. System labels need the Admin > Labels permission, set under Admin > Roles > Site > Labels.

Manage personal labels

Open the collection.
Select the three-dot menu in the top right and choose Manage labels.
The Manage labels screen lists every label visible to this collection: personal (blue) and system (grey).
Use the pencil icon to edit a personal label, or the trash icon to delete it. System labels are read-only here.
Select Create new to add a new personal label.

Shortcuts on the Manage labels screen

Apply to all: apply the selected label to every item in the collection.
Remove from all: remove the label from every item without deleting the label itself.

Manage labels dialog

Apply a label to items

On the items overview, tick the items you want to label.
Select Bulk actions > Apply labels.
The label-picker shows which labels are already applied.
Tick the labels to apply, then select Apply.

Bulk apply labels dialog

Remove a label

Tick the items.
Select Bulk actions > Remove labels.
Tick the labels to remove, then select Remove.

Add a system label

System labels live under Admin > Labels.

Open Admin > Labels.
Select Add.
Enter at least a title.
Save.

Adding a system label

Link a system label to a learning objective

A system label can be linked to a learning objective. Once linked, any item tagged with that learning objective automatically receives the linked label. This is useful for keeping library filters in sync with the LO structure.

Open Admin > Labels and select Edit on the label.
Select Add learning objectives and pick the LOs.
Save.

Labels tied to learning objectives appear in grey, like system labels.

Manually-assigned labels cannot be linked

A label that was already manually assigned to items cannot be linked to a learning objective. Cirrus shows: "This label was manually assigned to question(s). You cannot connect it to learning objectives."

To work around it, remove the manual assignments first, then create the LO link, then let the link reapply the label automatically.

Removing the LO link removes the label

Removing a label's link to a learning objective also removes that label from every item attached to that LO. Plan accordingly.

Create LO-linked labels before importing items if you want the label to attach automatically at import time.

Delete a system label

Open Admin > Labels and tick the labels to remove.
Select Delete.

Labels currently applied to any item cannot be deleted. Remove the label from items first.

Tip: Library-wide filtering

Library > Items shows items across every collection and lets you filter by label. Apply system labels carefully: other users may already use them in other collections.