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Purpose
Why use this guide
At Temple University Libraries we want the content for our websites, social media, marketing pieces, and other materials to be reliable, understandable, and memorable.
The Temple University Libraries website is reliable, easy to use, and accurate. It exemplifies the principles of user-centered design, and users consistently and readily find what they need. It advances our goals of discovery, information access, and quality customer service.
Who should use this guide
Anyone writing content for the web, social media, marketing and other public-facing materials (customer emails, signage) at Temple Libraries may use this guide. It should be used when authoring content for:
Library websites (main library site, Health Sciences Library,, etc.)
Library blogs
Library social media accounts
Subject, course, and topic research guides
LibAnswers FAQs
Credits
Some of the content of this guide was taken, with permission, from:
Temple University Editorial Guidelines which is largely based on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook
Write for your readers
Keep in mind that there is no typical Temple University Libraries’ patron. The Library community represents a diverse group of users with varying research skill levels. Please keep this in mind when you are writing content for the website. Some, but not all patrons, could fall under the one or more of the following categories:
Undergraduate students
Graduate students
Alumni
Faculty
Staff (including hospital/clinical staff)
Visiting scholars
Community members
People with advanced research skills/People with no research experience
People with advanced web skills/People with no web experience
Some people might have extensive research skills but little web experience, or vice versa
Users with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive impairments
What Goes Where
Primary Content Management System (main website)
Content includes: Primary content about services, policies, spaces, buildings, and staff.
Description: Content is created by staff from units across the libraries, overseen by site editors, and centrally managed by the Web Administrative Team. Blogs, social media sites, Confluence, and the LibApps suite should not be used in lieu of the primary content management system.
Blogs (Wordpress) & Social Media
Content includes: Ephemeral content such as Temple University Library news, new acquisition announcements, or long form posts that share views or updates on a topic related to libraries generally.
Description: This content may be topical or published periodically on a monthly/bimonthly schedule.
Confluence
this section will be updated as content is moved to Microsoft Sharepoint
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Work spaces for strategic steering teams, cross-departmental working groups, project committees, library units, departments, and other groups.
Documentation for processes, internal staff policies, etc.
Directory and index to statistical and assessment data about library and university.
LibGuides
Subject, course, and topic guides as defined in the LibGuides standards. Before creating a research guide, you must submit a request to author a guide to the LibGuides Review Team. LibGuides content is created by individual guide authors and managed by the LibGuides Review Team.
LibGuides A to Z Databases List
Standard descriptions of databases managed by Acquisitions staff.
LibAnswers
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Answers to frequently asked questions about library spaces and services, step-by-step instructions for systems, and most “how do I” type content as defined in FAQ standards. LibAnswers content is created by individual authors and managed by the the LRS Virtual Reference librarian in concert with the LibAnswers administrator (currently head of LRS BSSE unit). Examples include:
Find Articles by Citation
Find Textbooks
How do I print in the Library?
How do I check out a book?
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Content Guidelines
Basics
Write for all readers. Some people will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.
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Be consistent. Stick to the style points outlined in this guide.
Voice & tone
All writing should use a Aim for consistent tone that is friendly, conversational, and direct. Avoid overly formal and academic language.
Use the active voice. Avoid passive voice. Words like “was” and “by” may indicate that you’re writing in passive voice.
BadAvoid: Study rooms can be reserved by students at Charles Library.
Good
Use: Reserve a study room for your group at Charles Library.
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We can help you find relevant resources.
Use the Library Search to start your research.
Text Formatting
General
In general, format content for scannability. Generally, for web content, someone who is scanning a page should be able to find what they need quickly without reading each word.
Break up long descriptive content into small chunks so that it’s easier to understand, e.g. short 2-4 sentence paragraphs or bulleted lists.
Organize content in a logical structure, starting with the information or links that the user needs most.
Use headers and subheaders to organize your content and guide your reader through the page.
Headers
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Headings
Headings provide a structure and help organize the the content of your page.
H1
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should be the page title and displayed in title case–each word is capitalized
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, as in
Computers, Printing, & Technology
H2, H3, etc., should be sentence case—only capitalize the first word and proper names
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, as in
Borrow a laptop
Charge your device
Make headings parallel in structure
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H1 should be the page title, so start your content with an H2.
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. For example, use nouns, questions, or active verbs, as in
Pay your fines
Renew your books
Group content logically. There can be more than one of each heading type, e.g. if there is another group of content on the page with equal weight as the first H2 heading, use another H2 heading.
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Any groups of content
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under an H2 heading should use descending order of heading, i.e., h3, h4, h5, h6. Likewise, any groups within lower headings, such as an
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h3 should follow the descending order of headings.
Use ampersands instead of spelling out "and" in headings
Pay your fines
Renew your books
Organize & cite your sources
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Never create your own headers using bold or italics or ALL CAPS. Use a heading style such as H1, H2, etc. as described above instead.
Never end a header with a period or a colon; the only time you should end a header with punctuation is if it is a question with a question mark.
Lists
Use lists whenever possiblewhen possible to help break up page content. Use numbered lists for steps in a process, such as instructions, otherwise use bullets.
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How do I enable Course Reserves in Canvas?
1. In Canvas, click on Settings in the left-hand menu.
2. Click on the Navigation tab.
3. Click on the gear to the right of Ares and select Enable.
4. Click Save.
5. Contact Reserves at preserve@temple.edu or 215-204-0744 for help.
Make text easy to read
Clear the formatting when you paste text from one application to another.
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Option 1 (works in any CMS): When pasting text, use CMD (or CNTRL) + SHIFT + V to paste without formatting
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Abbreviations & jargon
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms unless preceded on the page by full title and acronym in parentheses, e.g. Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), American Library Association (ALA), etc.
Avoid: If we don’t have what you’re looking for, use ILL.
Use: If we don’t have what you’re looking for, use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request books from other libraries.
Avoid unnecessary library jargon and technical names
Avoid: You can access full-text PDFs from library vendors through Primo.
Use: You can find articles online through the Library Search.
Other tips
Use only the default style text provided in the content management system.
Clear the formatting when you paste text from one application to another.
Don’t use ALL CAPS.
Bold and italicize content sparingly, e.g. bold a word, phrase, or even a short sentence, but not an entire paragraph).
Don’t underline text as it can confuse users to believing the content is linked.
In most cases, text should be aligned left, not centered, aligned right, or justified.
Use just one space after a period, not two.
Tables should be used for tabular data, not for page layout. If you need additional layout options for your content, contact your site editor or the Web Admin Team.
Email: When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase. Do not use Accessnet usernames (tue, tug, tuj, etc.).
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms unless preceded on the page by full title and acronym in parentheses, e.g. Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), American Library Association (ALA), etc.
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Avoid unnecessary library jargon and technical names
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Numbers
General
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Numbers
Numerals
Spell out numbers zero through nine
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.
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Use
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Arabic numerals for 10 and above, except when the number is the first word in a sentence, as in
We've published more than 1,600 titles in the past five decades.
Ten people enrolled in the course. Last week, 13 students attended the meeting; two 18-year-olds left before adjournment.
Use Arabic numerals for
critical information that a user may be scanning for, e.g. loan periods on https://library.temple.edu/categories/borrowing
addresses, ages, dates, percentages, prices, time, year
Phone numbers
Use parentheses for the area code and dashes between the latter parts of the number. Do not use the intercampus phone system abbreviations (e.g., 1-2345, 2-3456, 3-4567).
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Link telephone numbers for mobile with tel: syntax
Code Block
language xml theme Confluence
Monetary units
When Use numerals when referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. , as in
$26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents
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8:00 am – 2:00 am
Institutional branding
Use first-person plural (we, us) to create a conversational tone.
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Temple University Libraries & Temple University Press
Locations & collections
If referring to a specific location or collection more formally, use:
Ambler Campus Library
Charles Library
Charles E. Krausz Library at the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine (or Podiatry Library)
Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection or Blockson Collection
CLA Ed Tech Library
Loretta C. Duckworth Scholars Studio or Duckworth Scholars Studio
Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library (or Ginsburg Health Sciences Library)
Japan Campus Library
Presser Listening Library
Remote Storage (not Library Depository or Kardon)
Rome Campus Library
Special Collections Research Center
Services
Use standardized names of library services and locations, and avoid acronyms and technical jargon when possible. Examples include:
Service | Use | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
BookBot | BookBot | ASRS, Bookbot |
Course Reserves | Course Reserves | |
Drop-in Research Help | Drop-in Research Help | Ask a Librarian |
Interlibrary Loan | Interlibrary Loan | ILL |
Library Search | Library Search | Primo, Blacklight, Catalog |
One Stop Assistance desk | One Stop Assistance desk | One Stop Assistance Desk, OSAD |
Research Guides | Research guides | LibGuides, libguides |
Other commonly-used terms
Use standardized versions of commonly-used words to create greater consistency. Examples include:
ebook (not e-book)
online journal (not e-journal or ejournal)
email (not e-mail)
homepage
instructor (only use faculty when you are talking about faculty)
librarian or subject librarian (not liaison or subject liaison)
web (not Web)
website (not Website)
Links
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General
Link to a service when you mention it
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using a stable URL.
You can book a group viewing room to watch reserve DVDs and VHS tapes.
Link labels
Make link text meaningful. Users should know where they are going when they click a link.
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Avoid spelling out the URL (except in print pieces and social media)
Avoid: Try the Library Search: library.temple.edu.
Use: Try the Library Search.
Make links open in the same window. In most cases, links should not open in a new tab or window. Doing so can be unexpected for the user and break the back button. An exception would be situations when the user needs to be able to see the both the original page content and the new linked content at the same time (e.g. chat window, instructional content).
If possible, apply the class ‘inline’ to the link tag. This will underline the text and make scanning paragraphs of text for links easier.
Don’t
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Do not spell out URLs (except in print pieces and social media)
Don’t use generic link labels. Any links should make sense if the linked text is read by itself. Screenreader users may choose to read only the links on a web page. Make sure linked text makes sense out of context. Ambiguous phrasing obscures what the link is about. Avoid extraneous phrases like “click here” or “follow this link.”
BadAvoid: Go to this US Government source for comprehensive homeowner data by clicking here.Good
Use: The US Government provides comprehensive homeowner data.
Don’t hyperlink extraneous words, such as articles (a, an, the), around links.
BadAvoid: Find out more about the Libraries’ upcoming events.Good
Use: Find out more about the Libraries’ upcoming events.
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