Date: May 31, 2017
Kansas State:
What I Like: Very specific; nice organization; each set of recommendations has a justification
I like that there is content related to ADA compliance, as well as standardized naming conventions for class-related libguides
The guide is very specific about the review process: There is a team, consisting of "instructional designers and members of
the LibGuides team" - also includes supervisors of content creators (this may really explode the team and it's not clear purpose)
I agree with the justification for review as provided:
Justification: K-State Libraries must present a unified, polished, and patron-centered web presence. Adopting the aforementioned standards prior to migrating existing LibGuides new platforms will help us reach those goals.
Filtering content through a review group or editor prior to publication is common practice in web design. Once errors, typos, or design flaws are seen by the public, they cannot be unseen. The standards check for new guides will ensure quality and maintain the integrity of the standards to provide a usable, accessible, and trustworthy environment for patrons and to provide an opportunity for guide creators to gain assistance as needed.
UCLA
What I like: Very easy to read; very direct;
I like the section on "No Guide is an Island" - consider the Guides as a whole, rather than in isolation from other guides. Will the user know which guide to choose?
I like that there is a standard template and the direction, "this should be used unless content specifically requires a multi-column layout)
I like that there is a "web page vocabulary" -
I like that there is a blog for updates to the best practices
Boston Colleges
Provides conflicting information about video and media (from UCLA I think) - here it is encouraged as adding "visual interest" -
Interesting recommendation:
Home page
- Better not to title it “Home.” Something like “Getting Started” or "Overview" is better.
- "Start Here" is another good title if your guide walks a user through a process.
I like that a checklist for authors is included, although these are pretty minimal standards
http://libguides.bc.edu/guidestandards/checklist
Grand Valley State
(Much of this content is adapted from Suzanne Chapman for University of Illinois Libraries)
They have a nice section on "Understanding our Users", although it may be unclear to guide authors how this translates to their own guide development (for example, persona's may have different needs) (http://libguides.gvsu.edu/styleguide/understandingusers)
I like their writing samples: http://libguides.gvsu.edu/styleguide/writingsamples with before and after; it brings home the points really nicely.
LibGuides Best Practices - Temple
Databases - I'm not sure that I'd agree with the suggestion about databases. This means that every database description is different.
Suggest as few databases as realistically needed - vague - realistic according to what audience?
It might be nice to not just include links to guides using Best Practices, but point out exactly how they do that (an annotated guide, for example)