Harvard Library LibGuides Best Practices

Request a LibGuides account via the LTS Support Center.

• Please provide your name, email, and library affiliation.
• Library Staff will be given a "Regular" account.
• You can allow non-library collaborators to edit your guides by requesting an "Editor" account.
• See the SpringShare help for more information about account types.

Lists of Resources

• Review lists of resources and try to trim them down to 5 items or less.
• Rank resources by order of importance rather than alphabetically.
• Highlight what resources, specific to the topic, are best for this type of research. Users appreciate a curated list of items, rather than a laundry list of links. 
• If you need a longer list of resources, consider moving it to a separate page labeled "All Resources" with a single column, separated by easy-to-scan headings. 

Write for the Web

• Use short sentences and active language; calls to action work well.
• Consider user-friendly language and enticing headings. Headings should be meaningful.
• Avoid library jargon. Terms like 'Resources’ and ‘Research Management’ are confusing to users. Use informative headings that users can scan.

Support searching

• Use search widgets to connect users with articles, books, statistics, etc.

Following these rules will make your guide more accessible to users who use assistive devices:

1. Do not open links in a new window - While it may seem as though opening a link in a new window will help your users, doing so will make it difficult for screen readers to navigate your guide.
    
2. Add alt-text to your images - Adding alt-text to images ensures that screen readers can convey the meaning of the image to users rather than reading the image's URL.
    
3. Add captions to your videos - For any videos that have been created at Harvard that are embedded in your guide, ensure that proper closed captions have been added. This video demonstrates how to add closed captions to YouTube videos. If you are embedding a video that was not created at Harvard, find an alternative that has captions.
    
4. Use accessible documents - If you are linking to or embedding online documents, use accessible documents, such as Microsoft Office documents, unformatted text documents, or, if necessary, OCR'ed PDFs.
    
5. Make your links accessible - For links to full text items, the link should be the title of the item, for example: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Links that are pointing to a record, and not directly to the full text, should be formatted like this: Samuel Johnson manuscripts, 1725-1784 (Find it @ Harvard) 

Learn more about web accessibility best practices on the Accessibility Tools guide.

Adding a custom profile box to your guide

1. Click the Add Box link to add a new box to your guide.
2. Click the Reuse Existing Box tab.
3. Search for and select the Harvard Library LibGuides Best Practices Guide.
4. Select either the My Librarian or My Librarians box.
5. Change the Box Name (optional).
6. Important Click the Create a copy... checkbox to make a copy of the original that you can customize.

Customizing your profile box

1. Click the Edit Content Block link
2. Click on the image and then click the Image Properties button
3. Replace the default image with your photo.
4. Your photo should be 256x256 pixels for the best results. Resize your image before uploading and then delete the Width and Height to use the image's default size.
5. Add your name as the Alt text.
6. The profile box already includes border, spacing, and alignment. No need to add any here.

1. Edit your name and title, but don't change the formatting!
2. Click the link and then click on the Link button to change it. You can enter an email address or select URL from the dropdown to link to another page or site.
3. Edit or add your own custom Links and Subjects or delete them if you want.
4. You can add anything else you like. To add another heading, Choose Heading 4 from the Format dropdown.