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Guidelines and Standards for Research Guides

Last reviewed August 2022.

What is a General Purpose Guide?

General purpose guides are a miscellaneous category for all public-facing guides that are not subject or course guides.  Use the general guide type if:

  1. If you want to publish the guide to be viewed by non-librarians, and
  2. It is not for a specific course and is not the official subject guide for a discipline.

Examples include guides on:

  • Topics with interest across disciplines
  • Programing & promotional
  • Website infrastructure

When you are creating a general purpose guide, assign the appropriate Type:

  1. Click on the pencil icon next to the Type/Group field.
  2. Under Guide Type, select General Purpose. If the guide should also show up under a specific campus (e.g., to promote an event), select the appropriate campus under Group.

If your guide was created to promote an event, contact LWC to add the guide to the Libraries homepage gallery.

General Purpose Guide Approval Process

Before you create a new general purpose guide, ask yourself whether it is necessary. 

Our LibGuides system will be more manageable if we keep down both the total number of guides and your personal number.  Can you manage dozens of guides at a time, keeping them updated and functional?  If you leave NOVA, will someone be willing to take over all your guides?  This should not discourage you from creating new guides, but ask yourself these questions before you create a new guide:

  1. Is there an existing guide similar to what you plan to create?  If so, can it be edited to meet your needs?  This could be edits to your own guides or a suggestion to another author. 

  2. Can you commit to updating the guide at least annually?

If your guide fills a unique need not met by existing guides and you can commit to maintaining it, then you may proceed. 

General purpose guides require permission from LWC.  Follow this process:

  1. Concept Approval: Begin by reaching out to your campus LWC representative.  Those without a campus affiliation may reach out to the LWC chair.  Let them know the title and purpose of your planned guide.  They will indicate whether you may proceed to create a draft, or they may elevate the discussion to LWC.  Guide content and scope should be appropriate to the Libraries' mission.
  2. Draft Approval: When the guide draft is complete, leave it in [unpublished] status and share the link with LWC through your campus representative.  LWC will attempt draft approval via email, but some guides may require synchronous discussion.  If a draft cannot be approved as submitted, LWC will meet with the guide author.  LWC and the guide author will work collaboratively to reach consensus on what changes, if any, are necessary to allow draft approval.  Rather than making a yes/no decision, the goal of this process will be helping the guide author identify changes that may lead to final approval.  If consensus cannot be reached or at LWC's discretion, they may invite the Dean of Libraries and LC Chair as guests to further discussions.  The Dean's and Chair's role will be to provide their perspectives and identify any relevant policies related to the content.  Discussions conclude when the guide author and each LWC member have agreed to a list of changes.  After the guide author has completed agreed-upon changes, LWC will take a final vote to approve the draft.  LWC's final decision will be sent via email to the guide author and will be recorded in the discussion section of the guide (use icon shown below).  LWC should provide as much documentation as possible if a guide generated extensive discussion.
    Discussion Icon
  3. Publishing:  After final LWC approval, the guide author may publish.  The guide author agrees to review the guide at least annually.  If a guide author wants to make extensive changes after their guide is published, they should contact LWC for approval.

General Purpose Guide Naming Standards

The Guide Name will appear at the top of the guide and in all list of guides.

General guides should be named with short, descriptive titles. Do not use abbreviations. 

Examples:

  • Black Future Month
  • Health Literacy

Navigation Layout, Style, & Content Standards

All General Guides should follow the navigation layout, style, and content standards:

Guide Navigation Layout:

  1. Click on the Guide Layout/Picture Icon dropdown menu in the right upper corner menu.
  2. Click on Guide Navigation Layout.
  3. Select NOVA Default - Side-Nav w/o Search Box.
  4. Check the box for 'Show all subpages in side navigation'.
  5. Check the box for 'Showbox-level navigation for selected page'.
  6. Click Save.

Style:

  • Font Name should remain on the default setting.
  • Font Size should remain on the default setting.
  • Use Heading 3 for headings as structural elements.

Content:

  • General Guide Description: Must include at minimum Direct comments to [librarian name, [librarian email address] or [campus library email address].
  • Reuse Existing Box/Mapped boxes: Mapped boxes are linked to the original box. As the original box is updated, the changes will be reflected automatically in the mapped version.
    • Map the following boxes from the [LWC] NOVA Web Assets by Libraries LTS guide:
      • Search the Library Catalog
      • Need Help?
      • Library Navigation
  • Add Databases from the A-Z Databases List: As the databases are centrally managed in our A-Z Databases List, any changes to the databases (such as its URL) will automatically be reflected in every guide where the database is being used.  Always include the database description below the database title/link.
  • NOVA Libraries Video Tutorials: Map video tutorials from the guide: https://libguides.nvcc.edu/video-tutorials. Any updates to a video will automatically be reflected in every guide where the video is being used.
  • Images and Graphics: Limit the amount of images and graphics unless relevant to the content or focus of the guide.

Friendly URL Naming Standards

Friendly URLs allow students and faculty to easily return to a guide without navigating via the course listings and allow for easy printing on handouts.  Brevity is key for friendly URLs, so include only essential information. Spaces and unusual punctuation cause problems in URLs and are to be avoided. The URL does not affect sorting or organization.

You can assign/edit a friendly URL within the guide and its pages.

Guide friendly URL:

  1. Click on the pencil icon next to the URL field.
  2. Keep the URL descriptive, but short and simple. Do not use abbreviations.

Recommended case: lowercase letters

Example: https://libguides.nvcc.edu/livingpoets2022

Guide friendly URL for pages:

  1. Click on the pencil icon next to the URL field on the page to be edited.
  2. Enter the name of the page. Page names can be shortened in the Friendly URL if necessary. Do not use any punctuation or dashes. 

Recommended case: lowercase letters

Example: https://libguides.nvcc.edu/livingpoets2022/podcasts

General Guide Maintenance

All General Guides should follow the maintenance standards and guidelines:

  • Every year (in the summer):
    • Review the guide and evaluate whether it is still relevant.  Was it created for a one-time event?  If so, consider unpublishing.  Guides promoting recurring events (Indigenous People Day) should remain published.  Deleting a guide deletes its usage statistics and should be avoided.
    • Review guide content to ensure accuracy.
    • Use the LibGuides Link Checker tool to ensure that all links are active; websites change frequently so you may need to update URLs or replace them with a different resource. 
    • Review usage statistics.
  • Last Updated: Jan 10, 2024 12:25 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.nvcc.edu/guidelines
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