LibGuide Best Practices

Please note, these are best practices that are suggested by current literature and serve as guidelines to help create guides that will be the best use to patrons. Use your best judgment when it comes to the creation of your guide - not all of these best practices will always be the best fit for the subject/topic.

 

Best Practices for Layout and Style
 

• Have no more than 6 pages/tabs in your guide

  • Less tabs/pages contribute to a clean and simple design 
  • Most users do not see/notice subtabs
  • Multiple tabs can deter users on mobile view (tabs show at the top of the screen stacked on top of one another)
     

• Use no more than 2 columns 

  • In side navigation, the first (left column) is dedicated to the menu/navigation area
    • Anything in the left column will be placed at the top of the page in mobile view
  • For top navigation, users found three columns to be confusing and cluttered
    • Too much information presented in three-column layouts = information overload
       

• Use borders 

  • When adding images and screenshots, adding borders will help the image stand out
     

• Left align text

  • Ensures we are consistent with our layout

Conrad, S., & Stevens, C.S. (2019). "Am I on the library website?": A LibGuides usability study. Information Technologies and Libraries, 38(3), 49-81. https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v38i3.10977 

Sonsteby, A., & DeJonge, J. (2013). Usability testing, user-centered design, and LibGuides subject guides: A case study. Journal of Web Librarianship, 7(1), 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2013.747366 

Thorngate, S., & Hoden, A. (2017). Exploratory usability testing of user interface options in LibGuides 2.0 College & Research Libraries, 78(6), 844-861. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.6.844