LibGuides are a content management system that allow librarians to create and manage web content. With so much available on the internet, the LibGuides are a tool we use to curate and recommend high quality resources for our students.
This guide contains the practices that we use at M State for creating the guides. We want to create a cohesive experience for the students and esnure that our guides are as accessible as possible.
Things to keep in mind as you build your LibGuides.
Consider Your Users
Most of our LibGuides should address the needs of our students, not ourselves.
Make sure your Content is Reliable and Up-to-Date
Libraries are trusted sources of information for our users. We want to make sure that any content we make publicly available is as accurate as possible. This involves a lot of maintenance, as we need to make sure our guides aren't outdated and that our links work.
Make Information Easier to Find
Use short descriptive titles, friendly URLs, and make sure that you've assigned your guide to the right Type. You can also use tags to create keywords for your guides to make them easier to find.
Be Organized and Concise
We want to give our users everything they could possibly need, but they are often better served by content that is concise and selective rather than exhaustively thorough. Organize your LibGuides and LibGuide pages so users can easily scan and navigate them.
Plan for the Future
Creating and maintaining LibGuides is a considerable amount of work. Keep in mind that the LibGuides you create will need to be maintained regularly in the future so be selective about what you choose to create and be intentional in creating content that can be updated as easily as possible.
Adapted from: WSU LibGuide Design: Best Practices and Guidelines