Getting Started - Creating a Well-Designed Guide
This guide provides standards, best practices, and guidelines for authors to follow when creating and updating guides, and will help create usable, readable and well-designed guides for the UConn Library.
Guides should only be created if they have a specific curricular support purpose or meet other research or internal need. All new guides are subject to review by the LGMT in accordance with the LibGuides Policy. Check the Publishing Checklist to learn the minimum requirements necessary to create a guide.
-
"Implementing LibGuides 2: An Academic Case Study"To learn more about how other libraries had implemented v2, please read, Duncan, Vicky, Lucky, Shannon, and McLean, Jaclyn. "Implementing LibGuides 2: An Academic Case Study." Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship 27, no. 4 (2015): 248-58.
Profile Box
In LibGuides v.2, your profile information is kept in the general LibApps section. To edit your profile, make sure the blue box in the upper left corner says "LibApps" and go to "My Profile" in the top yellow bar.
- Course and Subject guides must have a profile box placed in the top right of the first (home) page to provide contact information. This profile should be the primary contact for the guide.
- No more than 2 co-authors in a guide
- Profile box should only appear in the main landing page.
- Topic, General Purpose, and Internal guides are not required to have a profile box.
- Use a photo of yourself for the profile image. If you choose not to use a photo of yourself, use a tasteful image that represents you to the university, academic and professional communities that you serve.
- We recommend to include as a minimum your email, and if you like, your office address and phone number.
- If you link to social media accounts, use the Library's official Facebook and Twitter accounts. If you are at Archives & Special Collections or at a regional campus with its own social media account, feel free to use those instead. Don't link to personal social media accounts.
- If you use a chat widget, use one that connects directly to your personal account. Do not use the general Ask a Librarian widget in your profile box as this confuses users.
- To add a widget, use the code provided on the Shared Content guide or ask Kate kate@uconn.edu (Storrs/Regional Campuses)
Additional information can be found on Springshare's Introduction to profiles page.
LibGuides Best Practices Resources
-
Introduction to LibGuides v2Provides tips on how to use the common features of the new LibGuides v2. Also provides sample workflows on how to construct a basic guide from scratch.
-
Writing for the Web and Content DesignEasy to follow advise on how to write for the web.
-
Writing for the WebUsability.gov offers a wealth of tips on ways to write for the web and how to make the it effective to web users.
-
F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content"Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe."
