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Best Practices for LibGuides at UCLA

Suggestions and guidelines for using LibGuides to best effect in the UCLA Library.

Preferred Terminology

HOPS has developed guidelines for web page vocabulary. Though most of these terms were developed for home page navigation, for consistency we should use them in our guides whenever we have pages or boxes with similar content.

  • About / About X - descriptive info about the Library, a unit, or a department
  • Ask a Librarian - links to the UC 24/7 chat service
  • Borrowing - all circulation information
  • Collections
  • Computing - services and policies related to computers, printers, etc.
  • Connect(ing) from Off-Campus - proxy server, VPN
  • Contact Us - contact information (by extension, "Contact Me" could be used for individual contact information)
  • Directions
  • Giving - development info
  • Help
  • Hours
  • News
  • Research/Subject/Course Guides
  • Course Reserves - not reserves 
  • Services

The Research Guides Management Team is developing a suite of sharable pages and boxes to cover most services and basic information literacy.

Help v. Services

The UC guidelines provide no hints on the distinction between Help and Services. On a traditional website, "help" is usually info about using the website, but it gets confusing when our primary service is also providing "help."

I'm going to jump out on a limb and suggest we start using the two terms to distinguish between the type of help/service to be found on the other side of the link. Help generally implies quick, point-of-use assistance. Things that would be on the other side of that link would be informational pages, faqs, service desk phone numbers, and links to online chat assistance. Services implies more extensive, not necessarily immediate assistance. Things that would be on the other side of that link would be research guides, locations and hours of in-person service desks, and contact info for subject specialists. Plus, of course, services that aren't necessarily "help" (instruction, ILLs, etc.).