LibGuides: Best practices

Conduct the following review of your personal LibGuides at least once a month

• Notify library webmaster when a guide is ready for publication/updates to get accessibility review.
• Let faculty know if there are changes and updates so they can take best advantage of the content.
• Ask each other to review your guide for peer feedback.
• Make suggestions to improve this guide.

• Delete any experimental or incomplete guides that are no longer of use.
• ​Is the guide still relevant?
  • Check with faculty to see the guide still fulfills its use.
  • Check stats to see if the guide is being used.
  • Every guide/page should offer valuable content.
  • Are there new or updated resources to add (or resources to delete)?
• Guide status: Should the guide be published (on our website) or private (only for poeple with the links)?
• Categorize: Is the guide categorized in the type and in the right group?
• Titles: Do the pages and boxes have accurate meaningful titles?
• URLs: Does the guide and guide pages have readable URLs?
  • For example...
    • library.mc3.edu/best-practices
    • library.mc3.edu/best-practices/content

• Readability:
  • Is the text broken into readable-lengths?
  • Is the language concise?
  • Keep language conversational and avoid technical language.
  • Break long pages into multiple shorter pages as needed.
• Citation: Are sources properly credited with MLA or Creative Commons citations?
• Links: Insure we have the best link into the resource.
  • Watch for resource redesigns, which can change URLS and landing pages.
  • Link to useful information rather than repeating content within a guide.
  • Use the link tool to highlight the resource.
  • Check to see if someone else has already created the link.
  • Do not use the URL as link text. Give it a description.
• Repair dead links with link checker in the Tools menu

• Images: Do images and graphics have the needed alt text?
• Video: Does video content have Closed Captioning and/or transcripts?
  • Films on Demand videos need link back to video page. 
• Headings: Headings help the content flow in an appropriate and logical sequence.
  • Are the headings properly formatted and correctly ordered?
• Links: Can all links stand alone without surrounding context?
• Test Your Page: Conduct a WAVE evaluation tool check for accessibility compliance. 

Accessibility guide below will cover these topics as well as best practices for color, tables, copy/pasting tips.