Best Practices for UCL LibGuides

Guidance on how to publish your guide, when it's first created, and when you add new content.

• When to publish a guide
• Peer review of guides
• Publishing checklist
• How to submit a guide for review
• Accessibility checklist (right column)

You will need to submit your guide for review in LibGuides when you first create it, and also whenever you add a new page or box of content to an existing guide. 

Please note: you do not need to submit your guide for review if you are deleting content or editing existing content, only when you add a new guide, page, or box of content.

Before you send a guide to be published, you must ensure it has been peer reviewed:

• Library skills guides: These are generally created by project groups of 2-5 people to promote quality assurance, but they should also be approved by the Online Library Skills Working Group and / or go to wider consultation with library skills trainers across the service before going live. In cases where the guide is required urgently, they may be sent to be published on the understanding that they will still be under development and subject to review.
• Subject guides: Where these are relevant to a wide group of users, please share them with relevant library staff  for review prior to publishing. Where they have been created by an individual to support a distinct user group which is supported by only one member of library staff, we recommend that they be proof-read by a colleague.

There are two ways to share content prior to publishing:

1. Share a preview link:
   1. ​Click on the Guide Preview button, eye icon, in the top right of the page.
   2. Copy the URL from the address bar and send to the peer reviewer(s). Please note, this is a preview link for a page only and any links to other parts of the guide will not work.
2. Change the status of the page to Private:
   1. Click on the drop-down menu to the top right of the screen where it says 'Unpublished', and select 'Change status and share'.
   2. Change the publication status to 'Private', change  'Share guide content' to 'Internal' and click 'Save' and then 'Close'.
   3. The guide will now be accessible to anyone who has the URL but will not appear in Web searches. Copy the URL for the guide and send to the peer reviewer(s).

Before submitting your guide to be published for the first time, please ensure the following::

1. Content, layout and formatting follow guidance in this best practice guide.
2. Titles in menus and boxes are succinct and meaningful.
3. Content has been re-used where possible.
4. Content on pages is split into boxes where possible, rather than using titles within a box.
5. Default font has been used with no underlining or all capital letters.
6. Images all have alt text.
7. Links have been added separately as 'Links' rather than within HTML wherever possible, and have been checked to ensure they are not broken.
8. Any text that has been copied and pasted has been cleared of non-standard styling.
9. Every page has a friendly URL.
10. The guide as been assigned appropriate subject(s).
11. The guide has been added to the appropriate group (e.g. Subject Guides, or Library skills)
12. The status of all content you wish to be published is not in draft.
13. Guide has been checked on different browsers and devices to check responsiveness.
14. The content has been peer reviewed.

Once you have completed the above, you may submit your guide for review so it can be published.

When your guide is ready to be published, or you have made changes that need to be published, you can submit your guide for review. Click on the status button link at the top right of your guide (this may say Private, Published, or Unpublished). Click on Change Status & Share.

On the next screen:

1. Select Subject for Review from the Publication Status drop down.
2. Help the reviewer by adding a note - if the guide is new, let them know. If you've added new content to an existing guide, let the reviewer know what's been added, to which pages. For Skills guides where there is more than one editor, it is also helpful to know who has submitted the guide for publication in case reviewers have any queries.
3. Click on the Save button to the right of the Publication status box to submit for review.
4. Under Share Guide Content? select Internal to share only with other subject guide owners, or Community, to share outside of UCL. Then click Save.

LibGuide reviewers will be notified there is content to be reviewed and published. They will do a final check for issues such as accessibility and will then publish your guide. 

Reviewers are as follows:

• Library Skills guides: Angela Young, Sabrina Squires
• Subject Guides: Lindsay Ure, Helen Biggs, Giulia Garoli, Liz Lawes

• Use clear, meaningful, and parallel headings.
• Write in short, clear, straightforward sentences.
• Make text content understandable. 
• Use bulleted lists.
• Use descriptive links that start with keywords.
• Design content in a way that is not moving fast, flickering or flashing.
• Make sure that colors are not your only method of conveying important information.
• Provide text alternatives for images and any non-text content.
• Caption and/or provide transcripts for video and other embedded media content.
• Allow users to skip repetitive elements on the page.
• Become familiar with screen readers (e.g., JAWS, NVDA) and other assistive technologies used by your students.