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The Basics
General Guidelines when creating a guide:
Think about the users
- Consider your users: our guides are mostly for our students, not other librarians.
- Think about what the users need to accomplish
- How can our guide help them
Pay attention to the content: is it reliable and up to date?
- We are trusted sources of information for users. The guide should be checked regularly.
- Check your links, images, and videos each semester
- Avoid dates or be sure to update these dates each semester
- Ask: has this information changed? been updated? Example: citation style guides that change
Make it easy to find and use
- Our guiding philosophy is "simple and clear"
- Use short titles and descriptions
- Use friendly URLs
- Assign the guide to the right type: general, course, subject
Keep it organized
- Our guides are consistently organized guide to guide
- Stick to "top 5" of each category (5 databases, 5 websites, 5 books, etc)
- The menu should mimic the search behavior of students
- Find background info, Find articles, Find books, Cite Sources, Evaluate Sources, etc.
Schedule maintenance
- You should check your guides once a semester. Avoid making large changes mid-semester.
- How many guides can you manage and maintain?
- Does this information make sense in a guide? Should it live somewhere else?
- Be selective about sources and the number of guides you make.
- Add content that is easily updated (like system assets)