LibGuides: Best Practice guide: Guide Information

Make your guides findable

The information you put in the guide description highlights guide content that can help tell learners what they can expect to find.

• Descriptions are encouraged to clarify focus of the guide 
• Descriptions should be brief and focused, no more than 1-2 sentences 
• A general example of a description would be……“This guide will help you find resources about xxxx”
• Put a list of links to each page to help people navigate

Strategies to improve findability

There are three especially useful ways to make your guide more findable: guide titles, subject associations, and keyword tags you can assign.

Subject Associations

• Subject Associations show up as main heading on the LibGuides site
• Add as many relevant subjects as needed to make guide findable
• Request new subjects to be added through the instruction coordinator

Assigned Tags

• Tags help group topics together by context
• Try to use no more than 10 tags
• Use existing tag when relevant to group tag categories

Guide Titles

• Format class guides titles by using the department, course number and instructor name so students can find the class guide
• Ex: Eng 280 Rosenberger 
• Format subject guides with the name of the discipline
• Ex: Broadcasting
• Format other guide titles with descriptive words and keep titles to 2 or 3 words
• Ex: Choosing Your Sources, Doing Literature Reviews
• All guides should have an easy URL assigned for ease of linking Use an underscore between words
• Example: eng280_rosenberger

Try to keep a high profile

• The profile box title should be meaningful 
• My Profile," "Nursing Liaison," etc
• Profile box should include office number, email address, and phone number
• Profile photos are encouraged 
• Profile picture size is best at a small size like 120 by 120 pixel